Harry’s hair

Known in the books for having “jet black,” permanently untidy hair, Harry Potter’s ever-changing hairdo throughout the films has caused both frustration and satisfaction from the fans. In this editorial, I examine each of Harry’s many hairstyles and gauge how close they are to the books’ description. I also included some reaction GIFs on what I’ve noticed has been the general opinion on each look in the Harry Potter fandom. Enjoy!

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Year 1 – Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone

Harry’s hair:

General fandom reaction:

With all of the hype of the first Potter movie coming out, what Harry’s hairstyle looked like wasn’t nearly as nerve-wracking for fans as whether or not the filmmakers “got Hogwarts right.” However, many consider the Year 1 hairdo very similar to the Beatles’ signature “mop-top” hairstyle; while it worked for Paul McCartney, it didn’t work very well for a character who has trademark messy hair.

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Year 2 – Chamber of Secrets

Harry’s hair:

General fandom reaction:

If you play “spot the difference” with the Year 2 hair and Year 1 hair, you’ll have to use a microscope. These two looks are so similar and just don’t fit the character’s description. It was forgivable at first, but everyone got a little bit more nit-picky when it came to movie details after the first movie’s success.

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Year 3 – Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry’s hair:

General fandom reaction:

Year 3 Harry looked significantly more like everyone had envisioned “book Harry” than the in the prior films. His hair stuck up in odd places for much of the movie and always looked disheveled. It was wonderful.

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Year 4 – Goblet of Fire

Harry’s hair:

General fandom reaction:

A more unique take on the “unkempt” look, Year 4 was a satisfactory Harry-hair movie for many fans. Goblet of Fire has been referred to as “The Year of No Haircuts” often by the Potter fanbase, which comes from the fact that many major characters (namely Harry, Ron, and the twins) seemed to grow out their hair significantly during the summer break. This suited some characters better than others, but Daniel Radcliffe thankfully could pull off the shaggy hair.

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Year 5 – Order of the Phoenix

Harry’s hair:

General fandom reaction:

Harry’s short hairstyle in Order of the Phoenix was incredibly different from Goblet of Fire‘s apparent haircut strike. Even though Harry probably needed a good trim, this was a bold choice because Harry looked a lot more than just three months older since the last movie. He looked a year, maybe two years older. The hair and makeup crew were at a disadvantage because of the abnormally long gap between filming 4 and 5 and the actors aging faster than their characters. But the new hairstyle was just so short that lots of fans disliked it not only because of the drastic change but also because it was just an odd haircut in general. And a bit too much hair gel for my taste.

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Year 6 – Half-Blood Prince

Harry’s hair:

General fandom reaction:

It was better than Year 5, but it was still very similar. Harry’s hair evolution was drifting back into the “it’s the same every movie and not even that good” category. Of course it was preferable to the 1st and 2nd Year bland mop-top phase, but it wasn’t as untidy as the fandom would have liked.

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Year 7 – Deathly Hallows

Harry’s hair:

General fandom reaction:

The Harry Potter movies ended with a bang, in a number of ways. Deathly Hallows was split into two parts, the story was action-packed and thrilling, and everything ended with a huge final battle between good and evil. But like, can we talk about how nice Harry’s hair looked in these two films? It was all ruffled like everyone wanted (it was even more important in these films considering a majority of the time was spent camping), and it was a pretty good haircut overall. Sure, it’s not the perfectly disheveled mess that we all imagined when we pictured Harry in the books, and okay, some of his Part 2 hair was parted in a weird way, but it was pretty close. The ending of the series left many fans content, if not with the movie then with the final destination of Harry Potter’s hair progression.

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What do you think? What’s the best “hair year” for Harry? What’s the worst? I’d love to hear what you have to say in the comments!

In the end, I think that we should all just be grateful that Harry got a haircut after Goblet of Fire because I have a feeling that he would’ve just let it grow… 🙂