Undercut (hairstyle)

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-217-0465-32A, Russland, Soldaten auf dem Marsch.jpg soldiers with undercuts in 1942]]

Historically, the undercut has been associated with poverty and inability to afford a barber competent enough to blend in the sides, as on a short back and sides haircut. From the turn of the 20th century until the 1920s, the undercut was popular among young working-class men, especially members of street gangs. In interwar Glasgow, the Neds (precursors to the Teddy Boys) favored a haircut that was long on top and cropped at the back and sides. Despite the fire risk, much paraffin wax was used to keep the hair in place.Christie, Stuart (2002). My Granny Made Me an Anarchist. Oil & Gas USSR. pp. 87–88. {{ISBN|1-873976-14-3}}. Other gangs who favored this haircut were the Scuttlers of Manchester and the Peaky Blinders of Birmingham, because longer hair put the wearer at a disadvantage in a street fight.{{cite journal |last=Davies |first=Andrew |year=1998 |title=Youth gangs, masculinity and violence in late Victorian Manchester and Salford |journal=Journal of Social History |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=349–369 |jstor=3789665|doi=10.1353/jsh/32.2.349}}

During the jazz age of the 1920s and 1930s, hairstyles of this type were considered mainstream fashion.{{cite web |url=http://mybeardguy.com/cfca-stated-that-hitler-youth-haircut-is-becoming-very-popular-hairstyle-in-new-york/ |title=CFCA - Hitler Youth haircuts becoming very popular in New York City |date=27 October 2017 |access-date=2018-03-07 |archive-date=2018-03-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180307152535/http://mybeardguy.com/cfca-stated-that-hitler-youth-haircut-is-becoming-very-popular-hairstyle-in-new-york/ |url-status=live }} Military barbers of the World War I era gave short back and sides haircuts as fast as possible because of the numbers, under orders to facilitate personal hygiene in trench warfare, and as nearly uniform as possible, with an eye to appearance on parade. This made the short back and sides style the norm in the UK after 1918, and its variant the brush cut became common in North America and France.{{Cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/a-bloke-writes-the-barber-my-father-and-a-short-back-and-sides-1170503.html |title=A bloke writes: The barber, my father and a short back and sides | the Independent |website=Independent.co.uk |date=8 August 1998 |access-date=2018-06-12 |archive-date=2018-06-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613033748/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/a-bloke-writes-the-barber-my-father-and-a-short-back-and-sides-1170503.html |url-status=live }} In Nazi Germany, a version of this haircut which was long on top but shaved at the back and sides was popular among Wehrmacht soldiers.{{Cite web |url=http://www.dererstezug.com/GermanHaircut.htm |title=WWII German haircut |access-date=2018-07-20 |archive-date=2018-07-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180712212421/http://www.dererstezug.com/GermanHaircut.htm |url-status=live }}{{cite news|last=Williams|first=Alex|title=A Haircut Returns From the 1930s|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/fashion/a-haircut-returns-from-the-1930s.html|access-date=8 April 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=15 November 2011|archive-date=8 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130608205848/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/fashion/a-haircut-returns-from-the-1930s.html|url-status=live}} The undercut remained common in the UK and America until the 1960s, when longer hair such as the wings haircut was popularised by the mod subculture and British Invasion bands such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

File:Macklemore Ryan Lewis Live 2016 (4 von 20).jpg with an undercut in 2016]]

Beginning in the late 1980s, centrally parted undercuts derived from the bowl cut made a comeback among fans of new wave, synthpop, and electronic music as an alternative to the mullets and backcombed hair of glam metal bands. A collar-length version of the bowl cut, known as curtained hair, went mainstream in the early 1990s and was worn by many celebrities, most notably Tom Cruise.{{cite web|url=http://www.instyle.com/celebrity/transformations/tom-cruises-changing-looks#288286|title=Tom Cruise's Changing Looks|access-date=2015-09-16|archive-date=2015-09-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906113008/http://www.instyle.com/celebrity/transformations/tom-cruises-changing-looks#288286|url-status=live}} Another variant, with a floppy permed fringe, was known as the "meet me at McDonald's haircut" due to its perceived popularity among young teenagers in the UK who socialise in and around McDonald's restaurants.{{Cite web |url=https://metro.co.uk/2018/02/22/meet-mcdonalds-haircut-7333906/ |title=Mcdonalds haircut banned |date=22 February 2018 |access-date=2018-06-21 |archive-date=2018-06-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621143723/https://metro.co.uk/2018/02/22/meet-mcdonalds-haircut-7333906/ |url-status=live }}

