The rat tail hairstyle first appeared in the 1980s, often associated with manga and martial arts characters such as those portrayed by Chinese actor Jet Li. After an initial craze it rapidly fell out of popularity, though has recently begun to make a comeback. It’s not the first time that this combination of words has been used as a metaphor connected with hair, the expression rats’ tails dating back to the early 19th century as a description of long, lank and untidy strands of hair.