Rat-tails in Naarm34 Images
Rat tails have been around for centuries, in cultures and social circles around the globe. Once known for their “sleaze” and unflattering reputation, rat tails have reemerged and they are taking over Naarm [the Woiwurrung language name for Melbourne].
Early roots can be found within Polynesian communities and since then they’ve also popped up on 16th-century lovers, 80s popstars, eshays, Argentinian footballers, queer creatives, and everything in between. Over the years, however, the style picked up a stigma and came to be associated with male manipulators, bogans, roadmen. But now a new generation of rat tail fans in the city are giving the style a new lease of life – and a new reputation.
Speaking to over 20 people – who have rocked the style anywhere from three years to two days – the words they use to describe how their rat tails make them feel are overwhelmingly positive. And although each person’s story and reason for getting them is different, for the majority it’s not just arbitrary aesthetic value that has brought them to it.
The origins of Naarm’s rat tail renaissance can be traced back to 2021 following the end of Australia’s final, and longest, lockdown of the pandemic. Like in many other places around the world, the city experienced a wave of mullets, as people sought to find release and rebellion through their hair. When the trend became too mainstream and widespread, swept up by business men and celebrities, attention turned towards an even bolder style.
“A lot of young people are coming in [for rat-tails], a lot of creative people, people that are into self-expression and expressing their identity through their hair,” says Lyndal Salmon, a hairdresser and educator operating in Naarm, who has seen a big uptick in the style. “People want to take ownership over themselves. It’s almost like a little self-project that you have the ability to work on, and you can grow, and you can really control one little thing in your world.”
Below, four Naarm-based creatives share why they’ve chosen their rat tails and what the hairstyle means to them.
Cragie is a Naarm-based Polynesian musician, songwriter and model who has been growing his rat tails for three years.
“For me, personally, this is passion stuff. Rat tails have been in my life, my whole life. For us [in Polynesian culture], longer hair means strength, it just feels like power. You know, I kind of walk around with my head up a bit more. As of right now and the nuance of what [the rat tail] is today, it’s mostly identity. Every time I see people with rat tails, I go up to them and ask, ‘Yo, where are you from? What do you do? I love your rat tail, how long you been growing it for?’ I think people are in a time of overstimulation. I think people are constantly rolling through things to find themselves.”
Redd is a Naarm-based musician who has been growing their rat tails for around a year and a half.
“There’s something really comforting about feeling unique, and I think everyone wants to feel different and special in that way. My rat tails are like that for me. It can be so affirming to have control over [how you look], especially as people who express gender quite fluidly and want to express yourself freely and dynamically. This is something that’s fun and free.
“Hair is really special, especially within the African community. I’ve had a lot of my other Black friends be very confused by my hair because it’s not the stereotype. Our hair is so powerful and it’s so unique and so different, so I don’t want people getting caught up in that whole mess of, ’I look a certain way, present a certain way.’ It’s a really powerful thing to have control over your hair.”
Mikail is a Naarm-based multidisciplinary artist who has been growing his rat tails for just over a year.
“Shit is scary. It’s so scary right now. Everything’s fucked up. And I think everyone is looking for their community. Well, I guess I can only speak for myself, I’m looking for my community. It’s a natural human instinct to want to find people who you can trust – even if that’s in a visual indicator. [Rat tails are] an identifier in a way, especially within the inner north [suburbs of Naarm] and that kind of world. It’s just something to say that there’s a part of me that links myself to people who I would associate with.”
Geo works in prison reform and advocacy and is a fashion student in Naarm. They have been growing their rat tails for two years, and first began theirs from a mullet.
“I had this shorter mullet and I loved the hairstyle but missed having long bits of hair to play with; I wanted to have long hair and short hair at the same time. I just had this vision so Lyndal gave me an extension for a festival I went to, it was down to my ass and I was tying cigarettes and lighters to it, and whatever I needed, and just swinging it around. I was like, ’Yeah, I’m just going to keep growing it out.’
“And then I wrote an ‘ins and outs’, as a joke, for the 2023 to 2024 new years. And I was like, ins for next year: rat tails. And six months later, I started seeing rat tails everywhere.”
