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Abroccoli haircut (also known as aZoomer perm and in the UK as themeet me at McDonald's haircut) is a type ofhaircut with tapered sides and layered curls on top, usually achieved with aperm. It became popular among teenage and tween boys in the 2020s, particularly due to its spread onTikTok, and became anInternet meme around the same time.
The broccoli haircut is a hairstyle withtapered sides and short, uneven layered curls on top, which are oftenpermed.[1] It is referred to as such due to its resemblance to a floret ofbroccoli. It has also been referred to as the "Zoomer perm" for its popularity among members ofGeneration Z, as well as "bird's nest hair"[2][3] or "alpaca hair".[4] It has been described as a variation on abowl cut.[1][5]
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The precursor to the modern broccoli haircut first appeared around 1982 among fans ofnew wave music groups such asSoft Cell,Talking Heads,A Flock of Seagulls,Duran Duran, andWham! It was a grown-out, unstyled version of thequiff[6] popular in theearly 80s that was frequentlypermed ormade to look big withhair spray. A similar haircut known as thepunch perm was popular among bikers in Japan and pop singers in Korea[7] throughout the 80s and 90s.[8]
During the early and mid 2010s, the permed undercuts of the 80s and 90s underwent a revival.[9] The trend was inspired by hairstyles popular during theNew Romantic movement of the 1980s, such asmullets andshags.[3] By 2018, it had become known in the UK as the "Meet me atMcDonald's haircut", and achieved media exposure after a school inGreat Yarmouth, Norfolk banned pupils from possessing the style.[10][11]
During thecovid lockdowns of the early 2020s, many youngerGen Z guys in the UK and America experimented with new hairstyles at home before thebarbers reopened. In 2020, Dillon Latham, a then-15-year-old TikToker, posted a clip of himself getting a perm in the style of the broccoli haircut, which prompted its early spread among teenage and tween boys. It soon became more a trend in 2021 after being worn by TikTokers such asNoah Beck,Bryce Hall,Harry Jowsey, andJack Doherty.[2][1] That same year, it became anInternet meme and a subject of scorn online, beginning with a4chan thread that coined the phrase "Zoomer perm" to describe it.[12] The haircut also became unfavorably associated with stereotypical "fuck boys" and "gym bros".[13]
The broccoli haircut was especially popular by 2022 and gained further attention online in 2024 when a photo of American actorDavid Corenswet on the set ofJames Gunn's 2025 filmSuperman showed him with what many online described as a broccoli haircut, which was mocked by social media users.[3]GQ's Alex Nino Gheciu argued that the broccoli haircut had reached its peak by 2024.[2] Also in 2024,Marie Claire's Samantha Holender called the haircut "the TikTok tween boy hallmark".[1]
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