Curtis Wilson's haircut is business in the front, party in the back and a contender for the best mullet in the country.
The 29-year-old resident of Austin, Minn., is a finalist in the USA Mullet Championships, a contest to determine who rocks the best version of the sometimes maligned, sometimes beloved haircut made famous by generations of relief pitchers, soccer players, pro wrestlers, televangelists and country western stars.
Wilson, who works dismantling cars at a junkyard, said he had shaggy hair as a hockey player in his youth and a buzz cut when he worked in construction as an adult.
But he started to grow a mullet about three years ago as a tribute to a great aunt who died of cancer. She lost her hair during treatment and had to get a wig. Wilson thought he would grow his brown hair long and then cut it and donate it to be used for wigs for other cancer patients.
His plan was to let his hair grow for three years because he's a fan of stock car racer Dale Earnhardt Sr., and his No. 3 racing number.
But he discovered that the short in front, long in back haircut, once worn by everyone from David Bowie to Florence Henderson, "more or less changed my life."
He joined Facebook groups like "The Mullet That Changed My Life" and "S1K Mullets" and found fellowship with other mullet heads.
"Never have I gotten compliments on my haircut until I started growing a mullet," Wilson said. "I think it's an old trend that's coming back."
"I think it's coming back with a vengeance," said Kevin Begola of the hairdo that's also known as the ape drape, the beaver paddle, the neck warmer, the Camaro cut, the El Camino, the Kentucky waterfall, the Missouri mudflap, the hello Cleveland, the Canadian passport, the soccer rocker and the achy-breaky-bad mistakey.
Begola is a Michigan men's lifestyle retailer who started holding best mullet contests last year. While there are plenty of beard contests, Begola said he didn't know of any best mullet contests. The timing seemed right during the pandemic when many of us weren't able to get regular haircuts.
"People are open-minded to new modern mullets," he said.
Begola started staging online contests for best mullets for women, kids and best 55-and-older mullet.
In his current contest, there are 25 finalists vying for a men's open title with a first prize of $2,500 plus men's grooming gear. Wilson, the only finalist from Minnesota, was a top vote-getter out of about 125 entries in earlier rounds of online voting. (Wisconsin has the most mullets in the finals: five out of the 25 finalists.)
You can vote for Wilson at mulletchamp.com. The final round of voting closes at 11 p.m. Sunday.
Win or lose, Wilson said he'll be keeping his 14-inch long locks.
"I'm going to keep rocking it until I go bald," he said.
