New 7.1 hairstyle looks nothing like the winning hairstyle from the 2023 contest

The artist's entry looked so nice and I know plenty of people were really excited about it! What happened? I'm sure something more accurate can be made. FFXIV is really lacking in textured and curly styles to reflect how many people's natural hair grows, let alone how many amazing ways there are of styling textured and curly hair. We just had an expansion about learning from and connecting with different cultures, so it's honestly kind of embarrassing that the diversity of choices available to create player characters is still so poor in comparison...

They also chose to showcase it in Crayola colors. I'm curious if it looks less playdoughy with more natural tones.

Honestly, all the new hairstyles feel incredibly low effort. It's just disrespectful at this point.

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Originally Posted by truegriffin

Those who think it's not possible should remember that there are all sorts of hair and fur textures in the game already! It's just that those textures are almost exclusively shown on monsters and bosses. (This is, of course, its own issue...) Off the top of my head, Vauthry has long and wavy hair, and Belias the Gigas has a mane of loose, fluffy waves and curls. The Thunder God has literal cloud horns coming out of his head. Even the alpaca mount has lovingly textured fluff. And Byregot has undeniably curly hair.

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This is a great point. My first instinct on seeing this hairstyle was frustration that the devs just can't figure out curly hair, but looking at these examples, especially Byregot... Yeah, it truly starts to look intentional, which is heartbreaking.

I really, really hope they fix it, even if it delays implementation.

Chiming in to voice my support. I really didn't believe this hair was inspired by that contest winner. Thought it must've been another winner or something...

I'd like to add my voice to the growing thread here, in agreement to the discontent.
This hair could've been so good for a variety fo reasons (not least of all, representation of more varied hair textures) and at this time for the lack of a better word, it seems to be a shoddy mimicry of the design entry pointed as its original inspiration.


"Inspired by" it ???? This is almost an insult to the original design, losing 90% of the texture and detailing in the process and making a preppy, springly looking style look like a wet mop in the end.


Please do better.
Please add faithful hairstyles to the original design contest entries.
Please add more varied ethnic hairstyles with curly, thick and kinky hair textures.


Thank you.

The original design even has a guide to show you what it's supposed to look texture wise, and this isn't a graphic issues because they are capable of it because several hairs have that curl.

They took one look at the design and didn't reference it at all.

I am hoping they fix this because yikes. That design deserves so much better.

I am curious how it'll end up looking in game when I have control of the camera, and how it'll handle being dyed but I have to agree
When I saw the new hairstyles being added I wasn't all that thrilled for any of them

+1. It looks nothing like the contest winner, and the whole point of the submission was obviously to add more textured hairstyles to the character creator, which the game sorely needs. Was there some other entry it was supposed to match? Either way, it looks really bad in screenshots.

"Inspired by"???? Inspired by what? Looking greasy or wet? Because it certainly isn't meant to convey the same look as the winning hairstyle they modeled it after. This is really disheartening actually. We NEED new hairstyles that are actually curly. And frankly, a lot of the hairstyles we already have should be better since the update and they're really not. This is a really frustrating thing they decided to do. The winning artist even laid out for them a nice chart to show how it should work.... they really did some heavy lifting for designing so I'm really failing to see how XIV got here from that.

I think it would be fine if they decided to fix this hairstyle to looks less odd and add an even curlier version that matches the contest design winner more accurately asap. People have a lot of different hair textures so having more variety is good in general obviously. But man.... that "inspired by" is such an insult to the original.

Listen. I know that the game has to appeal to as large as an audience as possible. But I feel non-white people are asking for the bare minimum of some actual representation. There's no excuse anymore. If no one on the modeling team knows how to model textured hair hire somebody. The people are out there. The inspiration is out there and y'all know what I mean without me saying it.

"Inspired by" is an insult not just to the artist, but to people who have this texture in their actual lives. It's all fun and games to make an "afro" that people can wear as a joke and those poor excuse for locks that definitely aren't afro-textured hair. But when we finally start asking for some proper representation the devs spit in our face. I was so ready to switch to this hairstyle and am met with total disappointment.

This is so incredibly disappointing and disrespectful. It doesn’t have the same vibe or look at all, it looks like someone with curly hair just walked out of the shower. :(

The hair as it's being adapted in game looks like a wet mop. There's no curly texture to it at all. Even if it is "inspired by," I'm struggling to actually see any of the inspiration since the texture is completely different. This is incredibly disappointing.

Joining in to +1 this
This was one of the hairstyles I was super excited to see implemented into the game.

I'd like to see a second pass on this since it just doesn't really look similar to the base design from the art.

I didn't even recognize the hairstyle when I saw it; it looks like a greasy mop and doesn't even remotely resemble the original design. And frankly, it's outright disrespectful to ignore the artist's intentions and the community that's been asking for textured hairstyles for years and turn a curly hairstyle into something that'll make your WoL look like a sad fuckboy.

It's really disappointing, to say the very least. I was excited to see this in game, since hair textures are not really varied. This was a hairstyle that looked so beautiful, and I remember seeing all of the contest applicants' designs, and this hairstyle was one I pointed out specifically to my friends.
But them going from the bouncy and tighter curls in the design to the limp waves is Such a downgrade.

