As Coco Chanel (and countless Pinterest graphics) famously said, “A woman who cuts her hair is about to change her life.”
So when Donald Trump arrived to a memorial service for the Virginia Beach shooting with a conspicuously new, slick hairstyle, armchair critics let out a resounding: “Huh?”
Fresh from a game of golf and wearing bizarre wide-leg trousers to an event honoring victims of the attack, the president inexplicably ditched his signature comb-over.
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Some on Twitter called it used car salesmen chic. Others referenced former Vice President Joe Biden as an inspiration, or even The Office’s fictional Michael Scott. The going theory seems to be that Trump may have been suffering from some MAGA hat hair.
Dhiran Mistry, a hairstylist at New York’s David Mallet Salon, does not believe that such a coiffed ‘do could be an accident.
“I’m sure they might say he took off his hat and it just looked like that,” Mistry told The Daily Beast. “But [to get that style] you have to put your hair back first and then put your hat on, so he knew what it was going to look like.”
Plus, there was the telltale shine in Trump’s strands that betrayed a good amount of styling product.
Mistry called the Patrick Batemen-esque look a throwback. “He’s trying to be cool, but he will never be cool,” he said. “It’s sort of like American Psycho slicked-back, and he’s definitely an American psycho.”
But Patrick Kelly Kyle, a freelance editorial stylist based in New York, believes the look softens Trump’s perennially overdone image. “I think he looks so much more approachable with his hair like that,” Kyle said. “Much more casual.”
Last year, Trump’s hair—or, more accurately, the absence of it—made headlines when a video taken on a windy day showed bald spots peeking out from the back of his head. This weekend proved that the president still has a bit of growth around his crown.
“I was surprised to see that he still has that amount of hair,” Kyle said. “He does have some bulk. If he was super, super, super balding, that wet look would have made him look like a noodle, and he did not. I definitely think he has some thinning, though.”
Devin Toth, who works at the Upper East Side’s Salon SCK, suggested Trump take some scissors to the ends of his strands before he slicks anything back again.
“I think it’s stylish, but the cut should be different,” Toth explained. “Taking some weight off of the length would be helpful. Some length in the back is good, but not if it’s a ducktail.”
For what it's worth, Roger Stone approves. As the president's former advisor wrote on Instagram, “I've known @realdonaldtrump for 40 years. I don't think he's ever looked better !”
Unfortunately for the dirty trickster (and retailers of ultra-hold styling gel), Trump's hat hair did not last long. While visiting the UK on Monday, the comb-over was back.
