To borrow from their hit single Wonderwall, by now you should’ve somehow realised what you’ve got to do ... to let the world know that you’re excited about the planned Oasis reunion tour next year.
A trip to the hairdresser has become the fastest way to demonstrate allegiance to brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher, the brawling ambassadors of the Cool Britannia music scene of the mid-nineties.
With Oasis, they sold more than 75 million albums such as (What’s The Story) Morning Glory and inspired almost as many hairstyles, which became the decade’s male alternative to The Rachel, popularised by Jennifer Aniston on Friends.
Now that Oasis is back, so are requests for top-heavy lad locks.
Liam and Noel Gallagher from Oasis flaunting their heavy-on-top hairstyles in 1996.Credit: PA Images via Getty Images
“It’s the younger generation driving the return of trend,” says celebrity hairstylist Heath Massi. “They don’t remember the cut from the first time around and see it as standing out from the crowd still wearing mullets.”
“That edgy, rock and roll vibe is always going to be appealing, especially if men think that they don’t have to do a lot to keep it looking good.”
For Melbourne hairdresser Peter Koziell, owner of Analog Hair in South Yarra, the style’s return represents more than an opportunity for men to extend the lifespan of their cuts.
“Oasis getting back together is a bigger deal than people realise, on a cultural and political level,” Koziell says.
“Music is a major part of my business,” he says. “We have seen the emo and e-girl trends return but with this revival of the mod movement, some negative aspects of Aussie lad culture might be brought into line. As a fashion movement, it’s more refined and gentlemanly.
“The mod movement and look has pride in its working-class origins, like Oasis and their northern roots. It can hopefully refine some of the less attractive aspects of working class eshay culture, by being less sexist and violent.
“It will also move some people away from that barber shop fade culture.”
What exactly is Oasis hair?
The Oasis hairstyle is a natural progression from the shag and mod hairstyles of the 1960s and ’70s, popularised by Rod Stewart, Jane Fonda in the 1971 thriller Klute and Paul Weller, before the Gallagher brothers claimed it as their band look.
It can often resemble a lazily grown-out Beatles mop-top that has been attacked with nail scissors. With a mass of hair at the crown and wispy sideburns it frequently features a fringe as blunt as Liam’s description of Coldplay’s lead singer Chris Martin as looking “like a geography teacher”.
“It’s definitely shaggier than Australian men are used to,” says Nathan Meers, owner of The Happy Sailors Barbershop in Redfern, Sydney. “It’s hard to escape the Englishness of the cut. Most Australian men can’t cope as soon as their hair hits the ears. That’s when they come to the barber.
“The great thing about it is that it’s pretty easy to maintain when it comes to product.”
Sea salt sprays are recommended to add volume, with styling paste helping to define longer sideburns.
Harry Styles’ micro-mullet and a modern take on the Oasis and mod hairstyle by Pete Koziell from Analog Hair in South Yarra, Melbourne.Credit: Getty, Pete Koziell
Apart from Liam and Noel, who can have Oasis hair?
The style can be adapted for most people, but Massi says it best suits those with oval and square faces, with stray hair tendrils softening angular features.
The key ingredient for the cut seems to be hair, something that Liam is still proud to have. “If I lost my hair you would never see me on that stage again because there’s no place for baldness in rock ’n’ roll,” he told The Big Issue in 2017.
With more hair, there’s greater opportunity to add texture, but die-hard fans with receding hair lines don’t have to rely on the hoods of their anoraks for comfort.
Koziell says that most hairstylists should be able to work with their client to find a solution.
There are also variations on the Gallaghers’ high-volume approach, such as Harry Styles’ micro-mullet, which made its debut in the front row alongside Anna Wintour at S.S Daley’s show at London Fashion Week.
“I like to give it a bit of an Aussie flex and bring in elements of the sharpie subculture,” Koziell says. “It has more of a mod approach at the front and a tamed mullet at the back. It’s a fun style to cut.”
Styles added another music genre to his hair by adding gel to the longer locks on the top of head to form punk-adjacent spikes.
The former One Direction singer wore a shacket and white singlet to debut his look and Meers from The Happy Sailors suggests keeping things equally casual below the neckline.
“You’re not going to wear it with a suit,” Meers says. “This haircut comes with its own wardrobe and perhaps a guitar.”
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