Sam Bowers shares about her son’s ginger mullet and his decision to shave it off…
“I bet you wouldn’t do it,” I teased my son Jayce, nine.
“If you give me 50 bucks I will,” he laughed.
“It’s a deal,” I smiled. I had just convinced my son to grow his gorgeous red locks into a mullet.
For the next year, I watched my boy’s short hair grow into a luscious mane.
Read more: Mullets put our tiny town back on the map
“Here you go,” I said, handing the $50 to Jayce a year later.
“Thank you,” he beamed. “I think I’ll keep going.”
Over the next three years, Jayce’s hair grew into the most impressive mullet I’d ever seen. Everywhere we went, people stared.
On holiday in Thailand, locals treated Jayce like a superstar.
“Can I touch your hair?” they would beg.
Jayce’s hair required more maintenance than my own. Washing it three times a week, he even had a special shampoo, conditioner and hairbrush.
It was longer than most of the girls’ hair in his class, and he had to follow the same hair guidelines they did.
“I’m sick of having to tie my hair up every day,” Jayce would moan.
One day last year, after his mullet had reached 40cm, he was stopped by a woman on the street.
“Other people would love to have that hair colour,” she told him.
This set Jayce thinking.
“People who have had chemotherapy deserve a second chance to have hair,” he explained to me. “I want to cut off mine and make it a fundraiser for kids with cancer.”
I wasn’t surprised. My Jayce was always thinking of others.
“That’s a beautiful idea,” I encouraged him.
We shared about his upcoming chop on Facebook, raising money for Kids with Cancer Foundation Australia.
Before the cut, Jayce entered his mullet into the National Mulletfest Championships 2023.
“I really think I can win,” he said, beaming.
In April 2023, he proved himself right, winning his heat in the Rockhampton Mulletfest Competition and qualifying for the grand final in Kurri Kurri, NSW.
Last December, we took off on our three-day road trip to the competition. Jayce competed against 10 other kids for the best mullet in his age group.
Standing in the crowd at the end of the day, I couldn’t believe it when Jayce won the People’s Choice award for the most loved mullet at the competition.
“You did it,” I cried, wrapping him in a big hug.
He couldn’t keep the smile off his face the whole 1300km drive back to Gladstone.
Two weeks later, Jayce reached his goal of raising $4000 for the Kids with Cancer Foundation.
It was time for his ginger locks to find their new owner.
Jayce sat in our backyard and our extended family all came around to say goodbye to his mullet.
I felt emotional seeing my boy transform into a young man with his new short hair.
“How do you feel?” I sobbed when it was over.
“A lot lighter,” Jayce quipped.
Wigs for Kids were able to give several children a new head of hair from Jayce’s prized mullet.
We just hope they don’t mind ginger!
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