From flared jeans to the Heartbreak High reboot, 2020 has gifted us with many retro revivals,  but none have been as hotly debated as the return of the world’s most controversial hairstyle.

If you live in Australia, chances are you’ve spied the classic business-in-the-front-party-in-the-back ‘do popping up left, right and centre.

That’s right, the mullet is back.

Somewhere, a single tear of joy is trickling down Billy Ray Cyrus’s rugged face.

In fact, Cyrus’s daughter, Miley, has also been making a case for the shag-style lady mullet.

Hairdresser Nick Yannas from Volume Hair in Windsor said the pandemic resulted in a number of questionable home haircut experiments that his team was now “polishing” up.

“During lockdown what we saw was a lot of clients doing their own haircuts,” Mr Yannas told The New Daily. 

“It’s not the traditional ’80s mullet, it’s a refined mullet or a shag-type of hairstyle.

“[Young people] look up to AFL footballers, or different sporting celebrities and they see it’s a little bit of a trend.

“When we opened up again, we were keeping the mullet look going but we were fixing it up or refining it for them. 

“The short back, a little bit of length there, not too long – it’s not excessively long and it translates well.”

Hairdresser Tessa Leonard takes us back to the 1970s. Photo: Volume Hair

Yannas and other hairdressers across Melbourne’s Chapel Street precinct have revealed the city’s top post-lockdown hair trends, and the results may surprise you.

A survey conducted across 18 different salons in the district showed that mullets are in, but the lumberjack beard may be on its way out, as clean-shaven and manicured beards make a return.

Fans of the man-bun can relish in the fact that long hair will be in again this summer, after Melbourne’s long quarantine forced men to grow out their luscious locks.

Young kids are pulling it off really well. When they’re 18, 19, 20, early 20s, they look good – it looks good on them.

The short back, a little bit of length there, not too long – it’s not excessively long and it translates well … it’s a polished look. 

Silver vixens

Many Melburnian women, deprived of their monthly root touch-ups, have decided embrace their silver strands and go au naturel.

Silver hair is on the rise. Photo: Cinze and Prodigal Hairdressing

Like their male counterparts, the silver fox, many woman have left behind the harmful and tedious process of maintaining their regrowth and are taking a page out of Helen Mirren’s book on how to go grey with grace.

“Women became accustomed to their greys,” Mr Yannas said.

“Instead of having that definitive grey regrowth, we’re enhancing that and giving them some foils in grey so they can grow the rest out.”