Whether you are walking to your next class, sitting in the CSI, or just kicking back in the quad, you are bound to see someone everyday rocking a mullet on campus. 

“A mullet isn’t supposed to look pretty, no one gets a mullet because it looks good, it’s all about the culture and everything around the mullet. My mullet represents something that no other haircut can, it’s business in the front and a party in the back,” junior Caden Rogers said. 

Rogers has been rocking the mullet on and off since freshman year and is widely known for having the iconic look. Rogers, however, is just one of many at Malvern who have a mullet.

Fellow junior Robby DiFabio said, “I think a mullet is so great because it takes a special person to get a mullet, a lot of people would say I want to get a mullet, but not everyone’s gonna do it.”

DiFabio got a mullet last summer, in the heat of the pandemic, and has had nothing but positive words to say about the look. 

“Your hair is an accessory, but the thing is that you can’t just take it on and off every day, so you gotta just live with it until it grows back. What makes it special is it’s almost like you’re dedicating yourself to what some people call a stupid haircut for two months or however long it takes to grow back,” DiFabio said. 

At the time, he was not too sure if he wanted to get a mullet, but since he did, he is glad he went through with it. 

“For me, [my mullet] was a result of my quarantine haircut. My hair was really long and in quarantine, I couldn’t get my hair cut and then it got to a point where it just looked stupid and a hat couldn’t even make me look better,” DiFabio said. 

“I wanted to keep my long hair but the side of my hair [was] all messed up so I go into the barber shop and I’m talking to my hair cutter and I said, I just want you to clean [it] up a little, but leave the back [long],” he said. “It’s like I just went to the barber shop, didn’t expect to get a mullet and then ended up getting one, and I walked out of it feeling like a new man and my confidence was through the roof,” DiFabio continued. 

Pup Buono, a senior, is yet another example of someone who has a killer mullet, but it doesn’t stop there. Over quarantine, Buono even started a mullet Instagram, @PupsCuts, where he gave mullets to some of his family and friends. 

“I gave all my cousins and brothers haircuts, so then as a joke I just made an Instagram for it and on the Fourth of July, I cut all my cousins’ hair and their parents did not know,” Buono said.

While his cousins might have enjoyed a new cut, it appears that their parents were not as thrilled.

“My one little cousin, his mom wasn’t there and his dad was like yeah go for it and she saw [the mullet] first thing on Instagram and she was like what did you do to my son,” Buono said. “And then my other cousin had hair longer than me and I cut his hair and shaved an American flag in it and we went down to the beach and showed my aunt and she was not happy,” he continued. 

The mullet craze at Malvern has gone on for a few years, but many still often wonder why so many Malvern students have a mullet. 

“I remember when I was a freshman or maybe in eighth grade, seeing the baseball team all getting haircuts in the bathroom in O’Neill,” Buono said. 

The O’Neill bathrooms are notorious for being a rowdy, high-energy place to be, backing up Buono’s story wholeheartedly. 

He continued to mention how the hairstyle can be something very common for sports teams to take up, one reason why so many students might possibly have a mullet. 

“I think a lot of sports teams always do something crazy for playoffs,” Buono said. 

The senior lacrosse commit took it a step further explaining how he actually gave some of the lacrosse players mullets during the season.  

“Yea, I gave a bunch of freshmen and sophomores mullets,” he said. 

DiFabio agrees with Buono that mullets can be very popular with sports teams and are a way to bring all the guys together. 

“Another thing about the mullet is how it can connect a team for sports, like lacrosse. I remember freshman year everyone got mullets for lacrosse and now they kind of did the same thing, and it’s a fun hairstyle, it just shows you’re there to have fun,” DiFabio said.

Rogers, on the other hand, has a different idea about how the Malvern mullet trend came to be. 

“I’m gonna say it straight, I brought it here, I brought it from Lancaster to Malvern,” Rogers said. “No one had a mullet when I walked in; I walked in with my mullet and everyone was like dang that kid looks good and I started the trend at Malvern, I’m gonna say it right now.”

Spanish teacher, Señor James Kirchner also thinks that Rogers could have possibly brought the mullet to Malvern and explains the first time he met Rogers when he shadowed in eighth grade. 

“When Caden Rogers was in eighth grade and he came to shadow, I had heard in advance that he was coming from Lancaster County and I have friends in Lancaster County so I went out in the hallway to introduce myself and speak to him,” Kirchner said. “And when I came back in the room, my students, their jaws were on the ground and they said, he has a mullet! So it wasn’t popular four years ago, in

eastern Pennsylvania, or at least in Philly,” he continued. 

Even Kirchner had a mullet when he was younger, though at the time he said it was not called a mullet. 

“I didn’t learn the word mullet until years after the fact. My wife called it western Pennsylvania hair because she grew up in Springfield and I grew up in Pittsburgh,” Kirchner said. “One of my gifts that my father gave me was a receding hairline so this started going away very quickly in my early 20s, I guess I compensated and just let the back go,” he said. 

Rogers said he grew out his mullet long during ninth grade and then cut it for wrestling season. After that, he began to grow it long again, which eventually carried over into quarantine last summer. 

While the mullet is a very unique hairstyle, DiFabio expressed how he doesn’t think anyone should shy away from the look and he even has some advice for those unsure if the mullet is right for them.  

“If you are thinking about getting a mullet but are contemplating whether to get it or not, I say get it because I was the same way,” he said. “I just was sitting in that chair [thinking] do I get it, what’s gonna happen, my mom’s gonna kill me. And then I thought ya know, I should just get [a mullet],” he continued. 

Rogers also has some advice for those unsure about their next hairstyle decision. 

“It’s a bold statement, a mullet is not a subtle piece. It’s saying I’m here and I’m ready to party, I’m ready to do business,” Rogers said.

While DiFabio no longer has a mullet, he is eager to bring back the look sometime in the summer. 

“This is the best haircut I’ve ever gotten and I still think that till this day. I want to go back and get a mullet; I just haven’t because my mom is like you are not getting a mullet. But once summer hits, the mullet [is] coming back because I want that confidence, that swagger, and just that fun type of look on my head,” he said.