Asian Americans on TikTok are showing off their childhood haircuts inspired by ‘Dora the Explorer’
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Asian American creators on TikTok are realizing they may have had similar if not the same haircut as other creators of Asian descent during childhood.
The “behind every Asian girl there is…” trend gained popularity in early July, as many Asian American women took to the platform to showcase a relatively niche haircut they seemed to have — one that, for Gen Z-ers, resembles that of the fictional Dora Márquez of Nickelodeon’s “Dora the Explorer.” And while the haircut isn’t limited to just girls, female-identifying Asian American creators are the ones that are getting in on the trend. In fact, there’s even a Tumblr page dedicated to Asian bowl cuts.
On July 17, North Carolina-based creator Anya Rinracha (@anyarinracha) shared childhood photos of her popular ‘do.
“it’s a canon event,” she claims.
“Me being Latina and also had this phase. I looked more like Willy wonka tho,” @dailyalissa commented.
“HAHA this is how you’ll exist in my head forever i’m sorry anya,” @emily.miller44 wrote.
“REAL LMFAOO,” @sophia__yang replied.
Samantha Liao, the millennial blogger behind “Diary of a Quiet Asian Girl,” previously penned a piece dedicated to the Asian bowl cut. Here, Liao makes mention of its decade-spanning popularity.
“The Asian bowl haircut is defined as a hairstyle that closely resembles wearing a bowl on your head. And some parents really do stick a bowl over their kids’ head and cut around it. Other times, parents just wing it,” Liao writes. “Asian kids have basically been sporting this hairstyle since the beginning of time. I don’t know if anyone truly knows the story behind the first bowl haircut…but over time, it just sort of became a thing.”
New York City-based writer and editor Lisa Wong Macabasco, when interviewed for a Slate piece, jokingly called bangs “de rigueur among Asian kids” because “all Asian parents find out at the annual Asian Parent Conference that you can just put a bowl on your kids’ heads and cut around it.”
In fact, the name of Crystal Ung’s company, Bowlcut, which is dedicated to creating sauces inspired by Asian American upbringings and family recipes, was directly inspired by the iconic cut.
“Bowl cuts are very popular in Asian cultures, and one theory I have is that it’s perceived as cute,” explains Bowlcut co-founder Crystal Ung. “In Japan, there’s a whole culture around kawaii — cute, lovable, and adorable. Kawaii culture gained traction in the US among Asian Americans and non-AAPI. In the 90s, the bowl cut took on many variations — like the mushroom — and became quite iconic, like in Dumb & Dumber.”
Many TikTokers continue to share their renditions of the “behind every Asian girl there is…” trend.
On July 16, a creator who goes by the username @supreme.gurungg shared her “coconut head” hairdo, courtesy of her mother.
Axlly Feng (@deffnotfengg), on July 14, provided proof of their “dora cut phase.”
That same day, a TikTok user who goes by the name of @spidermaniuvr paired a current photo with a few from childhood that showed off her bowl cut with bangs.
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