About

The Side Part vs. Middle Part Debate is a viral debate primarily found on TikTok which stems from the belief that side part hairstyles are only worn by "old people," typically referring to Millennials, and middle parts by "young people," typically meaning Gen Z. The belief became a popular topic of debate in early 2021 and is closely related to the belief that skinny jeans are canceled, which spread around TikTok during the same timeframe.

Origin

It's unknown who first made the claim on TikTok that side parts are for old people. The belief seems to have spread gradually over time due to a number of factors, including influence from popular TikTokers, videos favoring middle parts, the "Middle Part Challenge" and a natural shift in fashion trends.

TikTok Influence

It's possible that the popularity of TikToker Charli D'Amelio, who reached over 100 million followers in 2020, partially inspired others on the platform to get middle parts due to her influence. To evidence this, on February 25th, 2020, TikToker^[2] @bilintinamakeup uploaded a tutorial on how to part your hair like Charli's, garnering over 13 million views in a year (shown below).

Apart from Charli D'Amelio, TikTokers Addison Rae, Loren Gray, and Bella Poarch, who are all among the most followed on the platform, often wear middle parts (examples shown below).^[16][17]

The Middle Part Challenge

On July 29th, 2020, TikToker^[1] @missladygleep posted a video where she said, "Prove me wrong, but I don't think that there is a single person who looks better with a side part than they do a middle part." She then encourages TikTokers to show themselves with a side part versus a middle part using her sound (shown below). The video gained over 1.7 million views in seven months.

The video inspired other TikTokers^[3][4] to make responses using the sound, where they show themselves styling a side part versus a middle part. Many of the creators imply that the middle part looks better (examples from 2020 shown below). This trend and its reactions, some of which gained millions of views (seen below), helped spread the belief that side parts are "out" on TikTok.

On October 29th, 2020, Glamour^[10] published an article on the trend titled, "TikTok Teens Have Spoken: The Side Part Is Dead," about the challenge, further spreading the belief.

Political Influence

On October 21st, 2020, Twitter^[20] user Jessica Valenti tweeted, "Someone needs to write an article about TikTok teen's obsession with hating on the side part (yes this is a thing) I am fascinated" garnering over 800 likes in four months. That day, @VivianaFreyer commented, "As a teen on Tik Tok I’m going to say it’s because we’ve noticed that Democrats have middle parts and republicans have side parts" evidencing another reason for the debate (shown below).

This is further evidenced in videos following 2021's Republicansona trend, which saw TikTokers^[18][19] cosplay as "stereotypical Republicans," often styling their hair in the side part (examples shown below, left and right).

Spread

The belief spread across TikTok throughout 2020 and early 2021, as TikTokers^[5][6] began posting videos both supporting and combating the belief that side parts are out (example of each shown below, left and right). Many of these videos gained millions of views, helping spread the beliefs and inspiring more users to take sides.^[12][13] The debate largely takes place under the hashtags #sidepart and #middlepart.

Much of the discourse surrounding the debate implies or directly references middle parts being a Gen Z (or young) trend, whereas side parts are for Millenials (or old), extending the debate from simply middle parts vs. side parts to Gen Z vs. Millenials (examples from TikTok^[14][15] shown below, left and right).

The debate soon spread outside of TikTok, receiving significant media attention in February 2021, as well as discussion on other social media platforms. On February 3rd, 2021, BuzzFeed published an article detailing the debate.^[7] On February 8th, Narcity^[8] published a piece on the debate.

On February 10th, the official Google Trends Twitter^[23] account tweeted a map of searches for "middle part" and "side part" across the U.S. after an increase in searches for the terms (shown below).

On February 12th, Twitter^[21] user @nwalks made a tweet comparing herself with a middle part to Jared Leto, garnering over 19,000 in six days (shown below, left). On February 15th, Instagram^[22] page @the_officeinstafans posted an image macro referencing the debate, garnering over 5,000 likes in three days (shown below, right).

On February 16th, Vox^[9] published a piece on the debate, and on February 17th, Bustle^[11] then published an article defending the side part.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References