If there’s one thing about Stranger Things, it’s hair. From El’s shaved head to her bangs, or Steve “The Hair” Harrington, hair plays a significant role in character’s self acceptance and identity.
But I noticed that Max doesn’t really let her hair down this season. It’s almost always in a ponytail or braids, apart from that one scene in episode three where we get a flashback to her first nosebleed.
I think that I’ve come up with a possible reasoning to why the hair department/writers/directors have gone that way this season, and what each type of hairstyle means for her.
I’ve compiled a list of (mostly) every appearance her hair has been in.
Now… I’ve noticed that a lot of the episodes she wears these different types of hairstyles share similar themes. Let me explain.
When Max has her hair down, she’s basically unchanged. It’s like her default, living life as she should be. She’s sassy, a bit skeptical, and I’ve noticed that nothing really bad every happens to her. Apart from that one scene in 403 where she has her first nosebleed, but even then it’s brushed off as an inconvenience. And her hair down also represents her openness with people. She doesn’t hide anything. She’s ready to talk to people.
So, hair down: default/normal, nothing bad happens
We only ever see her with her hair in a high ponytail once, but I’ve got to say the Sauna Test was one of the only scenes where we saw a vulnerable Max, literally her only crying scene before season 4. I think the high ponytail represents her in a state of vulnerability, where she lets her emotions fill her body and she opens up a more. She’s comfortable. This is one of the first times in which she acts like everything isn’t normal, and when she doesn’t put up a glass wall and shows her, the real her.
High ponytail: vulnerable, is more real and emotional
I think that her low ponytails are the most obvious… it symbolizes her literally locking up her life and shutting everyone out of it (like a ponytail, cutting off the rest of your hair in a tight elastic or scrunchie). In these episodes, Max is quite closed off. From the beginning of this season to episode five, she’s quite locked up and is distant from her friends. Her relationship with Lucas in falling apart because of miscommunication… changes, she doesn’t really have a relationship with her other friends anymore- Mike and Dustin. Not to mention her home life completely destroyed.
I think this hairstyle is what got me started on this analysis, because although I am probably analyzing too much into this, you can’t exactly think I’m wrong for questioning Max’s hair in ponytails when she almost always wears it down.
Low ponytail: closed off/shutting people out of her life
And now the braids… oh boy.
Braids in my opinion represent when something most terrible happens to her. Like… when she wears them at Starcourt and she watches her brother Billy die in front of her. And when she wears them when Vecna literally kills her. Even though it might be more subtle, she also wears them when the Byers move, which is quite a sad moment for her when she navigates through her grief and her best friend, who is the only one that she was probably able to open up to, is leaving after Max needs her most.
Braids also share similar symbolism to ropes. They represent strengthening your bonds with people which is what I think she does whenever she wears them. Your bonds can be twisted and turned in many ways, discovering true friends and maybe those who aren’t friendly at all, much like a braid. In these episodes, Max is slowly easing into the normality of being apart of something so complex like the Upside Down through slow and painful processes, like talking more often to her friends about her feelings. She’s still quite hesitant to open up, and tell people what she’s really feeling, but she’s got the spirit. She doesn’t open up until something bad happens to her. This is most prominent in season four, when Max starts opening up to Lucas and her experiences with Vecna, but she’s still hesitant like he won’t accept her. She (sort of) tells him what she really feels when she’s on the verge of death (ex. “I pray at night that something bad will happen to me”)
Braids: something bad happens, Max tightens her bonds with other people
I’m probably reading into things too much like I always do. But I did find it really odd that her hair is never kept down this season. Could be a style trend, could be her figuring out herself, but the common themes throughout her hairstyles are almost too matchy-matchy I give huge props to whoever comes up with this stuff.
