Pompadour (hairstyle)

Pompadour is a tall style of men's haircut which takes its name from Madame de Pompadour.

There are Latin variants of the hair style more associated with European and Argentine tango fashion trends and occasionally with late 20th century musical genres such as rockabilly and country.

The pompadour was also a fashion trend in the 1950s among male rockabilly artists and actors. In recent years the pompadour hair style has been adopted by those enamoured with vintage culture of the late 1950s and early 1960s that includes antique cars, hot rods, American folk music, rockabilly bands, Little Richard, and Elvis Presley.

This style has become popular among Italian Americans and the "goombah" or "Guido" subculture. The style is often parodied in shows like The Sopranos, which portray stereotyped characters - especially Silvio Dante. Many Mexican Americans in the "Greaser" subculture also sport pompadours.

In modern Japanese popular culture, the pompadour is a stereotypical hairstyle often worn by gang members, thugs, members of the yakuza and its junior counterpart bōsōzoku, and other similar groups such as the yankii (high-school hoodlums). In Japan the style is known as the "Regent" hairstyle, and is often caricatured in various forms of entertainment media such as anime, manga, television, and music videos.

Conan O'Brien, American media personality and former host of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, is a notable wearer of the pompadour hairstyle. Additionally, Brent Liles of Social Distortion and Agent Orange wore a pompadour for many years.

Creation

For women, the hairstyle has become marginally popular again in the first few years of the 21st century. It can be created by ratting at the roots of the hair on the sides of the pompadour towards the top of the head. Then the hair is combed up and over the ratted hair, off the forehead, the front up in a curl straight back, and the sides pulled back towards the center.

In Japan, there is the Punch perm which appears to combine elements of the afro hairstyle and the traditional pompadour. This hairstyle is stereotypically worn by shady members of society such as the yakuza, bōsōzoku and chinpira (street thugs).

In the Psychobilly subculture, the pompadour is slightly modified to form the Quiff. The Quiff is a hairstyle worn by Psychobilly fans and musicians (Kim Nekroman frontman of Nekromantix for example). A quiff is a sort of mix between a mohawk hairstyle and the pompadour, where the hair along the side of the head is shaved and the middle isn't spiked but slicked back and stood up like a pompadour.

Often many hair-care products are employed in the creation of a pompadour. Commonly seen are wax and gel pomades, held in high regard for their durability. Sometimes they are created solely with the use of hair spray, hair gel, or even hair glue.

See also

References

Definition

Rockabilly connection

Setzer connection (many more available on Web)

Retrieved 30 December 2008.

Examples of non-rockabilly male musicians with pompadours

Tango and Latin connection

In Popular Culture