Kurt Cobain would have turned 50 today — a bittersweet occasion that prompted his only child, Frances Bean Cobain, to take to Instagram with a hand-written note. “You are loved and you are missed,” the 24 year old wrote, putting into words the void that Nirvana’s frontman left for an entire generation raised on grunge. More than the personification of brooding ’90s angst, Cobain’s Gen X-defining influence transcended music, his iconic mohair-blend cardigan and messy, bottle-blonde bob living on in the collective zeitgeist as much as his legendary MTV Unplugged performance.
But before Cobain inspired boys and girls alike to reach for the bleach, the rebellious allure of a grown-out dye job permeated artistic movements from New Wave cinema to Andy Warhol’s Factory. French sex symbol Brigitte Bardot’s hint of regrowth could have just as easily pointed to a summer spent basking under the St.-Tropez sun as a missed salon appointment, but Edie Sedgwick’s two-toned crop felt as gleefully exaggerated as her heavily mascara-ed lashes.
Once the ’70s hit their stride, dark roots became a symbol of the urban underground. Take punk’s Marilyn Monroe, Debbie Harry, whose DIY platinum bob and inky roots toughened up her cherubic lips and razor-sharp cheekbones, or the infamous groupie Nancy Spungen, whose fried blonde curls proudly revealed a double dose of peroxide. A “Material Girl”–era Madonna carried the look into the ’80s, complete with un-tweezed raven eyebrows, and a teenage Drew Barrymore helped usher the grunge beauty statement into the mainstream.
These days, hair chameleons like Sky Ferreira nod to the look’s rocker roots (literally), while Sarah Jessica Parker, who jump-started its natural-looking cousin, the “bronde” trend, during her Carrie Bradshaw years, continues to riff on the look to this day.
In honor of Cobain’s birthday, here’s to the eternal downtown cool of a few inches of regrowth.
