Winter Olympians are bringing back this '00s hair trend in full force

Finally, a reason to get into sports…

BEAUTYcrew Beauty Editor / February 22 2022

If you thought the Winter Olympics was just about frolicking in the snow, doing some sick tricks with a pair of skis, or a sporting event frequented by the Jamaican bobsledding team – you better think again. 

Because while the majority of proceedings may be dedicated to mind-blowing shows of athleticism in outrageously low temperatures, there is a retro (as in past decade) beauty trend that’s made an appearance in multiple events this year. 

Yep, that’s right, the casually cool, updo-adjacent hair styling technique known formally as ‘slut strands’ has launched itself from the ashes of the early ‘00s to grace the heads of 2022’s winter Olympians. 

However, the greasy hairstyle of our adolescence-afflicted youth, this is not. 

American snowboarder Maddie Mastro shared the history of the hairstyle in snowboarding by capitalising on the ‘feminine urge’ trend that’s been going viral lately.

“The feminine urge to pull hair strands out of your helmet every day so people know you are a girl,” said Mastro in the video, while her caption simply declared “sl*t strands 4 life”.

Amen sister. 

In fact, the women’s American snowboarding team has gone full throttle with the nostalgic style.

Jamie Anderson’s slut strands could be seen whipping haphazardly in the wind as she went airborne on her snowboard.

Image credit: Getty

Image credit: Getty

Chloe Kim reigned at first place with face-framing strands of caramel bronde hair peeping past her beanie. 

However, the gold medalist recently revealed she would like to have the term ‘slut strands’ revoked from our vernacular. 

"I hate the term," Kim told InStyle. “We need to change the name to beauty strands”. 

“Beauty strands make me feel beautiful, and it's such a cute thing."

Image credit: Getty

Image credit: Getty

But if you thought the ‘00s hair revival was strictly a snowboarder's game, the strands also appear in other sporting disciplines.  

Case in point? Chinese freeskier Eileen Gu, who keeps her strands silky and wispy for an understandably aerodynamic approach, with a mere whisper of hair plastered to the side of her helmet as she hooned down the slopes.

Image credit: Getty

Image credit: Getty

As far as the Olympics goes, we thought we’d have to keep our eyes firmly glued to the pirouetting ice skaters and their perfectly manicured updos to get any kind of hair inspiration. 

But boy were we wrong.  

After some street-friendly hairstyle inspiration? These are some classic updos for medium length hair

Main image credit: Getty

Briar is the Beauty Editor at BEAUTYcrew. Her 'down for anything' attitude has resulted in more than a handful of hair transformations, and she doesn't mind being used as a guinea pig for the industry's most unusual products and treatments. Her work has also appeared on Refinery29, Girlfriend and beautyheaven.