A rattail is a
hair style
A hairstyle, hairdo, haircut, or coiffure refers to the styling of hair, usually on the human head but sometimes on the face or body. The fashioning of hair can be considered an aspect of personal grooming, fashion, and cosmetics, although ...
that is characterized by a long "tail"-like element of
hair
Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals.
The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and ...
growing downward from the back of the head. The rattail usually hangs naturally; however, it can be
braid
A braid (also referred to as a plait; ) is a complex structure or pattern formed by interlacing three or more strands of flexible material such as textile yarns, wire, or hair.
The simplest and most common version is a flat, solid, three-strand ...
ed, treated as a
dread,
permed,
straightened, poofed, or curled with an iron. In some instances, an individual might choose to grow several tails as opposed to a single very long tail. A rattail is characterised by hair longer than the rest of the hair surrounding it.
The rattail saw a brief period of mainstream popularity during the mid to late 1980s. By the mid 90s it had rapidly fallen out of fashion. However, it has recently seen renewed popularity.
Cultural prevalence
The rattail can be traced back to China during the 17th Century when the Manchu took over and established the Qing Dynasty. It was known as the Manchu Queue. In the 1980's Vietnamese refugees fled to Australia/USA. The Vietnamese youths were known to have rattails and popularized it throughout western culture. The Polynesians also have their variant of the rattail and it is called the "Horse Tail" They are usually thicker and more popular today within Australia/New Zealand youths. The rattail is usually associated with Asian youths, while horsetail is more associated within Polynesian youths.
Some
punks
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
and
rivetheads have been known to sport rattails, although in a much more
punk fashion
Punk fashion is the clothing, hairstyles, cosmetics, jewellery, and body modifications of the punk counterculture. Punk fashion varies widely, ranging from Vivienne Westwood designs to styles modeled on bands like The Exploited to the dressed-dow ...
, sometimes with the tail dyed a different color than the rest of the hair or by shaving the rest of the head, leaving only the tail. It is a very popular hairstyle in
Broome, Western Australia
Broome, also known as Rubibi by the Yawuru, Yawuru people, is a coastal Pearl hunting, pearling and tourist town in the Kimberley (Western Australia), Kimberley region of Western Australia, north of Perth. The town recorded a population of 14,6 ...
and
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
, especially among boys, and is sometimes combined with shaved sides as a soft
fauxhawk
The mohawk (also referred to as a mohican in British English) is a hairstyle in which, in the most common variety, both sides of the head are shaven, leaving a strip of noticeably longer hair in the center. Mohawk hairstyles have existed for ...
.
New Kids On The Block
New Kids on the Block (also initialized as NKOTB) is an American boy band from Dorchester, Massachusetts. The band consists of brothers Jonathan and Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood. New Kids on the Block had ...
performer
Jordan Knight
Jordan Nathaniel Marcel Knight (born May 17, 1970) is an American pop singer and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist of the boy band New Kids on the Block (NKOTB), which rose to fame in the 1980s and 1990s, using a falsetto style of singing infl ...
wore a long braided rattail for much of his time with the band, which helped further the style's popularity.
Former junior welterweight boxing champion
Kostya Tszyu
Konstantin Borisovich "Kostya" Tszyu ( ; rus, Константин Борисович «Костя» Цзю, , kənstɐnʲˈtʲin bɐˈrisəvʲɪtɕ ˈkosʲtʲə ˈdzːʲu; born 19 September 1969) is a Russian-Australian former professional b ...
sported a rather famous rattail throughout his career.
Game developer
Richard Garriott
Richard Allen Garriott de Cayeux (''né'' Garriott; born 4 July 1961) is a British-born American video game developer, entrepreneur and private astronaut.
Garriott, who is the son of NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, was originally a game designer ...
has worn a rattail since 1984.
In the
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...
universe,
Jedi Padawans wear a rattail called a Padawan Braid until they are given the rank of Jedi Knight.
In the
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...
series ''
The Idol'', the character Tedros played by
The Weeknd
Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (; born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is best known for adding Pop music, pop, electronic music, electronic and hip-hop stylings ...
sports a prominent rattail.
See also
*
List of hairstyles
This is a non-exhaustive list of hairstyles, excluding List of facial hairstyles, facial hairstyles.
Short hairstyles
Long hairstyles
Long hairstyles may be considered those which reach beyond the shoulders on women, or require long hair to c ...
*
Mullet
*
Pigtail
A woman with long pigtails and braids.
In the context of hairstyles, the usage of the term pigtail (or twin tail or twintail) shows considerable variation. The term may refer to a single braid, but is more frequently used in the plural ("pi ...
*
Ponytail
A ponytail is a hairstyle in which some, most, or all of the hair on the head is pulled away from the face, gathered and secured at the back of the head with a hair tie, clip, or other similar accessory and allowed to hang freely from that po ...
*
Queue
*
Shikha
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rattail (Haircut)
Scalp hairstyles
1980s fashion
1990s fashion