hubba hubba

Now Is a Great Time for Teen Heartthrob Hair

Photo: Getty Images

The word “heartthrob” sounds outdated these days — foreign, even. This is probably because we’re finally comfortable just admitting that something, like a dude or possibly a duck, makes us horny. But sometimes it’s still useful to use the term, since it can feel a little questionable to talk about being horny over someone born in the mid-to-very-late ’90s (like many of today’s heartthrobs.)

So what makes today’s heartthrob a heartthrob, other than fame and birth date? Urban Dictionary’s current definitions repeatedly reference the phrase “very good looking,” descriptions of people “swooning” as a result, and casual mentions of the K-pop boy band BTS. But further research has shown that a many of the 20-somethings that are getting everyone totally soaked have something else very identifiable in common. That thing is their hair.

Now, the majority of aforementioned heartthrobs BTS all have the same floppy, middle-parted hairstyle that characterized “heartthrob hair” of the ’90s (your Leo DiCaprios, your Shawn Hunters, your JTTs). But this decade has also spawned its very own updated version of “heartthrob hair.” Today’s heartthrob hair seems to be:

  • Dark
  • Pretty wavy
  • Strategically disheveled but noticeably styled
  • Damp, or perhaps recently dried
  • Pretty shiny
  • Good-smelling, or at least it looks that way (I have not tested this theory)
  • On the head of someone who looks like they were probably on the Disney Channel after you stopped watching it

You may not know who these “heartthrobs” are, what these “hearttrobs” do, or what social platform catapulted them to “heartthrob status,” but one thing is for certain: you know they’re a “heartthrob” because they all pretty much have the same hair and that hair looks great. For example…

Shawn Mendes

Photo: Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic

(He plays guitar and sings very well. Spawned from Vine.)

Charles Melton

Photo: Jim Spellman/WireImage

(He is on Riverdale.)

Timothée Chalamet

Photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage

(You know who this is.)

Zayn Malik

Photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage

(Used to be in that one boy band from X Factor.)

Noah Centineo

Photo: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic

(This guy.)

Joel Pimentel

Photo: Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images for LARAS

(Is in the boy band CNCO from the show La Banda.)

Cole Sprouse

Photo: Amanda Edwards/WireImage

(Used to be on Disney with his twin. Is now on Riverdale.)

Avan Jogia

Photo: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic

(Was on a Freeform show that got cancelled.)

Swoon-inducing, indeed. Guess which one is 19!

Now Is a Great Time for Teen Heartthrob Hair