A version of this text was originally published 12 August 2019.

From medieval baddies to Instagram’s most offbeat it girls, the Mallen streak has develop into the last word symbol of alt beauty: communicating glamour, danger and deviance. Naturally occurring (the results of a condition called Poliosis) or dyed, the Mallen streak refers to a bolt of traditionally but not at all times white hair styled at someone’s hairline, in a single stripe, block fringe or full half and half look. Throughout history, this forelock of hair has proven synonymous with evil and the identical symbolism has ricocheted throughout popular culture – think X Men’s Rogue or the Bride of Frankenstein. 

Yet, regardless of these damning connotations, real-life women come back to embrace the Mallen streak time and time again. It first broke through to the mainstream within the 50s as an element of rockabilly culture, but it surely’s only just becoming a dominant trend now in its own right. Today you’ll recognise it as naturally occurring on the likes of US politician Tulsi Gabbard, or in a high-octane neon on visual artist Princess Gollum. In 2019, the style reads as a robust symbol of defiance and transgression within the face of social and gender inequality.

So here’s every part it’s essential to know:

IT’S RELATED TO FOLKLORE 

Despite a protracted history of folkloric connotations, the term ‘Mallen streak’ has only been around for the reason that 70s. It originally comes from the Latin ‘malignus’ (meaning bad kind) and was first coined by pop novelist Catherine Cookson in her ‘Mallen’ trilogy. The novels follow the lives of a doomed family who all share the hereditary streak. As Cookson writes, “it was said that those that bore the streak seldom reached old age and that nothing good ever got here of a Mallen.” 

Back within the medieval era, when the lynching of girls was big business, a naturally occurring ‘Witch’s Streak’, because it was then known, quickly became one among the tell-tale signs of witchcraft. This, alongside other naturally occurring physical traits comparable to moles, birthmarks and third nipples, were considered outward signs of inner sin. Over time, this coding of the feminine body became wrapped up in our collective subconscious and so the Mallen streak became one other icon of female transgression.

Why then, almost a millennium later, does the identical style endure? Well, “the witch is never not in vogue,” says witchcraft expert Charlotte Richardson Andrews. For Richardson Andrews, embracing these deviant codes is usually a powerful way of “reclaiming our agency”. 

Team this with seismic shifts surrounding gender identity and you’ve a hairstyle which opposes, “all that the straight gaze seeks to homogenise and sanitise”. To be a witch, in any case, is to be queer, and out of that overlapping struggle is “a hard-won resilience that shows up culturally in our embrace of other beauty”, which is something the Mallen streak perfectly embodies.

IT’S A SYMBOL OF EVIL IN POP CULTURE

Cruella de Vil, Bellatrix Lestrange, Lily Munster, Rogue, Bride of Frankenstein. There’s a protracted list of female villains who’ve been characterised by a signature silver streak on the front of their head. They’re the form of unapologetic, charismatic baddies which you could’t help but be fascinated with. In Dodie Smith’s 1956 children’s book The 101 Dalmatians, Cruella de Vil is “showy” and “noticeable” – an icon of glamour who only sleeps in ermine sheets. Her now-iconic hairstyle is a logo of this untouchability, “parted severely down the center, one half of it was black and the opposite white – fairly unusual”.  

Jennifer Goldstein, health and beauty director of Marie Claire, has a natural Mallen streak but stresses the massive deal of inspiration that some women take from these characters. For Goldstein, that is due partially to the indisputable fact that “many ladies were brought up being told to smile or play nice”. “So, at a certain point, probably when the #MeToo movement gained momentum, numerous women realised they don’t need to ‘play nice’ anymore.” Surely, then, this might mean embracing the darker side of their personalities, too. 

London-based videographer, Liv Hempsted, who has a dyed Mallen streak, echoes this sentiment. “After I did it I realised the connection to those characters,” she says. For Hempsted, “it’s the facility that it brings, the silent respect,” which makes her feel seen. While these villains is probably not loved for his or her moral compass, “they’re respected as strong, powerful women who fight for what they need.”

In this manner, the Mallen streak represents a refusal to acquiesce to the demands of men. And what are characters like Cruella, if not icons of this? In The 101 Dalmations, when asked for her married name, Cruella replies “I’m the last of my family so I made my husband change his name to mine”. It’s this absolute autonomy which, to women like Hempsted, “is empowering, is growth.” 

