The Hair Inspiration for Daisy Jones & the Six Includes Stevie Nicks and Diana Ross

The ‘70s are defined by carefree vibes, rock, disco, and — at least where beauty lovers are concerned — big voluminous hair. And right now, there's one TV show delivering nostalgia feels and ‘70s hair inspiration more than any other: Amazon Prime’s latest hit, Daisy Jones & The Six. 

Based on the fictional novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Daisy Jones & The Six chronicles the rise and fall of one of the biggest bands in America. The show follows the bandmates, their partners, and their friends as they navigate fame, addiction, and messy relationships, all culminating in the band’s breakup at its peak. The premise alone is gripping, but there is no denying that the look and style of the show are a huge part of its appeal.

“I couldn't have asked for a better show,” the show’s hair department head MaryAnn Hennings tells InStyle. “It was the hardest show based on taking them through the decades, based on the drugs used, the overdoses, the make-out scenes, the sweating at concerts, having a concert…[etc.]. But I would say everybody that worked on it just loved what they did.”

Warning: There are some spoilers up ahead. But if you want some retro hair inspiration or are just curious about the behind-the-scenes beauty moments, you’ve come to the right place. Below, Hennings breaks down how she created the hair looks for each character on Daisy Jones & The Six. Get ready to be transported back to the ‘70s, baby.

Daisy Jones

The hair looks for Daisy Jones, played by Riley Keough, were inspired by none other than rock-and-roll legend Stevie Nicks. With long hair and pronounced bangs, the character looked like a star from the get-go. “I gave [Daisy] straight-across bangs, which was very iconic for that time, and left her natural curls in the beginning, so it looked more like she did it [and that] she doesn't care. Clearly, in the beginning, she does not care. So we just left it stringy and kind of natural and didn't do much,” Hennings says. “But then when she started performing [and] getting famous, we just got bigger and bigger. I added [the use of] curling irons and products and just went from there.” 

Hennings used instant conditioner throughout Keough’s hair, wrapping curls around her fingers and letting strands hang out to dry. She would then go in with a smaller curling iron to create smaller curls around her face to even out the bigger curls in the back to create a look of massive wavy hair. 

Styling Keough’s hair proved to be a fun endeavor, as it was thick and malleable for anything Hennings wanted to do to it. In fact, it seemed to be on the same wavelength as the hairstylist's ideas for the character. “Outside of the fact Riley has the most amazing hair, [her hair] has a mind of its own,” says Hennings. “It’s like we would joke that her hair read the script and knew what day we were shooting [specific scenes].”

For example, when Daisy was at the height of her drug addiction, Hennings said Keough’s hair knew to come in character and get oily, despite never having that sort of hair issue. “She’s never had oily hair,” Hennings adds.

But what really gave Daisy’s look rocker icon status is her bright red color. “Even my friends want the red hair,” says Hennings. “So, of course, I used all the professional products and went that route. But if people want to know how to do it at home, go buy Clairol’s [Natural Instincts Bold in Copper]. I always tell them because Clairol was like the iconic color in the '70s. So I just tell them, ‘Find your color, and stick with that.’" 

The show moves throughout the decades, switching back and forth between the '70s to 20 years after the band breaks up. With such a huge time jump, Hennings wanted to show Daisy’s maturity through a noticeable hair change: going from wild, carefree curls to polished, straight hair. 

“[Daisy] just gave up,” says Hennings. “She didn't do music anymore, and she's a mother now. We just wanted her to look like the mature woman and person she became — like Daisy Jones, but the matured version.”  

Hennings raves about Keough’s hair, which oftentimes is so perfect that people could mistake it for a wig. Hennings says that they could’ve done anything with Keough’s final look for the later stages of Daisy’s life, and they went through a lot of brainstorming before coming up with straight hair. “What she went through in her life with Daisy Jones & the Six made her who she is today,” says Hennings of the character. “She went through so much: so much emotion, and so many drugs, and loss. I wanted to show that she was okay. She's just grown up and matured.” 

Billy Dunne

Hennings says that because Sam Claflin, who plays Billy Dunne, originally had shorter hair than she imagined. So at first, she gave him extensions to make him look like a rock star. After some trial and error with the length of the extensions (“I added them longer to make him like a rocker,” Hennings laughs. “I'd never seen anything more ridiculous in my life; it was so not who he is”), they took the extensions out and trimmed his natural hair every two weeks and curled it every day, so it didn’t look too stringy. 

