We need to talk about a haircut. Also about identity, and hatred, and maybe about the total end of American civilization — but first about a haircut. You have seen it. It is short on the sides and long on the top. It is clean and tidy, with a military sheen. It’s been popular among young people for several years. But now this haircut is making us ask ourselves, with seriousness that seems unthinkable in 2016: hipster or Nazi? Young city-dwelling men leaving their SoulCycle classes in leftover “I’m With Her” T-shirts. Young white-nationalism enthusiasts leaving a recent conference in Washington, D.C., where several of them performed a Nazi salute. The same haircut. The exact same haircut. In the 1930s, Nazis distinguished themselves by wearing swastikas, an easily identifiable marker that made their odious politics clear. The only defining look of today’s white nationalists — a movement that seeks to form a whites-only state — is the haircut, so popular that the leader of one nationalist group tweets under the handle “Fashy Haircut, ” short for “fascist.” And there’s nothing inherently wrong with the haircut — as noted, lots of other guys are wearing it these days, too. But that’s what makes it scary. Richard Spencer, the carefully crafted face of the self-described “alt-right, ” organized a conference of white-nationalism believers. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) For the past half-decade, the haircut, when worn by hipsters, has been known jokingly as the “Hitler Youth, ” at least according to a 2011 New York Times fashion article, because of its resemblance to the style popular during Germany’s Third Reich. That off-color nickname, one assumes, started in a different political climate, when it seemed we could be a bit cavalier and ironic with such terminology. Back before we started seeing the haircut on literal white nationalists. Promoters of white nationalism — or the “alt-right, ” as some call it — are coming out of the woodwork now. They say they have been emboldened by Donald Trump’s various calls to ban Muslim immigration into this country and deport millions of undocumented Latin Americans. They have a leader in a man named Richard Spencer, who wears the haircut along with his three-piece Brooks Brothers suits. It’s Hitler Youth rebranded as Hitler Yuppie — an insidious way to blend in. “I posted on Facebook yesterday that it’s probably time to think about getting rid of my haircut, ” says Joseph Phelan, a community organizer and anti-racism activist who lives in Brooklyn and acquired the haircut several years ago at an old-fashioned barber shop. Phelan read a profile on Spencer and was dismayed to learn his haircut is fondly if ironically referred to by many wearers as a “fashy.” Young men sporting semi-shaved haircuts at the November conference hosted by Richard Spencer’s National Policy Institute in Washington. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) Phelan thinks it’s useful for white nationalists to sport a costume of sorts, so that they might be recognized by the rest of the population. He knows that being upset about a haircut is really being upset about their insidious infiltration into society. “I really wish they would get off my haircut, and get off my people.” The style has its origins in Victorian England, when it was worn by young hooligans known as “scuttlers, ” but is most commonly affiliated with the Nazi youth movement of the 1930s and ’40s. Adolf Hitler had a version of it — with a floppy, greasy forelock — and so did his close associate Heinrich Himmler, and so did any young man in a Hitler Youth recruitment poster. Apparently, soldiers requested it because it eased the wearing and removing of their helmets. Flash-forward 70-plus years and there were a whole bunch of those haircuts together at the recent conference of Spencer’s National Policy Institute, worn by men who feel their whiteness has been infringed upon by the “cultural Marxism” of the Americas: — IDENTITY EVROPA (@IdentityEvropa) There’s an ironic issue with these men wearing this haircut: Since its long-ago heyday, it has been claimed by others, who are not at all connected to fascist worldview. Quite the opposite. Beginning around 2010 or 2011, it became the haircut of Mackle­more, the Seattle rapper. It became the haircut of several cast members of “Glee, ” as well as David Beckham. Macklemore and DJ/producer Ryan Lewis in Los Angeles in 2014. (Ari Perilstein/Getty Images for T-Mobile) The haircut that long ago appealed to the Nazis became, more recently, the choice of fashionable young liberal men, gay and straight. Celebrities sent their high-and-tights, as they called them, around the globe, spawning a generation of imitators and obligatory trend pieces, which noted in 2011 that it had become the preferred cut for the well-coiffed, well-clad, crunchy cosmopolitan. Brad Pitt, high and tight at the 2014 Oscars. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images) Adam Levine, right, with the requisite supermodel wife and sleek undercut at the 2015 Academy Awards. (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Karlie Kloss in Cannes, 2013. Photo: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images We recently called the short, blunt bob the official haircut of 2017 after seeing a slew of editorials, runways shows and street style snaps featuring the iconic 'do. While bobbed hair always has an air of modernity, there's still something that's undeniably classic about the look. It's no coincidence that a slew of fierce, fashionable females, from Coco Chanel to Anna Wintour, are associated with the bob haircut. So, what is it about this simple coiffure that seems to represent confidence, individuality and high style? On a subconscious level, it still serves as an indicator of a woman's choice to break from tradition. While cropped hair has been worn by women