Like all official sports teams, professional hockey players wear uniforms when playing sanctioned games. This includes jerseys, regulation skates, headgear, and hockey sticks. However, hockey players, more than any other group of athletes, seem to have developed an unofficial off-ice uniform: hockey hair.

Hockey hair for group cohesion

As a group, hockey players are often seen as unruly and aggressive. While all athletes, to some degree, are also associated with these characteristics, hockey players are particularly infamous for their tendency to fight amongst themselves. Often, hockey games are as much about player interactions as it is about a team winning or losing. The fights are a kind of spectacle that, while entertaining viewers, creates a potentially dangerous view of aggressive behavior between players.

So how does hockey players’ hairstyles fit into this dynamic?

For starters, hockey hair is a loose, swept-back style in which the hair flows back from the forehead. The fact that it is a medium/long hairstyle is significant in itself, as longer lengths on men are often associated with unruly figures. However, the prevalence of the style among so many team members alters this association in one key way: it provides a common identity for the group.

Group identity through long, flowing hair

The result of a group of rebellious, aggressive men with similar hairstyles, is a unit that transcends the uniform worn on the ice. The style’s ubiquity on virtually every NHL team marks the style as a reminder that while on opposite sides, the members play the same game. This is especially important for players, considering the worrying view of aggressive behavior on ice rinks by coaches, referees and even spectators.

Role of the unit in aggressive behavior

A 2001 study on the perception of aggression in minor league hockey players and coaches shows an interesting change in how certain behaviors are more tolerated with age. As players progress to the next age group (Atom, Peewee, Bantam), they saw hostile aggression as less of an issue. The worrying trend suggests a lack of awareness that other players on opposing teams are the same. Rather, it shows a perception of the other as an obstacle to success.

An important characteristic of hockey hair, also known as “Bro Flow”, is that it is long enough that it can be seen peeking out from under the regulation helmets worn during games. This means that other players can see that under the expected jersey number and last name identifiers, the opposing player under the kit is a living, breathing person. This can cause a player to think before slamming another player into a wall in an overly hostile manner.

In short, the Bro Flow look presents a unique phenomenon among a group of infamously aggressive athletes. The free-spirited expression, often associated with long hairstyles on men, is tempered by the group dynamic, resulting in an overall unity among the players.