Bearded hipsters, with fix gear bicycles and hand-knitted beanies, seem to be everywhere.

While they may strive for individuality, they have instead been caught up in one of the greatest mysteries of our time; the hipster paradox.

The hipster culture is the first subculture not to acknowledge its own existence. No self-respecting hipster will ever admit to being a hipster. This appears to be the first and most important rule of being a hipster. Hipsters won’t conform to people and products of mass culture while simultaneously sharing the same views with others within their 'subculture'. They conform in their non-conformity. This so-called hipster paradox has been heavily criticized by non-members.

For a culture that prides itself in being the persistent antithesis of the conventional, the disparity is appalling. Such is the hipster paradox — from an exclusive few who have managed to convincingly set a certain standard that makes them different, albeit pleasantly, hipsterism has grown into such a widespread, often misinterpreted, movement that being antimainstream has become the mainstream.

But in accordance to Albert Einstein's Hipster Paradox, if you have a million people turning towards the unconventional, then you create a separate majority of conventional Hispters [sic], which is exactly what is happening today.