For the 20-year jump, she wanted Billy to look more grownup as well. “I just didn't see him with that curly hair anymore,” says Hennings. “And in the '90s, guys were blow-drying their hair. I wanted him to look almost like a Banana Republic ad or something, just something more grown-up and more conservative. He's [also] a dad. I just felt like it was right.” 

Because the shooting schedule wasn’t on a linear timeline, they often filmed out of order, jumping back and forth between different decades, so Hennings had to pin his hair back for times Billy’s hair needed to be shorter. “I sectioned his hair off above his ears and put it all on top of his head. Then I put little ponytails in the back and then pinned them down flat, and then put the rest of his hair over that,” she says. “So I have adorable pictures of him with six little ponytails behind his head.”

Karen Sirko

Hennings took inspiration from model and actor Brigitte Bardot for Suki Waterhouse’s character, Karen Sirko. “When I was researching [looks for the show], there was a picture of Brigitte Bardot sitting on her butt with her legs spread, leaning over like when you throw dice, with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth, and that gorgeous blonde hair, and I just went, ‘Okay, that's Suki,’” she says.

She started by giving Waterhouse curtain bangs with chunky highlights. To get that very ‘70s Bardot look, Hennings put in hair extensions and used Clairol hot rollers for defined waves at the ends. “I tried to use everything they would’ve used in the ‘70s: hot rollers, aerosol hairsprays, teasing combs,” says Hennings. “I would literally think of myself being her in the bathroom, [and] how she would've done her own hair. So trying to keep it as real as possible, and it really showed a difference from their characters starting out to where their characters end up.”

In the show's jump forward to 20 years later, Karen has bleached cropped hair to suit her moving onto a punk band. The new look gives off Pat Benatar vibes. “At first, I tried black [hair] on [Suki], but it didn’t look like Karen to me. So I went with the bleached [hair], which was a great look for that era,” Hennings says. “Bleached hair, the blunt look, the slight nags to the side, and that suit with the tie — I just felt like she was a magazine cover. I loved the way it looked. 

While Karen’s bleached hair is a wig, Hennings says you can achieve the same look with the Clairol Blonde It Up Permanent Hair Dye in Platinum Blonde.

Simone Jackson

If you want to go disco with your look, Diana Ross is the muse. But while Hennings says she used the singer as inspiration, it’s Simone’s journey navigating a predominantly white music industry as a Black woman that she and actor Nabiyah Be wanted to portray with Simone’s hair. 

“[Simone] was battling how Black she wanted to be because she wanted to make it in a white world,” says Hennings. “So she starts off without the afro, and then she starts to get a little more confidence in her [professional and personal journey]; she’s like, ‘I am Black; I’m doing this.’ Then we switch her to the big afro and then into the Diana Ross looks.”  

Hennings goes on to say that it was important to show that Simone wore wigs and braids as a way to show the character owning her Blackness. “It was very big for her to make sure that when she wasn't performing, she had a scarf around her head to show that it was wigs [she was wearing] to own, ‘This is who I am. I wear wigs. I tie my hair back. I wear scarves when I'm not working. I braid it,’ says Hennings. “So we tried to show her journey [in that way].” 

Simone’s hair was one of Henning's favorite looks to create because of how collaborative it was. “[Nabiyah] was so happy with every look. Because she probably voiced her opinion [on how Simone should look] more than anybody, it was really important for me to really listen to her and get what she needed,” says Hennings. “With the wigs, I ended up buying wigs and adding extensions and highlights to the wigs and things. Because of [Nabiyah’s] vision, you just can't buy from a store.” 

Graham Dunne

After another failed experiment with extensions (“[Will Harrison who plays Graham] looked like a rockstar wannabe, not like a rockstar,” says Hennings — “So we canned that and I just went ‘I just want to use his natural hair’"), Bruce Springsteen inspired Graham Dunne’s hair look. 

“I wanted him like Bruce Springsteen in the '70s and the '90s,” she says. “That's a good example because Bruce Springsteen went from longer curly to that really short cut.” She styled Graham’s hair curly through the younger years with curls tight to his head, just like Springsteen when he was younger. As he and the band got older, she kept pulling out Graham’s curls when they were bigger and longer. For the documentary portion, Harrison wore a gray wig to show his older age.

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