I've been thinking why he went from shorter hair to the mullet look and ending up with the semi short hair..

Was the style growing at the time? or was Richard too lazy or too busy to get it cut?

I also noticed the color changes too..

It was the style of the time.

But its important to remember that often color and style is dictated by the production team, not the actor.

Mullets were definitely in style in the late '80s and early '90s and so that's probably why RDA grew his hair out and consequently, MacGyver had a mullet. I think it also kinda fit his laid-back style. Of course, I think a mullet looks fine nowadays too- but I don't claim to have a sense of aesthetics.
But I really could care less about MacGyver's hair- short or long, he's still MacGyver and still cool.

hmm- maybe we should add a mullet smiley.

hehehe, that's an idea!!

Long hair on men started again in the 60's with the Beatles and the Hippie generation ( us Baby Boomers lol ) By the 80's it was getting many different "looks" , mullets being neater than just long wild hair ( I think there's a song there )

What I start noticing every now and than is that long haired seemed to become 'in' again.

But I'm sure he was too busy and lazy at the same time to get it cut.

For myself it's only been two months or something and there's nothing decent to do with it anymore. Especially if I washed it. It curls up everywhere and stands up. Gotta get a haircut. I want the seventh season hairstyle again.

MacGyver just has the coolest haircut ever.

I don't even remember it being called a mullet, or being an object of ridicule for that matter, until the early 90's sometime; in the late 70's and into the 80's, it just seemed to be a way that both men and women (mostly the former) who had grown long hair in the 60's could keep the hair mostly long while asserting some degree of control and some pretence of style.

Or, to put it another way, we'd grow our hair long as a mark of youthful rebellion and disdain for control, order and conformity, not to mention hair salons, and then start working and have to do something about it getting into our eyes. Not everyone liked ponytails, after all; and cutting it short in front meant you could keep it long in back, although it brought the hair stylist back into the picture. And then the hair got big . . . at which point I try, not always successfully, to make the flashbacks stop.

I recall an interview with RDA where someone had asked about the hair, and he said something about it being for TV – in other words, he was wearing his hair (length, cut, and colour) the way the producers had decided it was going to be. It makes sense with the character, after all -- I mostly remember the style being worn by musicians, artists, bikers, tree-huggers, and other not-quite-respectable types. (There was a much shaggier version that my flat-out-hippie friends wore, which did not require the participation of a hair stylist but would not have looked good on TV.)

Since Mac’s character wasn’t a mainstream type, the style made sense – it worked well when he was being set in contrast with smarmy types in button-down suits and short hair, and it gave them a hook for comic moments when Pete ribbed him about needing a haircut. The irony is that RDA's hairstyle would have required visiting a hair stylist just about as frequently as keeping it short. It just looked lower-maintenance.

It also made Jack O'Neill's military haircut a terrible shock to the senses when I first saw it!

Which of course he would have had every morning as part of his makeup and clothing preperation for the days shooting.

There use to be an article here about Lola Kemp, the hairdresser who "designed" RDA's MacGyver haircut. But I think it was lost in the crash and Google can't find it any more.

Which of course he would have had every morning as part of his makeup and clothing preperation for the days shooting.

Well, maybe not quite that often -- but although his watch may have changed colours between one shot and another, at least his hair didn't.

It’s really common for actors to simply be told what’s going to done with their hair, including their facial hair; it’s just part of the cost of working. Even for women – remember Persis Khambatta shaving her head for the first Star Trek movie?

The standard actor’s contract when I was in Shakespearean summer stock directed all actors (and not just the men) to let their hair grow, stop shaving (ok, that was men-only), and get no professional work done (cutting, dying, perms, etc.) until they’d checked in with the directors and make-up designer on the first day of rehearsal. At that time, they were told what was going to happen to their hair, and if they didn’t like it, there were plenty more actors back in NY or LA just dying for a summer contract . . .

One year, the contracts had gone out early enough that all the men showed up with well-developed beards . . . and were then told to shave. Meanwhile, the make-up crew made beards for them all. One guy ended up with three different beards, in three different styles, one for each show we had going in rep. Fortunately, he thought it was funny.

[/QUOTE]I don't even remember it being called a mullet, or being an object of ridicule for that matter, until the early 90's sometime[QUOTE]

I don't think the haircut was called a mullet until country western singer Billy Ray Cyrus turned up wearing a very exaggerated version. If my memory is working, he wore his hair very short in front and long in back. Mr.Cyrus was associated with a single popular song in the very late 80s/early90s and spent a lot of time touring the state and county fair circuit. Unfortunately, some of these venues have a reputation for catering to what for lack of a better term would be considered the "redneck" sector of the population.

This particualr demographic is usually associated with activities like drinking beer, crashing cars in demolition derbies, and line dancing to bad country music. Billy Ray was a sort of spokesman for this group and his haircut became associated with all things redneck as well.

