Why Does Every Famous Guy Have a Rogue Forehead Curl?

Not long ago, it felt like every single guy in Hollywood was growing out a baby mullet. It wasn’t quite business at the front, party at the back, but it definitely leaned that way. Jacob Elordi and Paul Mescal were both on board, while Timothée Chalamet let his curls creep down the back of his neck. The haircut struck a nice balance: a little bit ’80s, a little bit indie musician, and just scruffy enough to look like you didn’t spend half a day styling it. Then… Austin Butler came along.Kristy Sparow/Getty ImagesEarlier this year, the actor stepped out with a full-fat, gloriously shaggy mullet that looked like it’d been plucked straight from a 1984 high school yearbook. It was bigger and longer and far mullet-ier than anyone else’s. It felt like the haircut had reached its final form. And around the same time, another one started gathering pace: the rogue little curl.Now, this isn’t exactly a new invention. Back in the early 20th century, it was known as the kiss curl: a carefully sculpted lock that rested on the forehead worn by everyone from silent film stars to very loud rockstars. Even Superman’s famous spit curl is essentially the same idea. The difference is that today’s version is a lot less polished. It’s looser and less deliberate-looking, even if it absolutely is deliberate. Sometimes it’s one curl. Sometimes it’s two or three intertwined. The point is that they never quite behave themselves.Michael Regan - FIFA/Getty ImagesOnce you notice it, you can’t stop seeing it. House of the Dragon star Fabien Frankel’s been wearing one for months. Pedro Pascal has one in Behemoth!. Paul Anthony Kelly, wig or not, rocks one in the new season of American Horror Story. Fresh off Spain’s World Cup win, Ferran Torres celebrated with one hanging over his forehead, proving you don’t actually need curly hair to pull it off, either. Off Campus’ Belmont Cameli's got one. And yesterday, Charles Melton arrived at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation Conversations with (you guessed it) a rogue little curl sitting front and center.Paul Archuleta/Getty ImagesIt makes sense. Men’s grooming has spent the past few years moving away from razor-sharp fades and perfect slick-backs. Hair now looks better when it has more life to it. The rogue forehead curl does exactly that. It softens the face, breaks up an otherwise tidy haircut, and gives everything a little bit of motion. Most importantly, it makes it look like you weren’t trying too hard, even though you almost certainly were.The trick is that it only really works when the rest of your hair has a bit of movement. If everything else is neat and brushed into place, one rogue curl hanging over your forehead can look a little dated. Instead, leave the whole style slightly undone. If you’ve got some length at the front and a bit of natural wave or curl, let one or two pieces fall forward and use a lightweight curl cream or styling product to encourage the shape without freezing it solid. The less “finished” it looks, the better.Amanda Edwards/Getty ImagesA version of this story originally appeared in British GQ.