Getting the flick.Every girl’s real obsession right now is the Allie Hayes haircut. Mika Abdalla’s long hair bounces like a shampoo ad, those bangs fall like they were placed by God, and we haven’t been this thirsty for a haircut since The Rachel. Girls on Instagram are trying to DIY their bangs. A word from Millennial aunties, who tried the Amélie: This never ends well.
In good spirits. Collagen smoothies and protein lattes are blah. In China, young people have been hanging out at “barmacies”, or bars inspired by traditional Chinese medicine. Mixologists conduct diagnoses and whip up cocktails for users. There’s bourbon and goji berries for liver health, yellow wine with jasmine for insomnia. You can get tipsy while pretending it’s good for your health. Will this fix us?
Dating antibodies. In the US, platforms such as Unjabbed and Unjected have been organising meet-ups for anti-vaxxers. This is so that they don’t accidentally date someone who (gasp!) took the Covid vaccine. Perfect for the rest of us. This is natural selection at its finest. Wear your mask in case you bump into them IRL.
Deep in prayer. BTS tickets get sold out so fast, that some fans are praying to the Taoist god of love, Yue Lao, for help. In Taipei, Taiwan, fans have been leaving offerings at the Bangka Lungshan Temple: Army lightsticks, plushies and concert seat maps. Yue Lao probably never expected that his powers would be used for this.
Feeling FOMO. Someone check on the influencers. New DCGA guidelines prohibit recording Reels and taking photos in sensitive areas of Indian airports. So, no selfies at the boarding gate or doing garba on the tarmac. Content creators everywhere are crying. Is it really a vacation if Indians can’t interrupt other tourists or flout security norms to make Reels?
Charged up. Hyrox season is here. We’re still trying to figure out what a farmer’s carry is. But Irish Instagram account @Joe.Ie has a news-clip-style video shows that people are using the energy generated by the rowing, lunges and sled pushes, to power homes and charge electric cars. It’s satire. But it almost seems doable.
Not kicked. First came Girl Math. Then Girl Dinner. Now, we’re doing Girl Football. Fashion magazines are putting out guides for women on how to wear a football jersey if you don’t know what FIFA stands for. It’s a weirdly patronising genre, considering that there are entire women’s leagues, national teams and fan communities. But go on, mansplain the offside rule again.
In meow mode. Lonely at your desk? Download a pixel cat for company. Comnyang lives on your desktop, tracks your mouse with its eyes, hunts your cursor and kneads its own tiny keyboard as you type. Pet its head with your cursor and it purrs. When you scroll, it unspools a roll of toilet paper with its paw. You can even customise it to match your IRL cat, or the cat you wish you had. No litter tray to clean, even.
From HT Brunch, June 13, 2026
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