The Enigma of Sam Winchester's Hair
Saturday, 18 July 2009 13:48 | Last Updated on Sunday, 30 January 2011 21:25 | Written by Alice Jester | 
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In picking what article to go out with before our Comic Con induced hiatus, there was one thing that was nagging me for so long it just could no longer be ignored. Pouring through all the clips and pictures of my vast collection, I set out to uncover the mystery. I'm talking about the enigma known as Sam Winchester's hair.
Just like Sam, his hair has been wandering from place to place, never finding a real purpose in this world. We have to wonder if Dean's consistent clean cut look and Sam's ever changing mess is a reflection of the paths their characters have taken. Nah, I'm reading way too much into that. Still, hair doesn't lie. Let's go through the seasons and see if there's any plausibility to that theory.
Season One
Pilot Hair
Not half bad. Sits nice, has a bit of wave, and definitely makes him look like the younger brother. A good way to kick off the series. It makes the statement, "I'm Sam, an ordinary guy, but I have a good idea of who I am." Boy, does that change.
Wendigo Hair
Sam loses control fast. His lack of care could be blamed of grief, but all that's needed here is common sense. By cutting the top shorter, the bangs are meant to hang down evenly now. Too bad they don't! Plus, the top looks matted half the time, kind of like hat hair, and the sides look like they’re fighting each other, taking any direction they want. Sadly, this look sticks for a while.
Home Hair
This is the "Sam needs to fire his stylist" hair. The jagged layers flop on top in a disorganized clutter, there's some sort of curly action going on in the back that's hardly flattering and most of the episode it looks like he just got out of bed. Granted, both Jared Padalecki and Eric Kripke said in interviews for most of season one they had no idea who Sam really was. I guess they found the hair to match that. It still makes him look like a pup though.
Provenance Hair
Skipping forward a bit, Sam has indeed fired his stylist by this time because it doesn't look like the hair has been cut all season. There's one side effect to growing out the top layers like that. When he combs his hair (like on his date with Sarah), he looks like one of The Beatles, circa 1964. While the look works for comedic pleasure with Howard Wolowitz on The Big Bang Theory, here, um, no.
Devil's Trap Hair
Yikes! He's totally given up. I get that Sam's face looks like he went a few rounds with a two by four, which he kind of did, but does the hair have to suffer too? Parts are flat and matted, one side flies away like he stuck his finger in a light socket and there's no sign of even a vague attempt at style. Just get to a barber and at least do something about the split ends. Heck, use Dean's machete. Anything!
Next page, Season Two, aka, the vast improvement.
Next page, Season Two, aka, the vast improvement.
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Comments
NO matter what products are used, NO matter the cut (or how much it costs), NO matter the means resorted to IT does its own thing and returns to the "styl" it wants!!!!
Believe me many have tried to tame it , ALL have failed!!
SO I am thinking that maybe Sam (Jared) has a similar heritage in being Eastern European (ie. Polish, lots of celts there too) and has THE hair for his generation? Just a thought.
Diane
I don't know what they did in season 4 but his hair looked a lot better than in the previous seasons. thank god!
I'm so shallow!
I hate his season 1 hair, liked it in season 2, spend season 3 shouting for him to get a decent hair cut and liked it again in season 4. But I got to say that my favorite Sam's hair is in BUABS and Heart.
I'm wonder what's season 5 is going to do to his hair?...
Anyway, great as usual Alice
I think Sam's hair is often hit and miss it's because he has long hair and grows out leading to some interesting looks whereas with Dean's short hair it's hard for it to be flyaway or messy.
But, all in all, who here can't empathise when it comes to bad hair days?
this is your most hilarious post to date!
I do think there's something to Sam's crazy hair dos symbolizing how lost he is versus Dean's more military cut... (it at least show he wanted to be a civilian vs Dean choosing to be a soldier)
I must admit, I pretty much always love his hair, even when it looks terrible, but even I draw the line at the total "I just lost my jerky dad" hair meltdown in "Everybody Loves a Clown":
http://caps.oxoniensis.org/caps/spn/202/spn202_0327.jpg
I love your obsession with Sam's hair, actually, it makes me ask the question of why the heck don't they do something about it? Is it supposed to symbolize the confusion, restlessness, searching part of this character? (As stated above, how Dean's is more military such as his approach and being a good soldier?) I really don't know and occasionally it distracts (but usually only when I think about it really hard) Perhaps Sam's hair is another character to the show, not quite on par with the Impala but, you know, somewhere????
Have a great, great, great time at the Con!!!! I'm busily working on some articles to fill up your box upon your return.
I would love to read a humor fic where Dean finds Sam's flat iron and gives him trouble about it! LOL!
I think my two favorite good hair moments would be BUABS (S2) and IKWYDLS (S4). Worst would be ELAC (bringing new meaning to the word flicky) and "No Rest for the Wicked" in which it was flat ironed to death and producted into stringly greasiness!
The only comfort it that when I have a bad hair day...I think of Sam!
In Born Under A Bad Sign, I think that Meg really helped him there. I really liked how well his hair looked during that episode. Aww there was nothing wrong with his hair in "Long Distance Call" to me it looked a hell of a lot more tamed then like... ever. Sure it looks a little too slick but it looked great. The feathered look also didn't look bad at all. His hair in season 4 looks great too, finally trimmed in all the right places. Especially in "I Know What You Did Last Summer"
anyways, am i the only one who absolutely loved sam's hair in imtod and elac? the flicky-out one? he looked like such an adorable little puppy with it.
also, agree that the buabs hair was smoking hot and the pic you use was just priceless. it really says something about your life when a alcoholic, chain-smoking pervert of a demon takes better care of your hair than you do.
sheesh
http://blogs.trb.com/network/cwsource/2009/08/the_sourcies_adore_these_luscious_locks.html#comments
... Um.
But I am so glad you pointed out the atrocity that was his Season 1 hair - I've seen several people mention they miss it! The horror!
And yes, Sam's hair does resemble one more accustomed to a life on the road, and you know, fighting forces of evil on the side... but hey. Why waste all the beautiful hair when you can't style it properly?
(yes, I might be obsessed with Padalecki's hair. Might.)
Season 4 is a huge improvement - it was probably at its very, very best in "Death takes a holiday". I think Sam got a haircut in between Sex and Violence and DTAH, and god did the cut suit him or WHAT.
I thought his hair looked cute at certain times in season 1, and I even loved it in IMTOD and ELAC (the messy, flicky hair combined with the bruises on the face did it for me).
Gotta say though that I'm LOVING the hair in season 5 so far! Nice and long, but it's got just a bit of layering on top and it's not constantly slicked back and plastered down like it was in early season 4. I hope he keeps this look for a while.
One last thing, I linked to this article in my Sam's Hair meta livejournal post, is that okay?
keep up the great job!
cheers from Greece
season 2 was definitely the best sam hair year others not so much.
PLEASE
http://www.thewinchesterfamilybusiness.com/article-list/category15/9523-the-season-five-engima-of-sam-winchesters-hair.html
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