These are listed elsewhere on this site under other names, like "rattails," etc. We just called them "tails" in the 80s. They were never high fashion, more of a street thing. At the time, I was into 60s-revival, Mod purism and similar stuff so I hated them, but they were pretty popular in the early to mid-80s. You'd see them on any kind of cut with a short back and sides, even on shaved heads. Sometimes, a guy's hair would like a normal, short, semi-layered business cut from the front but when he turned around, he'd have a tail growing at the nape of his neck. You'd also see women with geometric-looking, 60s-style angled bobs, chin-length in front but with the entire back cut short or shaved off except for a tail at the nape of the neck. This style remained popular with some into the early 90s. People who had it used to pull on it and twist it in their fingers absentmindedly.

I saw tails everywhere I looked!

Not a fan of these things, although I think I had one as a pre-teen. I'd really like to know the origin of some of these weird styles. I have a sense that they came out of a misunderstanding of 1970s punk rock style/culture as it entered the mainstream.