I know what you’re thinking: “2008 is calling and it’s asking for its headline back.” But trends are cyclical, even when you really don’t want them to be.
Just look at the countless other looks which have seen an unexpected resurgence in recent times, and blindsided the general public in the process. Whale tails. Flares. Jeans worn under skirts.
And the latest Nughties relic to make a reappearance? The ultra-divisive racoon tail. Once exclusively championed by the kind of late-2000s emo you would find industrial dancing beneath a bridge, racoon tail hair is making its way into the mainstream for 2025.
The change was heralded in by none other than Tate McRae, internet girl crush and pop superstar in the making. McRae debuted the hairstyle as part of her new music video for Sports Car last week, splitting the internet’s opinions firmly into two camps: those who aren’t ready for the revival, and those who couldn’t be happier.
“They have changed over the years,” says Kira Hellsten, a senior stylist at Bleach who has witnessed the comeback first hand. “When I was a kid, [the look] was very much a section that had darker stripes in it, whereas now it can be any colour, and they’ve got some dimension to them, they’re moveable with the hair.”
“It’s being led by Gen Z. Gen Z just tend to favour a less polished look, less put together. It’s a choice they’re making, to not fit in with that clean girl, Kim [Kardashian] aesthetic.”
“It doesn’t need to be done in a big, contrast-y way, you could have one slightly lighter stripe of hair, or a toned down stripe.”
Hellsten compares the more subtle racoon tail hairstyles to the stripe of light drawn onto cartoon characters that highlights where the sun would hit the hair.
“Anime does have a big effect on hair trends, specifically with the younger generation,” she says, “so many of the top stylists for creativity and inspiration are Asian hairdressers from Japan and Korea.”
American singer Caroline Polachek is a great example of this cartoonish, anime-inspired hair, with her halo “splashlights” and straight-edge curtain bangs.
“Raccoon tails are very out there compared to what other people would do,” Hellsten admits. “It’s not regular highlights, it’s not a regular global colour, it’s the complete opposite to what your hair would naturally do. It’s a clear choice that you’ve decided to have your hair look as unnatural as possible.
“Like a dyed buzzcut, or a mullet, those things don’t happen naturally. And anything that comes with a deliberate choice is going to be ‘in’ at some point because we like to see people making bold choices.”
So, will you be donning a raccoon tail?
