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Mullet craze shakes out the Royal Welsh Show

BBC Boy in a sheep shed wearing a white coat for showing and with a long blonde mullet BBC
Griff, 5, has been growing out his mullet since last year's Royal Welsh Show

Business in the front, party in the back.

A mullet is never far away around the sheep sheds and showgrounds of this year's Royal Welsh Show.

The outrageous hair style of 1970s and 80s rock stars is making something of a comeback, with the farmers of Wales leading the herd.

Ceredigion sheep farmer Gwion Hughes, who is keeping it short and tidy in the back for now - a lone sheep in a growing flock of flowing locks - said: "It's just a craze now, really."

"It never really appealed to me," Gwion told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.

But at the sheep showground five-year-old Griff's flowing blond locks would be contenders if the Royal Welsh were to bring in a mullet category.

Mum Sophie, from Builth Wells, Powys, said last year at the show his big sister decided "mullet was the way to go" and her son has been growing it ever since.

Boy in a sheep showing white jacket with a blonde mullet
Griff says he loves his mullet

"He loves it," she said.

Hayden Clarkson, 17, from Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, said he was pretty sure the mullet's comeback is complete.

"I've had this mullet for about three years now," he said.

"I don't think I'm ever going to go back to be honest. The girlfriend loves it."

Teenage man with a large mullet of dark curly hair
Hayden thinks the name for people with a mullet could be "mulletarian"

"I do," said 17-year-old Bethan Francis, running her fingers through his long dark hair.

"It's so curly," she gushed.

Farmers spotted sporting mullets

So what does he call someone sporting a mullet?

"Mulletonian," Hayden offered, before agreeing with Bethan he is a "mulletarian".

Man in a crowd with a dark mullet
Dawson says he may be a "mullet man"

Dawson Ellis, 20, from Rhymney, Caerphilly county, said he started growing his hair after the Covid lockdown.

"I thought, 'oh why not make a mullet," he recalled, adding he got encouragement from his girlfriend.

"I love his mullet, it's lush," said Gracie Andrews.

Smiling man in a cow shed with long curly blonde hair on top and in the back and shaved at the sides
County Durham cattle farmer Matthew Iceton denies his hairstyle is a mullet

Cattle farmer Matthew Iceton from Eggleston in County Durham denied having a mullet at all, despite a clear resemblance.

"That's not a mullet," he said, before agreeing his hair style may be inspired by one.

He was also encouraged to shake out his locks by others in the barn and they shouted "mullet".

woman in a sheep shed with shorter hair, almost a mullet
Sarah says with a bit more length in the back she could be a "mullet mama"

Sarah Gibbons, a sheep farmer from Hay-on-Wye, said she does her own hair and may struggle to reach her back locks sometimes.

"I get the sheep shears on it for a mullet," she said.

"Trouble is farming, we don’t really look in the mirror, so I don't know what I've got."

And her description of a mullet-wearing woman?

"Mullet mama," she said.

"That's want I want to be when I grow up, a mullet mama."