At Mullet Championship, 'Ugly' Can Be 'Beautiful'

It was business in the front, party in the back on Saturday as a packed Danish crowd celebrated the much-maligned but enduring mullet hairstyle, defined by very short hair at the front and longer hair at the back. Denmark's raucous 2026 Mullet Championship, presented on an outdoor stage in central Copenhagen, attracted 12 well-coiffed competitors and more than a thousand spectators to the evening's "mane" event, per the AP. Organizer Steffen Stiw Weber, a 37-year-old electrician, said the championships, now in their fourth year, began after he had a hair transplant, chose to grow out a mullet, and realized he couldn't compete in a mullet competition in the United States because he wasn't a US citizen.

Competitors in Saturday's championships were evaluated on their cuts' style, uniqueness, and overall performance and "mullet moves," explained judge Bobby Agren. Contestants were given 60 seconds each to perform on stage to showcase their cuts. "I like it if it looks ridiculous or maybe ugly in a beautiful way," said Agren, who owns two hair salons in Copenhagen. Stiw Weber said a mullet allows a person "to stand out from the crowd." The event featured an array of over-the-top performances, including beer-swilling, body-popping, and a live saxophone show. One competitor even wore a mullet haircut styled to resemble the Danish flag.

The crowd screamed and chanted with their energy seemingly feeding directly into the various performers on stage. After every performance, judges held up scorecards to distribute points to the competitors. Forty-three-year-old construction worker Thomas Berg eventually took home the top prize after wowing judges by frantically jumping on a trampoline while clad in neon green gym wear. He completed his mullet haircut with an orange headband. "It's just nice to be a bit outside the box," said a smiling Berg after collecting his prize. Popularized by ice hockey players and '80s musicians, the mullet later fell out of favor, though it's seen a revival in recent years. Numerous mullet competitions are now staged around the world, with Belgium hosting the European Mullet Cup last month.