Can the world possibly recover from Justin Bieber's haircut?
The teen idol goes for a more adult look, and shocks his young fanbase. Will the scars ever heal?

A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
Teen idol Justin Bieber made the momentous decision to cut his hair, ditching his famed blond shag last weekend for a closer cropped, more mature-looking 'do. After Bieber broke the news on Twitter and followed up with pictures, many of his tween fans took to Twitter to cry foul; an unconfirmed report claims that 80,000 fans even unsubscribed to his Twitter feed. (Even if true, Bieber has retained a healthy 7.5 million Twitter followers.) Two days after his earthshaking announcement, the newly shorn star was still defending his decision on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," where he shrugged off fan criticism and gave the talk-show host a box of his hair to donate to charity. Here are some choice reactions to the haircut heard 'round the world:
He looks familiar...
"Good news," tweets @DirtySpaceNews. "Justin Bieber doesn't look like Ellen Page anymore. Bad news: he looks like Emma Watson."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But still not quite masculine
Bieber's old haircut drew much notice for its feminine look, says Mog.com. The new one is "still curiously tousled, and it still has Brought to you by Ellen DeGeneres written all over it. So if this was the Bieb's attempt at asserting his burgeoning masculinity, better luck next time."
His tween fans reacted with total rationality
"Apparently, when he announced news of his new 'do, 80,000 little girls collectively punched their computers, stomped on their Bratz dolls, and, after calming down and thinking rationally, decided the best thing to do was to stop following him on Twitter," says Kristen Wong at Hollyscoop.
His hair will save the world
Bieber's hair will be auctioned off for charity, says Jeff Labrecque at Entertainment Weekly, so "even in death, the Hair will continue to be a beacon of goodness for the world." Concerned that the precious bounty will fall into the wrong hands? Fear not. "Rogue governments and record executives will be no match for 13-Year-Old Girls With Daddy's Credit Card. It is these young patriots that will keep the Hair and our way of life safe."
Get a life, people
The world is fascinated with Bieber and his haircut, as evidenced by its popularity on Google Trends, the trend-tracking service that consistently "shows our national seamy underbelly," says Alexandra Petri at The Washington Post. Americans, please: "Take a moment to reconsider your life."
Rationality rears its head again
"NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!WHY?!WHY?!WHY?!WHY?! WHY?!WHY?!…….BUT I STILL LOVE YOU!!!!143 AKA I LOVE YOU JB!!!!!!!!!" remarked one poster on JustinbBieberzone.com (as quoted by Salon).
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
-
Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 23 September 2023
The Week’s daily digest of the news agenda, published at 8am
By The Week Staff Published
-
Pinochet’s coup in Chile 50 years on
The Explainer Half a century on, the former leader still sharply divides opinion in his home country
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Week Unwrapped: Ghost tankers, loyalty cards and contempt
Podcast Should we be worried about illicit oil tankers? What are the limits to protests outside court? And are supermarket loyalty schemes all they seem?
By The Week Staff Published