across the globe for thousands of years, beauty ideals for women throughout the majority of Western history have usually included long hair (a standard that's held far more constant than those ascribed to "ideal" body types). Of course, there's also something undeniably sexy about the bob. Vogue summed it up aptly in a 1988 story: "When a woman cuts her hair, she creates fresh erogenous zones and effects." Sexy yet sweet, the haircut is somewhat of a paradox: "childishly demure, yet calculating, quirky, and soignée." [3] The look has also coincided with rapid social and political changes in Western society since the start of the 20th century, although the idea of the rebellious, short-haired woman possibly dates back to Joan of Arc. Flappers helped to perpetuate this image, and, almost a century later, a drastic change in the length of a woman's hair is still known to raise a few eyebrows. In order to better understand its cultural impact, we're looking back at the history of the bob to find out how and why it became a quintessential symbol of feminist fashion and what it says about how women are perceived today. [Left]: "Jeanne D’Arc" by Albert Lynch, 1903, Image: Wikimedia Commons; [Right]: Poster featuring Irene Castle, 1919, Image: Wikimedia Commons Most people trace the popularity of bobbed hair in Western fashion back to the 1920s, thanks to the haircut's close association with the image of the flapper. However, the cigarette-smoking, flask-wielding flapper of the 1920s didn't exactly start this trend. In 1920, the New York Times traced the origins of the bob "epidemic" to 1903, when two female students at Bryn Mawr college appeared with short hair to play basketball. The article also claims that bobbed hair became popular in Greenwich Village between 1908 and 1912, thanks to the influence of "intellectual women" from Russia who used bobbed hair to disguise themselves from police. [5] While the bob haircut may have been sported by small groups of rebellious women decades before, many historians track the start of the trend to a well-known American dancer named Irene Castle, who lopped off her hair for convenience before entering the hospital for an appendectomy in 1914. An article in Vogue from January 1915 mentions that Castle, "did the newest thing in coiffures when she bobbed her hair, " but went on to state that, "there is little likelihood of its general adoption." [1] Oh, Vogue! How wrong you were. By May 1915, the same magazine was featuring advertisements for hair "transformers" that would allow women to try this "latest fad" by providing the visual effect of bobbed hair without permanently sacrificing their long locks. [2] Years before the emergence of the jazz-age flapper, bobbed hair had already started to gain mainstream popularity. Still, most hair dressers were ill-equipped and unwilling to do such a daring chop, and sources indicate that women often resorted to heading to barbershops since barbers were more willing to do such a dreadful deed. [4] [Left]: Louise Brooks, 1927, Photo: Wikimedia Commons; [Right]: Clara Bow, date unknown, Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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Mili Hernandez has short but poignant answers for the myriad questions she’s been receiving this week about her hair. And why did her teammates line up after a recent practice to get their locks snipped, one-by-one? “They care.” The 8-year-old soccer standout’s hair has rocketed her to stardom — and to the center of the debate about gender and sports. Her father and the president of her soccer club said someone accused her team of admitting a boy to an all-girl squad because Mili ‘looks like a boy.’ An 8-year-old girl, Milagros "Mili" Hernandez, and her team are fighting to be reinstated after being disqualified from a soccer tournament by officials who thought Hernandez was a boy. (Reuters) She’s not — she just keeps her hair cut short — but the complaint cost her team the game. Tournament officials stuck to their decision, even though Mili’s father showed up to the tournament with proof that she is, in fact, a girl. Her team, the Azurri Achurros, was disqualified from the final game. There would be no trophies that day. And, with a few snips from a pair of scissors, she received a show of solidarity from her teammates. “Mili is like family to me. She’s part of my team.” Erika Ortez, a 10-year-old who cut off more than six inches of hair Thursday, told the World-Herald. “So I really felt like it was necessary to support her.” — Omaha World-Herald (@OWHnews) Hey Mili! My friends at @PUMA want to send you and your teammates new cleats. Keep doing you! #MiliHernandez #DoYou — Samantha Mewis (@sammymewy) “While Nebraska State Soccer did not oversee the Springfield Tournament, we recognize that our core values were simply not present this past weekend at this tournament and we apologize to this young girl, her family and her soccer club for this unfortunate misunderstanding, ” the association said in a lengthy statement on Twitter. — NEB STATE SOCCER (@NEBStateSoccer) In an email to The Post, tournament director Lanyard Burgett said while there were complaints that a boy was playing on an all-girls team, the three teams that played for the Azzurri soccer clubs were being investigated for swapping players between teams. A separate complaint was made about a boy playing on the girl’s team. But the reason Mili’s team was disqualified was because of the swapping issue, he said, not Mili’s looks. “At no time was a child prohibited from playing because of their looks, ” Burgett’s statement said. “No tournament staff ever said a child was not allowed to play because they looked like a boy… The male player on a female roster was discovered in the middle of working through the player swapping issue and has been incorrectly identified as the reason for dismissal.”

