Just days ahead of Black History Month, a hairstyle that has been popular in the Black community for decades is now trending following claims that Travis Kelce made the look popular.
The Kansas City Chiefs football player, who is also Taylor Swift’s new beau, has been sporting a haircut that’s not uncommon to see every day the Black community has called a “fade” for decades. According to Bossip, the mainstream media is doing what they’ve done for many years: crediting the wrong person or community for starting a trend that’s been around forever.
The specific cut he sports isn’t new but is now being called the “Travis Kelce Haircut.” The New York Post recently tweeted on X, formally known as Twitter, an article with a headline that read, “The ‘Travis Kelce’ haircut is taking barbershops by storm: They ‘think they’ll get a new girlfriend.” The tweet was immediately met with some backlash.
The ‘Travis Kelce’ haircut is taking barbershops by storm: They ‘think they’ll get a new girlfriend’ https://t.co/2j8GBYUW7z pic.twitter.com/P6YOSwjUKD
— New York Post (@nypost) January 30, 2024
White people were just as confused as Black folks because the tight-end player did not originate the look nor make it popular.
“That’s called a buzz cut and it has been an extremely popular hairstyle for men for like… a century,” one X user said.
“The Marines have done it for 100 years,” another person said.
“Isn’t the Travis Kelce haircut a regular fade?? Isn’t this more Caucasian people throwing sum blonde hair on things POC been doing and saying it’s new and exciting/trendsetting,” another person commented per Bossip.
Unfortunately, this type of cultural appropriation is nothing new in the mainstream media. Reality TV star-turned-businesswoman Kim Kardashian was given credit for “boxer braids,” which was a name mainstream media created for cornrows whilst Sarah Marantz Lindenberg once claimed she created the silk bonnet to protect hair while one sleeps.
In addition, a barber named Jeff Dugas who resides and works in New Brunswick, Canada posted a video on TikTok to support the publication’s claim that White men are now coming in asking for the “Travis Kelce Haircut” by showing pictures of the Super Bowl-bound athlete with the caption, “Travis Kelce Haircut! My brother in law walked into the shop today wanting me to perform a miracle. @taylorswift who’s hotter? Mike or Travis?”
“So I started my morning off with my brother-in-law walking into the barber shop and he has the audacity to show me two photos of Travis Kelce,” Dugas says at the beginning of the video. “Like bro, I knew you were trouble as soon as you walked in. I’m a barber, not a magician bro, but you know me, I had him going from looking crazy to someone Taylor Swift would date.”
@jeffcutshairs Travis Kelce Haircut! My brother in law walked into the shop today wanting me to perform a miracle. @taylorswift who’s hotter? Mike or Travis?
Wondering where the haircut came from? According to Ebony.com, it came about in the 1940s and ’50s as military bases wanted members to have a clean look. As decades passed, men still wore the look whether they were active military or veterans. In the mid-80s the haircut evolved into what the Black community calls the “bald fade,” which is very popular among Black men who have never been credited with adding swag to the hairstyle.
“Hip-hop impacted the way we dressed and how we wore our hair especially,” New York City-based master barber Greg Cooper Spencer told Ebony.com. “Before this period, we relied heavily on Black leaders, such as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali who sported afros, to influence how we engaged in society in addition to our look.”
He added, “Just as hip-hop emerged, so did the artists who made sure their hair and wardrobe stood out, along with their music.”
Haircuts aside, you can catch Travis Kelce on Super Bowl Sunday when the Kansas City Chiefs take on the San Francisco 49ers at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas! Will you be tuning in?