As American culture shifted toward a more pretentious sophistication, things that were popular and well known in the 80s became objects of ridicule and the fodder for late night TV talk show hosts.

Personally, I don't care how anyone wears their hair as long as its clean. Its a huge turn off to see someone with greasy nasty dirty hair. And its really gross if that person's hair smells bad.

RDA's hair was clean, looked good and was right for him. I did see part of one of the MAc movies and I remeber thinking his hair at that ppoint was too long and very shaggy looking. Best hair, for me was season 6.

The mullet: business in the front, party in the back.

Ha- also the name of a great album by "Family Force Five"!!!

"Don't Tell My Heart, My Achy Breaky Heart"....
Well, I don't think Billy Ray Cyrus is quite the spokesman of redneckism as he may have used to have been since becoming a Christian. Perhaps shaving the mullet was also a step in getting away from that image.
Anyway, (though I do get tired of that particular song after awhile- once in a while it's fine) I like him pretty well now, especially on Hannah Montana! (where you can see both him and his daughter Miley!)

Don't know about the length, but I heard the color was added because RDA was starting to go gray, and that just wouldn't have worked for an action hero.

No, I think they started adding highlights almost from the start -- his natural colour was dark brown and didn't have enough depth for the camera, or something like that. They did dye the grey out of his hair when he started out in Stargate, and gave that up after the first season, thank heavens.

When you are blonde they aren't grey hairs.........they are platinum!

RDA got gray fast... he was in his mid 30s when MacGyver started? I didn't mind the mullet, though on some men it looked just awful! I thinks it's his wacky hair to begin with. Either grow it long, of have that one itty bitty cowlick the back of his head sticking straight up.

I didn't like the blonde of the later seasons... but that's just me. I like the salt and pepper from the movies (not the MacGyver movies) and the second to third season of Stargate.

He was graying in his thirties? I knew he had gray in The Walking Dead underneath all that blond. But in Passages when he falls on the car there's no sign of a gray hair.

Than again so what. I'm 21 and I'm having gray hairs here and there since I was in the 11th grade. But I don't worry for those few, there's still alot of blackness on my head.

MacGyver's hair color changed throughout the seasons, so mainly what we all saw was with the "help of Lady Clairol" RDA was 35 when Macgyver first aired, but grey hair really depends on everyone's genes, mainly. Some people are grey in their mid 30's some without a trace in their mid 50's. I think blondes seem to change later, but that could be just because the hair is so light, you don't notice the white ones coming in. All I've found so far is 2 white ones under my bangs, and that's at 55, then again I'm a blonde

My mom had gray in her hair at 17. I went gray by the time I was 21. My hair was brown. My older sister (a redhead) just had her first gray hairs just a few years ago, and my baby sister (with black hair) hasn't a gray hair in her head. Brat!

Yeah, it's all in the genes... someone who went to Avalon says RDA's hair still had a touch of brown still in it. I can't see it in the pictures, but who knows? (except he and his stylist)

I too, prefer the Season 6 hair - some of the gray was leaking through. But between the blonde MacGyver and the gray ever since, I always forget how dark RDA's hair was. I thought it was way too long in season 5.

But RDA has a long neck, so it takes more hair to reach his collar LOL

It's funny, but first season Jack O'Neill reminded me more of 1st season Mac than last season Mac LOL - guess it was the hair

Though I really liked his hair when I met him in England last fall. Longer and fuller than Jack, and definately wash-and-go. And it's all in how the light hits it, trtlsoup. It look's very gray in the official photo with AT, but it's still dark underneath.

banlu

I thought RDA called it "Hockey Hair" (the way it was styled)... and said that he had to wear it like that "for TV"...

I just changed my avatar - that's RDA's shadow on the wall when he and AT were doing the Q&A at Avalon last fall.

I told y'all his hair was wash-and-go LOL

banlu

Awesome avatar! I love how you were able to capture that!

I love his profile--and his hair (that uncontrollable, untamed cowlick)!

Great silhouette! Great hair! Some things never change.....

Like greatness?

Wow! Good shot. I love his wacky hair...

Thanks, but it was pure luck. I just happened to take the pic of RDA and AT when someone on the other side of the room was using a bright light .

It was the the only decent shot I got. I was too far away and the room was too dark (a cloudy day in England in November - imagine that!) for my disposable to get much more than the back of the heads in front of me LOL

banlu

Of course, each and every one of us does have a favorite hair style although I personally lack any critical ability in this case. As with the episodes, I liked it long and short, brownish and highlighted; I manage to always find something nice about each style. And I also love the military short hair in SG1, or the beard in a couple of episodes too (which I think in no MacGyver episode he actually grew). As I heard in one of the commentaries of a season 4 or 5 SG1 DVDs, RDA aged gracefully and any kind of look would suit him just fine. Lucky, huh?