Film makers spend a lot of time, money and effort making sure that the scenery, sets and costumes have the correct period detail (well, sometimes). But, if they’re going to overlook anything, it’ll be the hairstyles. Virtually any period drama (think Roman epics, for example) made in the 1950s will have the male actors with brylcreemed quiffs. Those made in the '60s favoured long hair, etc. Now, I think more attention is paid to hairstyles, but why did film makers not make the effort to be tonsorially correct? Or did Tony Curtis, Charlton Heston, Kirk Douglas et al have it in their contracts that their hairstyles were sacrosanct?
The thing I always notice about hair in period films is how clean it always is.
Makeup too - one I always got jarred by was Hot Lips Houlihan in MASH who was meant to be in the early 50s, but had the feathered hair and glossy coral lips of the 70s.
What’s a “period” film ? Thelma & Louise ?
A film that’s set in an era other than the one it was shot in. Meaning a movie filmed in the '70s that’s set in the '70s wouldn’t be a '70s period piece.
When I made my comment I was referring to things like medieval films, westerns, etc.
A film with lots of turmoil and bloodshed.
And it shows up for three to five days every month…
And with bad hairstyles, and inappropriate make up and…oh wait…we’re back to Thelma & Louise.
Good point. Do we know how Roman males wore their hair? I know that Julius Caesar was bald by his mid-20’s-did he have his head shaved?
How about beards and moustaches? Shaving in the era of bronze razors must have been horrible!
I have another question: how unkempt were people in the high middle ages (ca. 1400 AD)?-by that time, people had steel razor blades, so shaving was probably not too bad.
Barbering has existed for a long time.
There are the statues.
One might come to the wrong conclusion looking at statures. Consider the statue of David. 
Frankly, Hollywood doesn’t care. That’s because the audience doesn’t care. It makes no difference if a hair style is historically accurate or not; indeed, an accurate hairstyle might be jarring to the audience. So movies create hairstyles that look good and to hell with accuracy. They are to be commended for it.
No, he didn’t have his head shaved.
He was Patrick Stewart.
This is true, but I don’t know that I agree with your sentiment. Pepper Mill can always tell when a film is made – especially historical dramas – by the hairstyles. It’s probably a business decision – people will go to movies, the studio execs feel, if things look like they’re familiar with. I doubt if anyone has ever tested this. Would audiences really stay away from Clash of the Titans, despite all the hype and the special effects, simply because the hair “doesn’t look right”?
In any event, there’s a story I’ve heard – the truth of which I do not know – that Gregory Peck initially wore a period-correct moustache for a western he was in, but the director nixed it because he thought it looked ridiculous.
Once upon a time, my SO “made me” watch Dirty Dancing. It was a horrible experience.
Supposedly, the movie is set in 1963, but Patrick Swayze’s hair looks exactly like a mid-80s “blowdry and mousse” creation.
Nobody in 1963 had hair like this – it was much too long, even for a guy like Swayze’s character would have been. It’s extremely unlikely that he would have been able to even find a job, especially at such a square summer resort. (They also took liberties with the music, but that’s another story; we’re talking hair here.)
The same was somewhat true of The Outsiders, which was set in 1965.
I know we’re not talking about TV, but in the same sphere, that’s one of the things that ruined Happy Days. For the first couple of years they were historically accurate with the hairstyles. However, about the third season, Anson Williams (Potsie) and Donny Most (Ralph) gained hair much longer than any guy in the '50s would have dared to wear their hair, and the hair that Scott Baio (Chachi) wore would have likely gotten him beaten up more often, Fonzie’s cousin or not.
The way I look at it, if you’re going to do a period movie, the least you can do is be historically accurate.
No matter how far off in the future a science fiction movie is set, the hair usually looks like the year it was filmed. But then, who’s to say that style wouldn’t be back in 2456?
Strangely, the excellent I, CLAUDIUS series from the BBC featured what looks to me like fairly accurate hair styles from unexpected people. Including Patrick Steward with hair and Brian Blessed without a beard.
Westerns are typically egregiously wrong with men’s hairstyles. Beards and mustaches were common in the 19thy century, though you don’t see too many of them in the movies. Also, based on period photographs, we aren’t seeing enough men using hair oil. Those old timey dudes wore their hair longish, greased it, and it looks like some of them even curled it.
On Star Trek the men were allowed to keep ‘normal’ hair styles, allowing only those pointy little sideburns to give them that futuristic vibe.
I, too, can instantly tell what decade a historical movie was made. I think of Anne Baxter in the Ten Commandments, with her short Mamie Eisenhower bangs and Revlon Cherries In The Snow lips - screams 50’s. Liz Taylor, Cleopatra - 60’s black eyeliner and pale lips. Mostly Italian sword and sandal movies made in the 60’s and 70’s have slave girls with great big poufy blond or red hair and lots of makeup.