From certain angles as he sits at his desk, Dr Alistair Bush’s hair looks neat and conventional, the sort of cut that might suit any British country GP. But if he turns to look at his screen or, perhaps, scribble out a prescription, a rather more surprising hairstyle emerges: a glorious, wavy, cascading mane that has earned him a place in next month’s Mulletfest in Australia.
Bush – it really is his name – had always sported a short back and sides but began growing out his light brown hair during a Covid lockdown. Unlike most people, he decided to keep going.
He said he could get way with the “business at the front, party at the back” haircut because the soldiers he worked with at an army camp in south-west England found it amusing. “The soldiers are mainly in their 20s and find the mullet funny. I would not have grown it if I had regular patients,” he said.
“It all started when haircuts were banned during lockdown and my nephew and I were looking at funny hairstyles online. I thought it would be funny to do it and started growing my mullet in the summer of 2021.”
When barbers’ shops reopened, he thought about a trim but decided to go with the mullet look. It is flicked back at the top, short at the sides and now flows a good 30cm (12ins) down his back.
Earlier this year he won a mullet contest heat in Kurri Kurri, New South Wales, and he is heading back there in December to pit his hair against some of the weirdest, most wonderful examples to be found in the world.
Bush said he was glad to be taking on some of the planet’s best and boldest mullets in the cut’s spiritual home and he did mind talking a big game.
“This is widely considered to be the Everest of the competitive mullet-growing world. Only the final round in December lies between me and victory. The Aussies may have retained the Ashes in cricket but 2023 is going to be the year the UK beats them in the arena of competitive mullet growing,” he said.
If he wins, he plans to burn his mullet and return the ashes to the Australians in an urn in tribute to the tiny cricket trophy that England and Australia compete for.
“As a pom, beating the Aussies at mullet growing would feel like fitting retribution for the 1882 Ashes series [in which England were thumped and the Ashes tradition began].”
Bush is raising funds for Testicular Cancer UK. “Many of my patients are in the at-risk age group for developing testicular cancer,” he said.
Mulletfest has various categories, including everyday, grubby, vintage, extreme and junior. All competition entrants are judged on their haircut, overall presentation and stage presence.
Though it most closely associated with Australia, Mulletfest acknowledges that the term was popularised by the American hip-hop group Beastie Boys in their 1994 song Mullet Head.
The Bush mullet will soon vanish. “Whatever happens, I will chop it off and return to my regular short back and sides,” he said.