IT’S A FEMINIST TROPE IRL 

It was in the course of the 50s, that the Mallen streak really gained momentum, as a part of rockabilly culture. Bleaching kits were sold in local pharmacies and ‘How To’ articles published in women’s magazines helped catapult the trend into the mainstream. For the primary time the Mallen streak, known on the time as a hair flash, really became a standing symbol – having been glamorised by actresses comparable to Alicia Lotti and Anita Collins. Given its rebellious connotations, it’s no surprise that girls of the 50s began to embrace the Mallen streak – a period defined by the trimmings of domesticity and gender conformity. 

The Mallen streak was later reflected back by public figureheads comparable to Susan Sontag, (whose streak was naturally occurring as a result of Poliosis), binding the style ever closer to the aesthetic codes of feminism. After the 50s, women would begin to wear the Mallen streak as a marker of feminism, perhaps in homage to post-war emancipation and its role in paving the best way for the sexual revolution of the 60s.

Current updates of the Mallen streak, in thinner, wispy blonde tendrils appear to take closer cues from iconic 00s proponents of girl power – think Geri Halliwell in her ginger heyday, Lisa Scott-Lee or Tulisa (the feminine boss). While the general effect of the look is less stark, the revolutionist solidarity stays the identical. “I believe it’s nearly us claiming that power back and resetting the boundaries,” says Hempsted.

IT SOMETIMES OCCURS NATURALLY 

For a small percentage of individuals, the Mallen streak will occur naturally – known scientifically as Poliosis, which may appear at birth but often reveals itself much later. To not be confused with greying, it’s characterised by an absence of pigment within the hair and it may possibly also present as a symptom of more serious congenital disorders, comparable to Piebaldism or Waardenburg syndrome which affects roughly one per cent and 1/40000 people respectively. “I wish people would know that there are people, like me, who’ve this naturally,” says Jiyoo Shin, a student with Piebaldism whose family moved from South Korea to Austria for fear of prejudice.

Still, natural ‘streakers’ are hesitant to call out the trend as appropriation. For Goldstein, whose streak appeared when she was 15, a dyed strip is “simply creative self-expression” and is at most “a type of flattery.” Actually, Goldstein stopped dying over her Mallen streak, having been inspired by British make-up artist Alex Box (who dyes her hair for the same effect) – “I just kept pondering, ‘Huh. I even have that streak. I could just do something like that naturally!’”

It could seem that the Mallen streak’s rise to mainstream fashion and representation in popular culture has helped these women to embrace their sign of difference. When Goldstein made the choice to stop dying over her streak, she began, “getting more compliments on (her) hair,” and now, “persons are at all times calling out X-men names after they pass by me. And that’s totally fantastic!” It appears like a robust move. And as a lady, it’s. It’s a fuck you to heteronormative standards of beauty, particularly, those which conflate white hair and difference with a scarcity of desirability.  

IT’S A SYMBOL OF ALT BEAUTY

Just like the very magic it is alleged to embody, the Mallen streak shapeshifts out and in of fashion. From the 50s rockabillies to the 00s rock chicks, each incarnation carries the currency of a trend steeped in ‘witchy’ otherness. 

It’s no surprise then, that a few of Instagram’s most offbeat it girls, dressmaker Mimi Wade, model Gayoung, artist Princess Gollum and even Billie Eilish have develop into the alt poster girls of the trend. Of their embrace of other beauty, women like Wade play with the very notions of outsiderdom inherent to the Mallen streak. 

Sapphire Driver, BLEACH London brand manager says the Mallen streak, “has definitely increased in popularity this yr,” with customers often citing Mimi Wade as their reference point. “I at all times felt it was so cool that even when she didn’t say anything, Mimi Wade’s hair told stories,” says Hempsted. And indeed, the potential for storytelling is wealthy. For Princess Gollum, the style is, “what you wish it to be,” but it surely’s also about, “acknowledging our power and embracing all types of femininity,” be that witch, villain, feminist, or alt babe – and even all 4. 

Driver says because the style evolves, “people will proceed to experiment more with color variations.” But between Princess Gollum’s slime green, cut and paste streak and Wade’s silver block job, it could seem we’re already there. Now enter the E-Girl, the web subculture popularised on TikTok. With their pastel half-and-halfs, there may be an obvious semiotic link to the duality of the Mallen streak, positioning Gen Z’s answer to the emo as the most recent manifestation of the medieval hags, Cruella’s and rockabillies that got here before. In spite of everything, as Richardson Andrews says: “The witch is in all places, at all times.”