In Praise of the Man Bun

By Mary Meehan

Menopausal Mom of Kentucky

I'm the one called Granny Zombie

I was having lunch the other day with my unofficially adopted daughter who has more tattoos and piercings than I can count and a few in places I don't want to know about. 

And, to my surprise and thanks to our lushy-locked Ginger waiter,  as we chatted over pizza we discovered our mutual admiration of a good Man Bun.

There is much to discuss.

Is the Man Bun just another Bieber flip? That was the hair don't that created spasmatic necks from excessive flipping in many a middle school boy. Is this Jared Leto-inspired trend like that  short-lived fad driven by a teen dream celeb? (To be honest there are still a few flippy hair Beliebers out there.)


Or is the Man Bun the mullet of the millennium? That business-in-the-front party-in-the-back travesty that seemingly infected the nation but especially took hold here in Kentucky where entire high school yearbooks of a certain vintage have an array of nothing but mullets.

Will, someday, folks look back at the Man Bun,  that luxurious, strategically messy disarray and ponder  "what on earth were they thinking" in the same way I am puzzled by the fact I ever wore shoulder pads?

I hope not. At lunch we came to the conclusion that maybe the allure of the Man Bun is some sort of primal draw....early man didn't exactly have Super Cuts. Maybe it is the confidence it takes to wear it well? Maybe, like women, shiny, healthy, abundant hair is a sign of fertility to which women are automatically wired to respond.

Or, maybe, it's just a little reckless and sexy.

But there are limitations. Not everyone can pull off a Man Bun and not all Man Buns are created equal.



We love you Channing.....but, no.




And there are some styles that show just a little too much effort.

Yes, because we Menopausal Moms have been doing our hair for decades, we know that the Man Bun is likely the result of careful conditioning and clipping. It probably has multiple dry runs before a mirror before it makes a public debut. Who knows? Those boys may be brushing their hair 100 times every night just like those girls in the 50s beach movies did at their sleep overs.

No, the perfect Man Bun is the follicle equivalent of "what, this old thing?" The key, as any woman who has tried to achieve a chic "bed head" look knows is to appear nonchalant no matter how much product you've used

Although some aging hippies may have long embraced a Man Bun it hasn't caught among Menopausal Men as much as among millennials. But don't despair older men. I'm pretty sure there are plenty of you out there who could pull it off.  

• Shout out to our reader in Abzerbianjan! Menopause is Universal!