When Tomorrow x Together’s Choi Beomgyu debuted his new look in the concept photos for the group’s latest album The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE, his bandmates and fans couldn’t help but ooh and aah over his hair. Known as a “wolf cut,” Beomgyu’s current hairstyle looks like a cross between a modified mullet and a tousled shag.
Non-fans may have seen this style all over TikTok, where the “wolf cut” tag has been viewed over 230 million times to date. Basically, it’s shorter in the front and tapered in the back like a mullet, but piecey like a shag. It’s choppy and textured, with soft, graduated layers framing one’s face. Furthermore, it looks stunning on everyone, regardless of gender. Since the Gen Z crowd—also known as “Zoomers”—is big on gender fluidity and individualism, they embraced the wolf cut with open arms.
American singer-songwriter Miley Cyrus is currently sporting a variation of the wolf cut. One of the reasons this hairstyle is so appealing is that it’s versatile. It’s already edgy to begin with because of its untamed feel, but you can make it even edgier by shaving the sides of your head. If you want a softer variation of the wolf cut, you can achieve that by going for something resembling a shag, but longer. If you want, you can experiment with bangs and sideburns as well.
Beomgyu loves the wolf cut. “I think it suits me really well,” he said while chatting with MOAs on a recent livestream—all of whom agreed with him wholeheartedly. He probably reminded them of idols like BIGBANG’s G-Dragon, SHINee’s Taemin, Super Junior’s Eunhyuk and Leeteuk, TVXQ’s Jaejoong, and WINNER’s Mino. They all sported a similar hairstyle back in the day.
When EXO released “Ko Ko Bop,” Baekhyun went for a wolf cut then dyed it chocolate brown and red. His two-toned ‘do is often credited with the revival of the trend. His mother was a fan of MacGyver, an American TV show where the flaxen-haired male lead sported a wolf cut. So when her kindergartener son needed a haircut, she decided to try the hairstyle on him. Baekhyun must have liked it, because he brought it back in 2017. At first, his fans hated the cut. Some of them even pronounced it “dated,” but it grew on them eventually.
Beomgyu isn’t the only K-pop superstar who digs the wolf cut these days. SEVENTEEN’s The8 and VICTON’s HanSe also sport the unconventional hairstyle, and it only makes them more appealing.
If you’re in the market for a new hairstyle, you may want to try getting a wolf cut. It’s among the easiest, fastest, and—depending on which salon you go to—most inexpensive ways to look like an idol.
