STYLE: LOOKS : What’s the Fuzz?

The invitation to the recent Hairball didn’t say you had to have hair to attend. Which is fortunate, given the latest in men’s hairstyles. While done-up drag queens arrived in elaborate corkscrew curls, teased bouffants and all their Scarlett O’Hara finery, the biggest male hair trend at the Artists Alliance Against AIDS fund-raiser was a minimalist one--hair so short it resembles the early Ken doll, which had velour fuzz pasted to his head. (Think Dennis Rodman, but without the fuchsia or green dye jobs.)

Those opting for this length are coming from two directions. For some who’ve participated in the shave-your-head-bald trend over the past few years, this is the grow-out. Louis Huynh, a booker at a modeling agency, said he was letting his scalp go from its cleanshaven state to something warmer and furrier “because it’s winter.” Others simply like this ultra-short crop. Wardrobe stylist Jeffrey Hill, who has a five o’clock shadow all over his head, has a standing Saturday appointment with his barber. The setting on the electric razor is number one, just a breath away from bald.

Magazine editor John Polly had worn his hair thick and wavy all his life and first contemplated shaving it off for a new look. He found the velour head (one-and-a-half on his barber’s blade) a more comfortable alternative. “The skinhead was an allure, but maybe I’m not severe or extreme enough for the bald thing,” he explained. “I like a little layer of hair.”

The women hanging out with all the Ken look-alikes went along with the second-childhood motif by wearing pigtails tied with daisy clips or giant puffed ponytails. Barbie would have approved.