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Brexit bob: are women taking break-up hair to political extremes?

21 February 2019

If you’ve had your hair cut short recently, you may have inadvertently become part of a new cultural phenomenon linked to Brexit.

London-based celebrity hairdresser Larry King claimed that bookings for shorter haircuts increased by a third in the first part of 2019. It led him to the idea that the uncertainty around Brexit might be manifesting itself in women’s hair style choices.

Are we subconsciously taking control of our look in response to a lack of control of Brexit? Kaye Adams asked the hair professionals:-

The Brexit Bob

Are more women having their hair cut short and put into bobs....because of Brexit?

“Hair is a really easy thing to change,” explained hair historian Rachel Gibson on Mornings With Kaye Adams, “so it’s always been a good cultural barometer of what’s happening.”

Hair has always been linked to politics.

Hair historian Rachel Gibson

Gibson drew parallels with the concept of ‘breakup hair’, which she says has long been symbolic of a new beginning.

“Cutting your hair is quite a dramatic statement.”

“The idea of cutting your hair off once you’ve gone through a break-up: it’s about regaining control and doing something for yourself. This is just an extension of that, I think.

“It’s a defiant, strong look. The bob has always been quite a powerful hairstyle; it’s about looking in control.”

So, with all that in mind, should the nation’s salons start preparing for 32 million women with ‘break-up’s to get over?