CHENNAI : You must have watched Surya’s film, 24,” says Prashanth Y, when asked about his undercut. As I look at him, doubtfully, trying to draw the connection, he explains, “It’s called the 24 cut, because it was Surya who first got it for the film. The cut has been in trend since then.” Prashanth, a vendor at one of the stalls near Elliots’ Beach, and the friends from his neighbourhood, have sported the cut for the last two years. And a month back, he even added blonde streaks to highlight it.
The undercut hair cut is easily recognisable as one simply walks through the streets of the city, and is one of the few haircuts to remain a popular trend for so long. And what is most unique about it? Each one calls the cut differently. For Sagar Kumar, a Bihar-based salesman in the city, it’s a ‘U’ cut. And his girlfriend first introduced it to him. “She showed me a picture of a cricketer with the cut, and said I’d look great in it. I showed the same picture to my barber, and have had it now for over a year,” he shares.
Dhanush K, owner of Dhanush Salon, Adyar, explains that at least 8 out of 15 boys, between 20-30 years, come to them asking for the cut. Udaya Raja, a hair-dresser at a salon in Besant Nagar, shares that while the ‘slope cut’ seems more popular now, even 8 years back men had the cut. “Now it’s popular because many Hollywood and Indian actors and celebrities started the trend. Customers download all their images on their phones before coming to us,” he says.
While it is more popular among men, a few women in city ace the cut too. A month back, Niveditha Sreenivasan, an employee at Page 3, decided to get a make-over haircut, to prepare for summer. “My hair flowed well below my shoulder, and it was a pain to maintain it. I wanted something different, and while I always liked experimenting, I wasn’t sure if I could pull off an undercut,” she shares.
She admits that today, it work and college spaces are more accepting of funky haircuts. Her stylist and fellow employee at Page 3, Sivamohan says that women, children, and a few older men have come to him for an undercut in the last few months. “It used to be called a military cut. The only difference is an undercut has more layers, with longer hair on top. And of course, there are many types of it,” he says.
You can get a neckline, cartesian, or curpoint undercut; and design it as a simple line or a whacky zig-zag pattern. Sivamohan urges people with straight hair to get the cut, and men with an undercut to grow a beard. “The undercut is getting more popular, especially because it’s summer. You can experiment with streaks and patterns that will make your cut stand out,” he says.