What do Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and actor Michael Cera have in common? For one, theyâre both currently dealing with the repercussions of going blond.
While Cera recently detailed his peroxide regrets on Late Night with Seth Meyers (âMy hair is in a weird place right now,â the actor said), Burrow kicked off NFL training camp by proudly debuting a Targaryen-blond buzz cut. Itâs a newâand already divisiveâchapter for the star QB, who began his rookie season in 2020 with a swoopy, dirty-blond skin fade that anointed him as the teamâs Midwestern Disney prince. In the intervening years, Burrowâs personal style evolution spawned a persona known as Iced-Out Joe Brrr, whose approachable steez inspired local youths to ask their barber for âthe Joe Burrow fadeâ and earned the player a runway modeling gig at Vogue World earlier this summer.
But now thereâs a new Joe Brrr in town, and his name is âSlim Shiesty.â
Courtesy of the Cincinnati Bengals
When the Bengalsâ Instagram account shared photos on Monday of their star player sporting a fuschia T-shirt, tropical-printed shorts, patchwork Ugg slippers, and his uncharacteristically edgy new hairâwith a âGuess whoâs backâ caption, in reference the bleached buzz cut of Eminemâs Slim Shady days, to bootâfans seemed flabbergasted. The straight men of southern Ohio rejoiced. âEvery woman within a 100 mile radius is in shambles,â a top comment reads. âMy wife has returned to me,â says another.
But Darnell Bonner, the Cincinnati Bengalsâ unofficial barber and the man behind both Burrowâs beloved skin fade and fresh blond buzz, is confident the fans will come around. âSome of the guys, theyâre trying to make themselves a little bit more comfortable with this,â Bonner joked to GQ, âbut I don’t know, as time goes on, if that’s going to be the case.â (This isnât the first time Burrowâs gone blond, either; he and his high school teammates bleached their hair after winning their regional finals back in 2014.) After all, the history of thirst leans in Burrowâs favor.
âIf you are going to take the plunge and do it, embrace it. You got to embrace a big change like that,â says Bonner, who maintains a shop just outside the city in nearby Florence, Kentucky and has been cutting Burrowâs hair since his arrival in Ohio. The Bengalsâ favorite barber gave us the scoop on Burrowâs new cutâand how you can ask for it yourself.
GQ: So, whose idea was the blond buzz cut?
Darnell Bonner: Almost a month before we did the buzz cut, [Burrow] reached out to me and [said], âI want to try something new. Shoot me some ideas.â Now, mind you, he always has his own ideas with the haircuts, and this was kind of the first time he put the ball in my court. Actually I was going to send him a picture of a bleached buzz cut, but I’m like, âYou know what? I know he’s not talking this crazy.â So I didn’t suggest it. I sent him a couple ideas. We just did a simple haircut before he flew out to France and Italy for Fashion Week. And he said, âThis is for this week, but next week, I think we’re going to go ahead and try this buzz cut.â So I’m like, âAre you sure? You ready to do this?â Ultimately it was his idea.