"Kelce Cut" Has Newtown Barber Shop Buzzing With Excitement

NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — The hottest new trend in haircuts has Bowen’s Barber Shop buzzing with excitement these days.

Owner and celebrity barber Tracey Bowen-Tobin reports that requests for the “Travis Kelce cut” have surged in recent weeks at the small family-owned shop at the Newtown Depot Shopping Center at 20 Richboro Road.

The Kelce cut is named after Travis Kelce, who plays tight end for the Super Bowl-bound Kansas City Chiefs and who has gained wider stardom from his high-profile relationship with pop singing sensation Taylor Swift.

“It all started with Taylor. And now it’s taken over,” said Bowen-Tobin of the latest haircut trend sweeping the nation. “It's not just in Kansas City. It's all over. Everyone wants the Kelce."

The irony is the haircut, known in barber circles as the fade cut, has been around since the beginning of barbering, said Bowen-Tobin. "But because it’s Travis and he’s become an icon, it’s taking off, which is fun to see.”

The fade cut, or Kelce cut, leaves the hair slightly longer on top and includes a fade down to skin on the sides.

“It’s clean. It’s fresh. But it has style because it has that nice fade to skin," said Bowen-Tobin. "It is literally wash, put a little product on top if you want to mess it up a little and then you walk out the door and you go. It's a hairstyle that can look good on anybody and any age can pull it off. It's in style."

Tracey Bowen-Tobin works on a haircut at Bowen's Barber Shop. (Alexandru Brandon Bruschini - Medialogy Co.)

Bowen said she has done more than 10 'Kelce cuts' in the past few weeks ranging from middle schoolers to customers in their 30s.

"We are definitely getting asked a lot for the 'Kelce cut' in our shop. Clients show us pictures and want the cut," said Bowen-Tobin who has cut hair professionally for celebrities in New York, including Ryan Arcidiacano who plays for the New York Knicks.

"It's that Swifty influence," she adds, surmising that there might be a lot of Swifties out there influencing the decision to get the cut.

“It’s actually been fun," Bowen-Tobin said of the Kelce phenomenon. "We’re so used to seeing long, messy hair. Now we’re seeing the trends shifting back to the shorter cut on top with the fade on the side. That had went away because everyone was wearing their hair longer.”

With the run up to the Super Bowl, the Kelce cut is getting a run for its money at the Newtown
shop, which has experienced an upsurge in requests for the Patrick Mahomes cut. Mahomes is the quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Here's a Mahomes cut that Tracey Bowen-Tobin did last week for a customer. (Alexandru Brandon Bruschini - Mediaology Co.)

“I had a client come in. He was going to a dance and wanted to look sharp. He wanted that Patrick Mahomes vibe going on. And he had the exact hair for it.

"It’s funny how cuts like that just take off,” said Bowen-Tobin, noting that other trends through the years have included Phillies baseball player Bryce Harper and professional soccer player David Beckham. Beckman, she said, probably had the longest staying power.