Not only is New York Fashion Week a great source of entertainment, but it provides us *normal* gals with absolute endless beauty and fashion inspo. We are on the hunt for a few ideas to help us hit refresh on our spring style — and that’s especially true for our hair. The gorg models at NYFW absolutely killed the short hairstyle game, and whether you’re already rockin’ cropped locks or about to chop, these eight styles are sure to inspire you (and your stylist) to grab some scissors. 1. Cute and Cropped: Romantic, classic and totally fresh are all perf descriptors of this laid-back haircut. Keep layers long and your length short for a cropped cut that is equal parts cute and sassy. (Photo via Robin Marchant/Getty) 2. Free to Be Curly: Keep the party up top and let those curls loose with this au naturel cut. We love the added height for a high-impact, low-maintenance style. (Photo via Robin Marchant/Getty) 3. That Platinum Life: This beauty is giving us major Bowie vibes. Opt for shaved sides or use products to keep the sides sleek and slicked back. (Photo via Owen Hoffmann/Getty) 4. High and Tight: Femme meets badass with this drastic side-parted ‘do. This side-shaved cut (not to mention the neutral beauty sporting it) brings us back to the ’90s, and we are loving it. (Photo via Victor Virgile/Getty) 5. Mod Squad: Baby doll bangs and this graduated pixie cut make a super fresh spring duo inspired by ’60s mod styles. Leave hair slightly longer in back for extra edge. (Photo via Victor Virgile/Getty) 6. Punkish Pixie: This stunning, ultra-short pixie comes complete with a punk rock pompadour and swagger to match. Just add black liner. (Photo via Bennett Raglin/Getty) 7. Sweet Shag: A super shag-adelic cut with tapered bangs is officially the cut for spring. Take this look to another level, courtesy of a balayage effect on your ends. (Photo via Victor Virgile/Getty) 8. Blunt Bob: This ginger beauty’s blunt haircut is everything we crave in a new ‘do. Long, full bangs paired with a chin-length bob make a statement no matter what you’re wearing. Maybe redheads actually have the most fun of all. (Photo via Victor Virgile/Getty)

A girls youth soccer team was disqualified from a tournament in Nebraska last weekend because of multiple rule infractions, not because of one player’s appearance, according to the tournament director. Omaha’s Azzurri Cachorros girls 11-and-under club team was not allowed to play in their semifinal game of the Springfield Invitational on Sunday. One of the players, 8-year-old Mili Hernandez, and others made national headlines when they claimed they were disqualified because tournament officials saw Hernandez’s short hair and thought she was a boy. “I want her to know it wasn’t about her, ” the volunteer tournament director said of Hernandez. “I’ve got grandkids. I wouldn’t want somebody to do it to them when they play soccer.” Burgett said multiple teams in the Azzurri organization, including Hernandez’s, had been accused of illegally sharing players during the tournament. He also said tournament organizers had received questions from parents of players from opposing teams about why the Azzurri girls 11-and-under team was allowed to use a boy. In investigating both issues, Burgett noticed that the team’s official roster had Hernandez listed as a male. Azzurri director Mo Farivari told espnW that the mistake was made months ago when the organization’s registrar entered the players’ names into the Nebraska State Soccer Assn. system. No one had noticed until now. The decision was made late Saturday to disqualify three Azzurri teams from the tournament. Burgett sent Farivari an email that night listing four reasons for the decision. Three of them had to do with the teams’ illegally sharing players; the other was having a boy playing for a girls team. Burgett didn’t even know what Hernandez looked like at that point, he said, and that wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Gender issue aside, the team still had broken rules regarding the sharing of players, he said. But Farivari isn’t buying it. He told espnW that his teams did share players during the tournament, but they’ve done such at the event in past years and have never been told the practice is against the rules. “The only reason he disqualified them is because Mili looks like a boy and is listed [with] a typo on the roster, ” Farivari told espnW. “I went over this to clarify, but he didn’t want to listen.” Since the story broke, Hernandez has received a lot of support. Soccer stars like Abby Wambach and Mia Hamm are among the many who sent the girl encouraging messages on social media. On Thursday, players from her team cut off portions of their hair to show solidarity with their teammate. Meanwhile, Burgett is getting a different kind of attention, including death threats and intimidating phone calls. “I’ve had angry parents, angry coaches when I’ve refereed, ” he said. “But I’ve never felt that I had to protect myself.”

