Winter Olympians are bringing back this '00s hair trend in full force
If you thought the Winter Olympics was just about frolicking in the snow, doing some sick tricks with a pair of skis, or a sporting event frequented by the Jamaican bobsledding team – you better think again.
Because while the majority of proceedings may be dedicated to mind-blowing shows of athleticism in outrageously low temperatures, there is a retro (as in past decade) beauty trend that’s made an appearance in multiple events this year.
Yep, that’s right, the casually cool, updo-adjacent hair styling technique known formally as ‘slut strands’ has launched itself from the ashes of the early ‘00s to grace the heads of 2022’s winter Olympians.
However, the greasy hairstyle of our adolescence-afflicted youth, this is not.
American snowboarder Maddie Mastro shared the history of the hairstyle in snowboarding by capitalising on the ‘feminine urge’ trend that’s been going viral lately.
“The feminine urge to pull hair strands out of your helmet every day so people know you are a girl,” said Mastro in the video, while her caption simply declared “sl*t strands 4 life”.
Amen sister.
In fact, the women’s American snowboarding team has gone full throttle with the nostalgic style.
Jamie Anderson’s slut strands could be seen whipping haphazardly in the wind as she went airborne on her snowboard.
Image credit: Getty
Chloe Kim reigned at first place with face-framing strands of caramel bronde hair peeping past her beanie.
However, the gold medalist recently revealed she would like to have the term ‘slut strands’ revoked from our vernacular.
"I hate the term," Kim told InStyle. “We need to change the name to beauty strands”.
“Beauty strands make me feel beautiful, and it's such a cute thing."
Image credit: Getty
But if you thought the ‘00s hair revival was strictly a snowboarder's game, the strands also appear in other sporting disciplines.
Case in point? Chinese freeskier Eileen Gu, who keeps her strands silky and wispy for an understandably aerodynamic approach, with a mere whisper of hair plastered to the side of her helmet as she hooned down the slopes.
Image credit: Getty
As far as the Olympics goes, we thought we’d have to keep our eyes firmly glued to the pirouetting ice skaters and their perfectly manicured updos to get any kind of hair inspiration.
But boy were we wrong.
After some street-friendly hairstyle inspiration? These are some classic updos for medium length hair.
Main image credit: Getty
Briar Clark got her start in the media industry in 2017, as an intern for Marie Claire and InStyle. Since then, her keen interest in fashion and beauty has landed her gigs as a Digital Content Producer and Beauty Editor with titles like Girlfriend, Refinery29, BEAUTYcrew and beautyheaven. She loves the way seemingly innocuous topics like skin care and style have the ability to put a smile on people’s faces or make them think about themselves a little differently. A big believer in self love and experimentation, Briar has made a point of becoming the Australian beauty industry’s unofficial guinea pig for unusual treatments and daring hair trends. When she’s not testing out the latest beauty launches, Briar is big on broadening her horizons, mostly in the form of food but she’s also partial to travelling to new destinations both near and far (and of course, allocating an extra bag to bring their best beauty offerings home with her).
