It all started on Monday, March 29, when Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan shared selfies from the set of Outlander Season 6. There were lots of thoughts and questions I had upon viewing Heughan's selfie. Balfe's robe looks cozy! Look at Claire's wedding ring in all its remastered glory! Wow, Heughan is really committed to smoldering. What sparkly party decorations! Wait... is Heughan crying? What's in that disposable cup that's making Balfe act the way she's acting? But the most pressing query of all is: What is up with Jamie's hair in this Outlander picture??
Besides his hair losing some of its redness due most likely to aging (pfft, as if Jamie and Claire do that), my real concern here is the length. For Season 5, Heughan got a new, longer wig that was often styled in a dignified ponytail. But more importantly, it rid him of the dreaded bangs. While the majority of the time he'd be ponied up, he'd occasionally let the locks loose, like in "The Ballad of Roger Mac." And when you compare his Season 5 wig's length to the current one, it looks like Jamie is embracing those long waves.
In the battle of hair length, Jamie might be winning over Claire. But is there a narrative reason for the hair shift? Jamie's had long hair before, but that was when he was a fugitive. What's the deal now? Did Jamie feel the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the future and forgo haircuts during quarantine? (Fans have wondered how Jamie could see Claire and Brianna in the future in his dreams.) Perhaps Michael Bolton circa 1990 traveled through the stones and inspired Jamie's latest look.