'Sex and the City' and Carrie’s Curls

Does Carrie Bradshaw’s hairstory mirror the show’s storytelling?

If you’re like me, you’ve watched Sex and the City countless times. Not just one-off episodes, but also the entire series. When SATC became available on Netflix this past spring, I told myself I’d resist this time around, since I had just done a late season rewatch last year. ¹ 

But to have the entire series come to Netflix made rewatching so easy, I was powerless to resist the siren call of the marimba-cha-cha theme song. And I thought if I was going to rewatch (again), let me at least start from Season 1, Episode 1, which I hadn’t seen in ages.

Since I nearly have the plotlines, dialogue, fashion choices and even facial expressions memorized, this time I found myself drawn in by the progression of Carrie Bradshaw’s curls.

And I was fascinated by how the state of Carrie’s locks mirrored her storylines, especially her relationships with Big and Aidan. 

It’s not clear whether this was intentional on the writers’ part, or simply due to the styling requirements for tending to Sarah Jessica Parker’s iconic mane, but a part of Carrie’s enduring appeal has been her signature curls. So why not go deep and see how much of Carrie’s curls reflected her state of mind?

(I’m focusing specifically on the first four seasons, prior to the Vogue-era haircut that saw the curls shift into a staid glossiness, paralleling Carrie’s wardrobe upgrade to full-on fashionista.) 

Without further ado, let’s walk down memory lane and revisit arguably the most iconic curly hair in pop culture history.²

SEASON 1

Meet Carrie Bradshaw (aka the pilot)

Short, brunette and curly, it’s a style that Carrie is never seen with again. Fun fact: Parker is a natural brunette with a wavy hair texture.

Early days (when Carrie still talked to the camera)  

Her curl status reflects the first and last time Carrie Bradshaw was relatable in terms of living in New York City on a freelance writer's income. She drinks beer at home, she wears non-designer clothes (jeans!) and her curls are blond, shoulder-length and just slightly frizzy. 

Carrie and Big's first whirl on the dating merry-go-round

Her curls are still on point, although a tad frizzier, as Carrie begins facing unhappy truths about her commitment-phobic new boyfriend.

SEASON 2

Single and fabulous (question mark?)

After breaking up with Big at the end of Season 1, the curls have a noticeable flatness, lacking bounce and joie de vivre. 

Carrie and Big reunited (the first time)

Curls are coming back to life! Nearing peak c-c-c-curly.

Straight hair, she cares

Now here is where the hair is definitively part of the storytelling. Carrie wears her hair straight throughout this episode as she tries (and fails) to fit into Big's posh circle of friends. (And she goes straight on and off throughout the series, but she never commits to the look full-time.) 

During the same episode, Carrie also sports crimped hair for the first (and I believe, only time, which is for the best), as a way of showing that she and Big come from very different worlds. 

Second (of many) Big breakups 

Carrie memorably sports a beret as her heart is broken, again. This time, the curls survive the crash fully intact.

“Your girl is lovely, Hubble”

To quote Carrie, just like her idol Katie from The Way We Were, her hair is “c-c-c-c-curly.” It is also unapologetically untamed and free, especially when contrasted with the sleek brunette style of Big’s new love, Natasha.

SEASON 3

Single and fabulous (period.)

Carrie's still smarting from Big marrying the stick figure with legs, but she's not as morose as she was at the start of Season 2, and her curls reflect that.

Carrie and Aidan's first whirl on the dating merry-go-round 

For their first run at a relationship, Carrie tries her best to live up to Aidan's expectations, including giving up smoking. Her curls have never been more defined, as if Carrie has discovered the existence of curling irons, frizz serum and leave-in conditioner, seeming to reflect her attempts to be his ideal of a perfect girlfriend. 

But there is something else odd happening: She’s sort of got a reverse blond mullet situation: she is blond in the front, and brunette in the back.   

As mentioned above, SJP is naturally a wavy-haired brunette, and all the heat-styling and bleaching had begun to take its toll. My guess is that the hairstylist split the difference by keeping Carrie’s signature blond locks to frame her face while letting her natural hair color appear in the back.

Carrie and Big's second whirl on the dating merry-go-round: The affair

As Carrie takes up with Big and eventually breaks Aidan’s heart, Carrie's curls begin returning to their frizzier, free-flowing state.  

Nobody walks in LA

Here's where I'd argue that Carrie's curls were never better than the second half of Season 3, starting with the jaunt to Los Angeles. By the time Carrie and Big AND Carrie and Aidan are over, her hair has returned to peak curlitude. 

SEASON 4

Carrie likes jazz, man

Carrie is single again but friends with Big, and so her curls are also in an in-between place. Not Aidan-era defined and glossy, but not 100 percent c-c-c-curly either.

Carrie and Aidan's second whirl on the dating merry-go-round 

Carrie realizes she misses the nook, especially now that Aidan's gone under his own transformation. In the words of Samantha (not mine!), “he got rid of the turquoise rings and the tummy.” 

The reunion is good for her hair: her curls are livelier and back to fully blond too. (No more brunette mullet.) 

“We can get Maui-ed!”

But after getting engaged to Aidan, Carrie’s hair looks fried and frazzled. The flyaways are no longer charming, but instead make her look a bit bedraggled, indicative of her anxiety about getting married. (The white eyeliner does not help matters.)

Carrie likes updos, man

She also increasingly relies on hair pieces to wear updos. But I’d like to think that during this time, her curls simply went on strike. 

Even so, I always think of this memorable look (a belt over a bare midriff!) as the last time SJP was styled as vintage Carrie Bradshaw.

Carrie and Aidan’s second breakup

Like so many women before her, Carrie marks her split with Aidan by chopping off her locks into a short bob. This time, real life dictated the end of Carrie’s c-c-c-curls, as Parker’s hair needed the dramatic chop after all the styling damaged her hair.  

Pour out a Cosmo: From this point forward, except for the show’s opening credits, we never see Carrie’s signature long, curly blond locks again. 

VERDICT

Without knowing what was happening behind the scenes, I’d suggest it’s a mix of storylines and real life that dictated the state of Carrie’s curls. 

But it is interesting to note that Carrie seems most content and true to herself when her curls are blond and wild, frizzy and free.

1. Specifically, from “Sex and Another City” to “One.” The reason? These are my favorite stretch of episodes in the show, culminating in my favorite one of the entire series.

2. All the images are screenshots of the series, via Netflix (of course).