Curtained hair and undercuts went out of style in the early 2000s, but underwent a revival in the early 2010s among hipsters and skaters and Punk subculture who imitated the 1930s and 1940s version: longer with pomade in or swept to one side on top and shaved or clipped at the sides and with the shaved sides and the tops gelled up, At the time, although the style had many different names, the most controversial were the "Hitler Youth",{{cite web|url=http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/18/1278477/-Comeback-of-the-Hitler-Youth-haircut-worries-Jewish-and-progressive-groups-fearing-intolerance|title=Comeback of the Hitler Youth haircut worries Jewish and progressive groups fearing intolerance|via=Daily Kos|first=Democrats|last=Ramshield|date=February 18, 2014|access-date=September 16, 2015|archive-date=October 9, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151009054058/http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/18/1278477/-Comeback-of-the-Hitler-Youth-haircut-worries-Jewish-and-progressive-groups-fearing-intolerance|url-status=live}} "Jugend",{{cite web|url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/149954#.VeyzC5d2FIF|title='Hitler Youth Hairdo' -Silly Fashion Statement or anti-Semitism?|date=21 November 2011 |access-date=2015-09-16|archive-date=2015-05-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150519011331/http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/149954#.VeyzC5d2FIF|url-status=live}} and "fasci".{{cite news |quote=There were a few hipsters with fasci haircuts and ZZ Top beards at the “Walking Dead” slot machines, drinking beers. |first=Petula |last=Dvorak |title=It's 4 a.m. at MGM. Do you know where your money is? |newspaper=Washington Post |date=December 12, 2016 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/its-4-am-at-mgm-do-you-know-where-your-money-is/2016/12/12/17419f56-c081-11e6-897f-918837dae0ae_story.html |access-date=2016-12-13 |archive-date=2016-12-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161213025348/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/its-4-am-at-mgm-do-you-know-where-your-money-is/2016/12/12/17419f56-c081-11e6-897f-918837dae0ae_story.html |url-status=live }} Some of the most high-profile early adopters of this haircut included Macklemore,{{cite news|url=http://www.papermag.com/2015/08/macklemore_is_back_and_he_brou.php|title=Macklemore is Back, and He Brought an Army of Mopeds|date=27 August 2015|newspaper=Paper|first=Eric|last=Thurm|access-date=16 September 2015|archive-date=8 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151008172423/http://www.papermag.com/2015/08/macklemore_is_back_and_he_brou.php|url-status=live}} Kim Jong Un,{{cite web |title=10 Things You Think Make You Look Cool But Really Don't |url=http://uk.complex.com/style/2014/12/10-things-you-think-look-cool-but-really-dont/the-macklemore-haircut |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150920233835/http://uk.complex.com/style/2014/12/10-things-you-think-look-cool-but-really-dont/the-macklemore-haircut |archive-date=2015-09-20 |access-date=2015-09-16}} David Beckham, and Win Butler.

During the late 2000s and early 2010s, undercuts were often associated with villainous movie characters such as Hannibal Lecter in Hannibal Rising, Johnny Depp's portrayal of gangster John Dillinger in Public Enemies, Jared Leto as The Joker in Suicide Squad, Guy Pearce in Lawless, and various German officers in war films.{{cite web|title=30 Cool and Fantastic Cristiano Ronaldo Haircut Styles|url=http://ringmyfashion.com/cristiano-ronaldo-haircut-styles/|publisher=Ringmyfashion.com|date=17 November 2016|access-date=14 April 2017|archive-date=15 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170415201335/http://ringmyfashion.com/cristiano-ronaldo-haircut-styles/|url-status=live}} Characters from television series such as Jimmy Darmody on HBO's Boardwalk Empire and various characters from the BBC series Peaky Blinders were also associated with the undercut. By 2014, the haircut had become relatively mainstream in the UK and was worn by people not normally associated with the indie scene, such as reality television stars from shows like The Only Way Is Essex.{{cite web|url=http://jezebel.com/this-is-the-haircut-every-dude-you-know-is-getting-1563929769|title=Every Dude You Know Is Getting This Haircut|first=Kate|last=Dries|via=Jezebel|date=April 14, 2014|access-date=September 16, 2015|archive-date=September 21, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921192928/http://jezebel.com/this-is-the-haircut-every-dude-you-know-is-getting-1563929769|url-status=live}}

During the late 2010s, the American and Israeli press associated the undercut with alt-right agitators such as the American white supremacist Richard Spencer or the British far-right and anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson{{cite news |url=http://www.esquire.com/style/news/a51116/high-and-tight-fascism-neo-nazis-white-supremacists/ |title=This Wildly Popular Haircut Has a Serious Neo-Nazi Problem |newspaper=Esquire |first=Scott |last=Christian |date=August 15, 2017 |access-date=March 20, 2017 |archive-date=March 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170321165231/http://www.esquire.com/style/news/a51116/high-and-tight-fascism-neo-nazis-white-supremacists/ |url-status=live }} and with neofascist supporters seeking a less intimidating alternative to the buzzcut.{{cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-1.770319|title=From hipster fad to neo-Nazi tagHow America's alt-right got its signature hairstyle|first=Ruth Perl|last=Baharir|date=8 February 2017|newspaper=Haaretz|access-date=20 March 2017|archive-date=21 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170321083613/http://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-1.770319|url-status=live}}{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/11/30/does-this-haircut-make-me-look-like-a-nazi/ |title=Does this haircut make me look like a Nazi? |first1=Monica |last1=Hesse |first2=Dan |last2=Zak |newspaper=Washington Post |date=November 30, 2016 |access-date=January 10, 2018 |archive-date=January 13, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180113044326/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/11/30/does-this-haircut-make-me-look-like-a-nazi/ |url-status=live }}

File:New Romantic photo shoot.jpg|Alice Bag in the 1980s

File:Rihanna Diamonds World Tour 2013 cropped.jpg|Rihanna with an undercut in 2013

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