News broke on December 4th that Keoghan and Sabrina Carpenter were “taking a break” (ie. over). Rumours then started swirling that Barry Keoghan had cheated on Carpenter with TikToker Breckie Hill. He was immediately downgraded from loveable Saltburn weirdo to potential dirtbag,

Sabrina Carpenter’s hair is, of course, so incredible that it’s officially one of the most requested hairstyles everywhere. But Barry has taken the opportunity to make a hair U-turn of his own, continuing a trend we’ve seen men participate in all year: the breakup haircut.

Are Celebrity Men Dominating Women’s Fields?

Recently, a TikTok trend has been celebrating “women dominating male fields.” It refers to women exhibiting the bad behaviour in a relationship we typically associate with straight men; whether that’s ghosting, gaslighting or generally being “not that serious.” But this year, men have been dipping their toes in well-established female relationship territory with the breakup haircut. Or, at least the famous ones have.

Lived a blessed life and need the breakup haircut explained to you? It’s the kind of dramatic haircut you get when your relationship has fallen apart, and you feel compelled to assume a new identity. You might be seized by a sudden urge to get a pixie cut or fringe or change your hair colour. It’s faster than changing your name and moving states, but it has frequently fraught results.

The breakup cut has historically been represented in breakup movies and memes as the terrain of straight women. But this year, male celebrities have been smashing glass ceilings and jumping on the breakup cut themselves.

Celebrity Men Who Have Gotten The Breakup Haircut

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Barry demonstrated this just days ago when he emerged for the first time post news of the breakup. DeuxMoi, who have been hot on his heels after releasing the cheating rumours, posted a photo of him with a “couldn’t wait for a hair appointment” new style.

This turned out to be a beat-up. TMZ confirmed Barry Keoghan is currently filming Crime 101. Allegedly this is an adaptation of Don Winslow’s novella of the same name and not a documentary film about the many ways he wronged Sabrina Carpenter.

But it did prompt us to think about the male post-breakup celebrity hair transformations we’ve seen this year.

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We consider Ben Affleck the elder statesman of the breakup haircut. Following the news that his wife and second-time lover, Jennifer Lopez, had filed for divorce, Affleck was spotted out and about with a faux hawk. This would be bad news for a guy in his 30s, and it’s worse news for a 52-year-old father of three.

Harry Styles also made waves after shaving off his famously lush head of hair with a buzzcut (much to fans’ horror) in late November last year. He was spotted with then-girlfriend Taylor Russel at a U2 concert. By late February 2024, People were sharing photos of Styles sporting a new look. This wasn’t alarming in and of itself; natural hair growth is a thing. What did ping on our radar, though, was the “quiff,” which looked to us suspiciously like a faux hawk.

While he and Taylor Russel didn’t confirm their split until the following month, we can say a faux hawk is an excellent indicator or trigger for the end of a relationship.

It’s been a tough year for love in Hollywood this year and we’ve seen plenty of bad behaviour from men, but we do hope we’ll continue to see them smash this particular glass ceiling in the new year.

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