It wasn’t called “the broccoli haircut” then, but it reminds me a lot of some haircuts from around 1990-ish, and WP says that that it’s just a revival of some 1980s/1990s styles (though none of the WP examples look that close to the broccoli haircut to me, or quite like what I’m thinking of). I don’t find it objectionable. It feels a little disconcerting to see so many people that look like they’re out of the 1980s running around all of a sudden, I suppose.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broccoli_haircut

During the early and mid 2010s, the permed undercuts of the 1980s and 1990s underwent a revival.[10] The trend was inspired by hairstyles popular during the New Romantic movement of the 1980s, such as mullets and shags.[6] By 2018, possibly having been popularized by rapper Little T (Joshua Tate), the hairstyle had gained recognition in the UK as the “Meet me at McDonald’s haircut”.[2] The hairstyle achieved media exposure after a school in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk banned pupils from possessing the style.[11][12]

During the COVID-19 lockdowns of the early 2020s, many younger Gen Z boys in the UK and United States experimented with new hairstyles at home before the barbers reopened. In 2020, Dillon Latham, a then-15-year-old TikToker, posted a clip of himself getting a perm in the style of the broccoli haircut, which prompted its early spread among teenage and tween boys. It soon became more a trend in 2021 after being worn by TikTokers such as Noah Beck, Bryce Hall, Harry Jowsey, and Jack Doherty.[5][4] That same year, it became an Internet meme and a subject of scorn online, beginning with a 4chan thread that coined the phrase “Zoomer perm” to describe it.[13]

The broccoli haircut was especially popular by 2022 and gained further attention online in 2024 when a photo of American actor David Corenswet on the set of James Gunn’s 2025 film Superman showed him with what many online described as a broccoli haircut, which was mocked by social media users.[6] GQ’s Alex Nino Gheciu argued that the broccoli haircut had reached its peak by 2024.[5] Also in 2024, Marie Claire’s Samantha Holender called the haircut “the TikTok tween boy hallmark”.[4]

EDIT: What I’m thinking of looks more like this “taper fade French crop”:

To my eyes, at least, looks pretty similar.

I think it’s cute!

Every generation has their “bi-level” haircut. From the bowl-cut to the faux hawk to the long bangs/short sides emo “swoop”–all the way to this, the 20s broccoli. There’s also sometimes the mullet they try to pass off as a “wolf cut.” Sure, kid.

I swear the artist used Tom Cruise’s face as inspiration.

Edit:

Mines slightly lighter, but otherwise same.