This article will be updated as new tips & photos come in. I spent a great deal of my mid-teens to late 20s trying to get a good vintage 1930’s/40’s men’s haircut, first à la Swing Kids, and later à la the kind of haircut the swing kids had before they grew it out. This took me quite a lot of trying to explain what I wanted and produced mostly mediocre results. The main reason was I didn’t know how to communicate exactly what I wanted, and during most of that time my stylists had hardly ever done a vintage men’s haircut. Thankfully, men’s vintage-ish haircuts are coming back into mainstream fashion — whether through the influence of Mad Men, or the indie fashion of people like Arcade Fire front man Win Butler, or European soccer/football stars, or Justin Timberlake— and so it should be easier for stylists and barbers to know what you’re talking about when you say you want a men’s vintage cut. Luckily, most styles of the 1930s to 50s have these basics in common: a short back and sides (also known as “high and tight”) and a longer top, especially near the front of the head. However, one should know that there are still a lot of variables at play. Where the variations mostly come in is how high, how tight, how long on top, and how dramatic the fade you want between the sides and top. This basic vintage cut is the same for most hair types; super curly, curly, wavy, straight…they will obviously look different, but you’re still telling your barber the same details. Also, please note my use of the word “vintage” is speaking more about the general spirit of the hair cut. Clearly some of the pictures below are very modern twists on the vintage “short back and sides” style. (Which is what The Art of Vintage Manliness is all about: taking what you like the best in vintage manliness, and making it fit into your modern life.) High & Tight “Tight” is the short back and sides of your haircut, and how tight it is means how short it is. You want to have an idea of what you like so that you can show your barber (better yet, bring a picture, or a collage — we’ll talk about that later). To see how varied the shortness can be, check out the diagram below. (I recommend clicking on it in order to see it full size.) “High” refers to how far up the side of the head you want the short part to go. Here’s a diagram: WARNING: Be careful going into a barber and only saying “give me a high and tight, ” as this is also terminology for a military-style haircut, which will probably take off a lot more than you’re expecting from on top. Again, the best bet is to bring in pictures to your barber/stylist. The Fade The “fade” is how your hair transitions from the short back and sides into the longer top part. This can be done gradually or abruptly: Another aspect of the fade to consider is the line the fade makes across your profile: Length on Top The final big piece of information you will want to give your barber is the length you want on top. For the truly vintage look, you want the front to be longer than the back. However, the difference can be severe or only slight. (Also, you should note that the longer your hair, the harder it will be to manage.) The Back of the Head Finally, there’s the shape of the back of the head. My stylists recommended that, rather than try to explain what you want to happen there, one should bring in some pictures (he said that was probably the best all-around advice for someone trying to tell their stylist what they want).

When it comes to styles we’re coveting madly for Fall, short haircuts with bangs are right up there. The perfect way to marry pixie-like length with the softness and versatility of a face-framing fringe, these close crops are perfect hair inspiration for anyone considering a bold hair move this season. We’re calling our stylists right now; we won’t blame you if you want to do the same. Michelle Williams' side-swept bangs blend seamlessly into her short style. Bonus: this look helps a grown-out pixie avoid the awkward stage. Photo: Getty Images Dianna Agron. Add texture to short hair and bangs with a light tease at the crown and a texturizing spray for sexy bedhead. Lena Dunham. Add spunk to your pixie with choppy asymmetrical bangs over the forehead. Bonus points for major eye makeup. Remember RiRi's red crop? The long bangs in front paired with shorter strands in the back make her short haircut look modern. Ginnifer Goodwin. The Once Upon a Time actress curled her side bangs for an Old Hollywood vibe. Emma Watson. Pair wispy short bangs with face-framing pieces in front of the ears for a simple update. Evan Rachel Wood. Dress up short hair by going super sleek and finishing with finger waved bangs. Carey Mulligan. Create faux bangs with a side part. Pull strands over the forehead and hold in place with a light pomade. Anne Hathaway. The key to keeping long side bangs like Anne's in place? It's all in the blow dry. Use a concentrated nozzle and round brush to sweep hair to the side.

