Travis Kelce’s barber looks back at the brouhaha over Chiefs star’s hairstyle
You don’t have to be on social media for long before coming across something disturbing.
Even with that caveat, professor Christine Sarteschi of Chatham University shared a court record on X (formerly Twitter) that was particularly unsettling.
A person claiming to be the husband of superstar singer Taylor Swift wanted the court’s help in reuniting with her. The defendant is listed as Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
“The person who wrote this is very unwell. I will let you read it for yourself,” Sarteschi wrote. “Thank goodness she has strong security.”
Kelce has beefed up security, too. His barber, Patrick Regan, talked about that on the “Your Day Off” podcast.
“She’s a good girlfriend to my friend, so it’s pretty cool,” Regan said when asked about Swift. “I guess it doesn’t seem too crazy to me. However, things have changed, you know, he had to change houses. So things have changed for me. Now I have to drive further and there’s more security.
“Usually, you know, Travis is one of my bros. So it’s easy, I used to just go sleep at his house every weekend. So things kind of changed a little bit now.”
Regan said he’s happy about how Kelce’s stardom has gone to a new level since he began dating Swift.
The podcast co-hosts then asked when a wedding would be held.
“Hopefully soon,” Regan said.
The next question: How many plus-one requests has Regan received?
“We’ll see when they announce it,” Regan said.
A co-host noted: “He did say when, not if.”
‘The Fade’
Speaking of how things have changed for Regan, he also talked about the brouhaha surrounding “The Fade” hairstyle that Kelce has sported. The New York Times wrote about its popularity, and some were irked that a hairstyle that’s been around for decades was being attributed to Kelce.
At Super Bowl LVIII Opening Night, Kelce said he was displeased by the story, especially because February was Black History Month. “The Fade” has long been popular with Black men.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” Kelce said. “And to do it on Feb. 1, to throw me to the wolves like that, that was messed up, man. I don’t want anything to do with that one, man.”
The headline for the Times story was “They’ll take the Travis Kelce — hairdo, that is.” A secondary headline said: “Not since Jennifer Aniston has a haircut become so popular. Barbers in America and abroad, are being inundated with requests for ‘the Travis Kelce.’”
Regan was shocked by the angry response from some people.
“The New York Times, they didn’t mention me at all, but they did a story that Travis Kelce is making ‘The Fade’ popular,” Regan said. “Basically that’s what they said is Travis is making ‘The Fade’ popular. The crazy thing is I don’t think the New York Times said that, but it started getting into — you know how stuff gets lost in the media. It got to that point where it was just like they’re saying, like, the New York Times said Travis made ‘The Fade’ popular, you know. And it just went crazy after that.”
Regan said he was interviewed by multiple media outlets after that initial story.
“The first thing I would say is, look, we didn’t make ‘The Fade’ popular, it’s been popular for a hundred years,” Regan said. “That’s been a look for a hundred years and that’s what I would say on it. But ... I started seeing articles of stuff I didn’t even say. It was pretty crazy, the good and the bad. It was wild.”
Regan initially thought the stories about his haircut for Kelce were great. But then things turned ugly.
“Once ... it started becoming a race thing, I’m like, damn, maybe I should have said more about the history of ‘The Fade,’” he said. “Because, of course, the African American culture made ‘The Fade’ popular for years. ...
“The funny thing is we’ve been doing the same exact fade the same exact way for six years. And why is it only getting popular now? Obviously because Taylor Swift, who’s an amazing person,” Regan said. “But that’s like we’ve been doing the same haircut for years and it’s just coming out now that it’s popular, so it’s pretty funny and ironic.”
Watching with Taylor
Regan has been coming to Chiefs games for years but there’s been more focus on Kelce’s suite at Arrowhead Stadium since Swift started attending.
“It’s been cool going to games with her and we get a whole separate box now,” Regan said. “We’re right in the middle of the field. It’s pretty cool. She’s really into the games. She’s a football fan now, which is really cool.”
This story was originally published June 4, 2024 at 9:32 AM.
