"I went from looking like an ‘80s metal rocker to an accountant," Elliot Coleman tells PEOPLE of his viral before-and-after video
Credit: Elliot Coleman/TikTok
NEED TO KNOW
- Elliot Coleman’s haircut and beard shave video on TikTok went viral with 2 million views and thousands of comments, some telling him to “grow it all back”
- The Brooklyn, N.Y.-based singer, who shares running content on TikTok, tells PEOPLE why he “wasn’t surprised” by the dramatic response
- Coleman also offers insight into his history and philosophies
After Elliot Coleman documented his latest haircut and beard trim with a before-and-after video on TikTok, thousands of users on the platform filled his comments with requests to grow it back — but he wasn't shocked. Or bothered, for that matter.
The Brooklyn, N.Y.-based runner and singer, 41, cut his hair earlier this year while training for a race (“having to deal with all of that hair during the brutal NYC winter was starting to get on my nerves”) and documented the update to his look in a TikTok shared Feb. 5.
In the video, Coleman — who shares mostly running content on the platform — included before-and-after clips of his hair, first letting down his shoulder-length tresses from an updo to showcase its length before cutting to post-trim footage. He also shaved his beard clean off, leaving not even a patch of stubble behind.
“The morning I decided to… Cut it all off,” he wrote in text over the clip. And in the caption, he added his haircut philosophy: “It always grows back.”
The video got 2 million views and over 100,000 likes — plus, a whole lot of comments from users who were shocked by how drastically different he looked sans beard and long hair. Many clamored for him to “grow it all back.”
Unlike the commenters’ reaction to the clean-shaven new look, Coleman was not shocked by the dramatic response, he tells PEOPLE. “I wasn't surprised, because not only did I cut my hair, but I shaved off this big beard I had been growing out for about four months,” he says, admitting, “It's a pretty drastic change.”
@elliotgoodtiger It always grows back #curlyhair #mensgrooming #menshaircut #crewcut #curlyhairstyles
♬ Worldwide March – Sam Spence
“I thought it looked pretty funny, and figured it would get views,” he adds of the transformation. “If it had just been the hair, I don't think anybody really would have cared as much. I went from looking like an ‘80s metal rocker to an accountant.”
Asked what those he interacts with in real life think of his viral moment over the transformation, Coleman tells PEOPLE, “They find it amusing.” And so does he, he says: “Most of the comments are pretty funny.”
It’s like water off a duck's back for the musician, who says he has “done the ‘grow it long, cut it off’ thing” about six or seven times before — whenever he feels his current look has gone a bit stale.
“First time I grew it long, I was 17,” Coleman says. “I get bored with having the same look for too long.”
“Even now I'm growing it back out,” he adds, a fact demonstrated in his latest hair update on TikTok shared Tuesday, April 7. The video marks nine weeks since Coleman’s viral transformation, and both his hair and beard have grown in length significantly.
Credit: Elliot Coleman/TikTok
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He is on his way back to his “grown out” look, which is the preference of not only the majority of TikTok commenters, but others close to the poster.
“I think my dad likes the grown-out look most,” he tells PEOPLE, adding that his wife “is happy with it at whatever length I grow it to — as long as I keep my ends trimmed.”
As for his own preference, the singer says, “I prefer it grown out, I think.”
For those eager to see his beard and hair restored in full, he teases: “It'll be back to that length sometime in 2029.”
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