We Had the Era of Barbie and Brat, so is it time for Buzzcut Summer?

Stephanie Jean Pierre

Are you tired of everything? Take the big chop.
They say hair holds memories, so it may be time to cut them off. Through the years, we have had our fair share of summer cultural shifts and microtrends. Barbie Summer gave us hyper-femininity and spectacle. Brat Summer (and year) gave us unapologetic, unhinged, and vulnerable 365-party-girl behaviour. Now, Buzzcut Summer promises a reset with the ability to turn to any style, embracing personal interests and ambitions. This summer, we are anti-aesthetic, drawn to the simplicity and ultimate creativity of the buzzcut.

Technology and Trend Overload: Why We Need the Buzzcut
In a time of overstimulation and exhaustion (hello, crash-out and burnout), a big chop and release might be what we need. Endless scrolls filled with brain rot, microtrends, Amazon Shops, and AI-generated everything, have filled our screens, bodies, and minds with digital noise. Our hyper-connectivity and access to what everyone is wearing, eating, watching, and doing has not brought us closer but allows for comparison, emphasizing the urge to live similarly, leading to a lack of space for original thought, information overload, and few genuine interests. Today, living is content and content is consumed. We cannot catch a break. The best way to break free from this is to break off the split ends and welcome the radically minimal buzzcut. Consider your personal algorithm reset with this grounding hairstyle.

Chopped McGill: My Evidence from Residence
As Spring and Summer emerged at McGill, I noticed an interesting phenomenon around my Upper Residence community. Day after day, buzzcutted people appeared in the dining hall and shared spaces, jittering me like a game of Whack-A-Mole. Thinking to the root of the trend, I remembered mid-January when I shaved off a close friend’s long black pin-straight hair. Her chop was the first buzzcut of the year, snowballing through semester two and contributing to the hairstyle trend. If she rocked the chop, why couldn’t you?

Each new buzzcut appeared spontaneous but part of something bigger beyond the warmer weather. People are craving something they can control. With struggles to manage screen time, wars ravaging, unjust government policies, exam stress, and apathy everywhere, shaving your head is empowering. It is a bold way to reclaim agency in a chaotic world. Taking matters into your own hands and lifting weight off your shoulders feels good.

Lorde: Our Summer Sound Saviour
As always, our summer cultural shift needs a soundtrack. Lorde, the artist behind “Buzzcut Season” and many great, nostalgic, and punchy hits, returns with her quadrennial album Virgin. Lorde releases music when we need her the most, and her upcoming project couldn’t be more fitting. The album title suggests purity, rebirth, and living in an un-brainrotted manner. With Virgin, we must welcome new growth and virgin hair and detox from the stimulation and exhaustion that define our era.

Her latest single, “What Was That,” captures the emotional whiplash of giving everything to someone and something, then being surprised by the lack of reciprocity or appreciation. Lorde asks the question of a generation in a surreal, crumbling world.

Lorde’s albums every four years are signs of entering new eras. If her music is any clue, we are entering an era of reflection and growth. With Virgin, she allows us to disconnect, question everything, let go, and buzz it all off.

The Buzzcut: Your Favourite Style’s Favourite Style
The buzzcut embraces the natural, carefree, and reckless. The style removes dead ends and holds space for newness. With the buzzcut, you have the capacity to live in any way you like. Dye it platinum, Brat or Frank Ocean green, or add dyed, drawn-on designs to embrace a neon, vibrant, or cool summer. If you absolutely hate it, have no fear. Future styles include a 1970s mop, bob, or even a wig, giving you stylistic freedom, regardless of trends. The beauty of the buzz is that it is fun while it lasts, and it all grows back.

The buzzcut’s allure lies in its versatility. Maintaining the buzzcut costs and looks however you want it to be. Shave it weekly or let it grow wild. There is something inherently playful and serious about the cut. It challenges standards of beauty and gender, leading to stylistic freedom and unapologetic existence.

Buzzcut Summer is for Everyone
This summer, do whatever you want. Wear whatever you want. Be as curated or chaotic as you please. Consider the buzz if you are looking for release and ease, the sweet spot between identity and rebellion. Choose it because it is liberating, not because it is trending, as my residence observations suggest. Buzzcut Summer is beyond aesthetics. It is about a clean slate, letting the wind brush against your roots, and realizing that you can change and survive that change.
If you are ready for a refresh, the buzzcut might be for you.

805