Producers changed T’Pol’s hairstyle to soften her

T’Pol was supposed to be affected by humans

When T’Pol, played by Jolene Blalock, joined the Enterprise, she was as rigid in her Vulcan beliefs as Tuvok was aboard the Voyager. She didn’t really want to be among so many humans, but the choice was taken out of T’Pol’s hand when she was given an assignment by the Vulcan High Command, forcing her to live among them. And producers decided that humans should have an affect on her so after season one, they began changing her hair, just making marginal changes, but by season four, Michael Moore, the hairstylist for Star Trek: Enterprise was hoping to change it even more.

Moore told Star Trek: Communicator that he was hoping to soften T’Pol’s hairstyle even more than before. He thought because T’Pol was becoming a product of her environment that it could be shown in her hairstyle.

"“I’m hoping that in the new year, we can soften her [hairstyle] even more. The humans tend to have an effect on her. She’s becoming a product of her environment, even though Vulcans aren’t supposed to do that. So, I’m hoping we can reflect that in her hair a little bit. But we still can’t go too far from being Vulcan.”"

Why did T’Pol’s hairstyle have to change?

Spock spent three years aboard the Enterprise on Star Trek: The Original Series. Tuvok spent seven years aboard Voyager on Star Trek: Voyager. Both of them interacted with humans on a daily basis. Yet, they were not affected by humans to the point where their hair or their clothing needed to be changed.

It’s interesting to note that the producers thought they needed to change Jolene Blalock’s look to reflect the time she was spending among humans. Though Moore said they couldn’t go too far from being a Vulcan, many fans will say that T’Pol was one of the Vulcans who changed the most aboard a starship. Granted, some of the change was due to the disease she contracted from a forced mind-meld and her addiction to trellium-d, but I doubt either one of those would have affected her hair.

So why is it that humans affected T’Pol but not other Vulcans to the extent where she started reshaping her bangs and adding highlights? Jolene Blalock has said that she didn’t like how T’Pol was written. It makes me wonder if this is one of those things she disliked as well.