
A woman displays a Croydon facelift in
Moscow.
In
English slang, a 'Croydon facelift' (sometimes 'Council facelift', 'Essex facelift' or, on
Merseyside, 'Scrawped' or in
Northern Ireland a '
Millie Facelift') is a particular
hairstyle worn by young
women. The hair is pulled back tight and tied in a
bun or
ponytail at the back. The supposed result is that the
skin of the
forehead and
face are pulled up and back, producing the effects of a
facelift.
Traction alopecia can result from this hairstyle.
This hairstyle is particularly fashionable among certain young women in England, and is portrayed in the
media as belonging to young women from the lower
social classes, particularly the so-called
chav culture. Hence the term is considered derogatory because it portrays people from
Croydon as being lower class. ''Croydon'' can be replaced by the name of any unfashionable residential area.
References
★ ''Brewer's Britain and Ireland'', compiled by John Ayto and Ian Crofton,
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005, ISBN 0-304-35385-X
★
"Teened up for tribal ID parade", Times Educational Supplement, August 5,
2005
★
Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Cole accused of sporting the Croydon Facelift on a UK fashion and style blog February 12,
2007