Think back to your last haircut. How’d you feel about it when you walked out of the shop? Disappointed? While your disappointing haircut might have been due to poor barbering, it’s often the case that your poor communication with the barber was at least partly to blame. Barbers can’t read minds. If you don’t tell them exactly what you want, you’re going to get whatever haircut the barber feels comfortable giving. For example, I knew an old barber (and I’m talking old) who’d give every customer a crew cut if the customer didn’t explicitly say exactly how he wanted his hair cut. If you want to avoid this fate, you have to learn how to talk to your barber. But telling a barber what you want can be intimidating for a man, especially with all the special lingo they throw around. Well, never fear. I called up registered master barber Steve Hankins from Red’s Classic Barbershop in Indianapolis, IN to get the scoop on how to confidently communicate with your barber. With his tips, we’ve created a comprehensive guide on what to say to your barber so you get exactly the haircut you want next time you plop down in that chair. Let’s get to it. Tell him what general style you want When you first sit down in the barber’s chair, try to give him a general description of the style you want. Are you looking for a crew cut? Are hoping you to look like Don Draper? Perhaps you want a more modern style. You might want to bring in a photo of the look you’d like to achieve. Once you’ve got this covered, you can then get into the specifics. Tell him how much you want taken off and where After you tell your barber what general style you want, tell him exactly how much you want taken off. Don’t just say, “Give me a trim, Mac” or “Just a little off the top.” One barber’s trim is another barber’s close shave. To avoid getting your hair cut too short, Steve says to be specific with how much you want taken off. “Short and long are all relative from barber to barber, ” he says. So say things like “an inch off the top” or “a quarter inch off the side.” If you don’t know exactly how much you want taken off, let your barber know you don’t know. What he’ll probably do is just cut a bit off to see if you like it. Then if you want it shorter, you can go shorter. If you’re a clippers man, memorize the numbers of the guards you use. Then you can just walk into the barber and tell him “I want a 2 on the sides and a 3 on the top.” Tell him if you want a taper When you’re at the barber, you’ll likely hear the word “taper” thrown around quite a bit. If you’ve been nodding your head all this time and saying “Yeah, give me that!” even though you have no idea what a taper even is, here’s a quick rundown on what a taper means when it comes to haircuts. A taper gradually changes your hair length from the top of the head down to the nape of the neck. The taper usually starts off long at the top and gets shorter as you go down to the neck. The length of the taper can vary. You can have a really long taper or a short taper. Most men’s haircuts involve some sort of taper, but some men prefer that their hair length be the same all around their head. Make sure to tell the barber your preference. Tell him what kind of neckline (or nape) you want A lot of men don’t think about how their neckline looks because they hardly ever see it, but the masses of people who walk and stand behind you get to eyeball it every day. If you don’t keep it clean and trim, a great haircut can suddenly look unkempt. When choosing what sort of neckline you want, you have three options: blocked, rounded, and tapered. Each has their pros and cons.

The Navy is temporarily halting the practice of cutting female recruits' hair short when they arrive at boot camp. Some female sailors have complained that the short haircuts they receive do not prepare them for entering the service, when longer hairstyles are allowed. Now Navy recruits will be able to select any hairstyle that meets the service's grooming regulations. "This shift will align the Navy with every other armed forces service, which do not require female accessions to cut their hair, " the Navy said. The comes after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel Chuck Hagel Spy agencies changed rules, making it easier to unmask members of Congress Pentagon withholding nuclear weapons inspection results: report Lobbying World MORE ordered a review of the military's hair regulations after some female soldiers charged the Army's hair policies were discriminatory. "We are constantly considering fleet feedback and policy changes to improve training and quality of life during initial accession and indoctrination into the Navy, " said Rear Adm. Rich Brown, the commander of Naval Service Training Command (NSTC).