The hair as it's currently modeled looks like if Emet-Selch had bedhair, it's lowkey insulting to the artist who had a clear idea in mind. I get that they won, but if you can't put the vision in the game, I think it'd be more respectful to NOT put it in rather than make a half-assed attempt like that.

Joining to +1 this. The resemblance to the winner is middling at best, and did away with all the points that made the hairstyle interesting — i.e. the textured curls. This game dearly needs more varied hairstyles beyond “straight” and “mildly wavy.” Hoping that Sqenix will do better and give it a second pass for the sake of everyone who was looking forward to this hairstyle, ESPECIALLY those who play PoC and were looking forward to giving their character a hairstyle that reflected that.

Joining in to express my absolute disappointment at the continuous lack of real curly hair in this game, and the lack of disrespect for the artist's vision. Do better.

+1 Yeah this ain't it, please try again with it. You owe it to all your fans who want this hairstyle textured properly.

woa, i didn't even realise that this was based off that entry until someone pointed it out to me
hopefully they'll change it to look way more like the concept, i know seeing that entry win made a lot of people happy because their own hair is similar to it, so it would be good if the in game model was different from what we were shown in the patch notes

I was actually really hoping this one would be brought to the game but the inworld model is unfortunately truely lacking against what it could be given the actual hairstyle.

First time posting here, just wanted to also show my support for this thread. I was really looking forward to this one and yeah, I had no idea it was even based on that entry.

Another agreement. I also had to go through all the Hairstyle Design Contest winners when I saw this, because it felt like it had to be a different style, right? But no, this is the only one with any resemblance to the new hairstyle.

The "A new hairstyle inspired by a FFXIV Hairstyle Design Contest" wording, when previous winners have used the phrasing "A winning entry from the FFXIV Hairstyle Design Contest" is then also incredibly damning, and shows some self awareness.

This would be disappointing for any entry, but it seems that the development team does not understand the gravity that this particular hairstyle holds, as a rare and eagerly anticipated textured hairstyle. Even taking the "inspired by" as "maybe they'll release a more faithful version later on" is a bit disheartening, to see that a style with such importance did not take precedent. It truly seems that the team did not understand the relevance of what they were working with, and the principle of that is the most disappointing part here.

it definitely misses the curly-ness from the winning entry, it looks like a sopping wet mop now compared to the puffy rounder bits the art has :(
parts of it hang down too much, i think fluffing it up a bit wouldn't hurt. i hope the devs can revision a bit and adjust it to look better, fuller and more like the original art, cause clearly this wasn't the intent of the artist of the winning entry

I have to agree with the people saying it doesn't really qualify for "inspired by"--I thought a runner-up had been put in because of how completely unrecognizable it was. There's no resemblance between the new hairstyle and the entry besides length.

It really needs to be fixed. This is an insult to the entry's artist as well as the parts of the playerbase that have been wanting hair textures that aren't straight/wavy.

Creative Studio III do better. Even "inspired by" is so much of a stretch. It looks nothing like the winning hairstyle. This is a big disappointment.

What a mess.

The original artist deserved better.

The original artist addressed an issue that the dev team failed to address for years with their design... and the dev team still managed to fail the community somehow.

I guess I'm just happy as a female hrothgar I will have more than 4 come next week.

extremely disappointing. there's next to no textured hairstyles in the game to begin with, and this one would have been a very welcome addition if they had bothered to implement it properly. really hoping they'll do better and try to remake this one as it should be

Someone put their heart into submitting a vision from their life, culture, and body...

And we got a Moussed-up salon look out of it? This genuinely breaks my heart, and I hope that there's some sort of misunderstanding. Truly, it's still hard out there in Ala Mhigo...

Please, please, I hope this thread is seen!!! It'll just be too sad if the feedback isn't listened to. Too many players were looking forward for the 'natural curls' hairstyle entry and it's a big shame--and disappointment if this isn't amended.

The game has desperately need tighter curl textures for too long. This is a really good time to make that change.

Fully agree with OP here, and wanted to offer some counterpoints to various arguments I've seen in this thread (and outside of it) too—mainly regarding how "translatable" the original entry is into ingame. The short answer is, they absolutely COULD do something much, much, much better than what this screenshot showcases.

The longer answer is, they could do it because they've done it to a smaller scale before. The afro hairstyle, for all its faults, DOES at least have an easily identifiable, curly texture to it, and they achieve it mostly by the normal. I'm studying game development in school, so for those unfamiliar: a "normal" texture is basically a flat picture drawn in various shades of blues and purples, and these colors tell the game where on the texture it should appear "raised" and where it should appear "sunken". You know how au ra scales appear 3d, with various parts that look raised and react to light, but if you look closely there's no actual 3Dness to it, it's just flat against the skin? That's the normal texture at work (and the specular, but I'm mainly thinking about the normal here). Other hairstyles like the afro use the normal to make it "appear" to be curly, but it's actually just a smooth ball. This is a much less stressful method (both on the server and on whoever has to design the hairstyle) because texture files are smaller than 3D models, so Square (and many 3D artists) uses it frequently to add depth to models that, were you to peel the textures off, would just be flat shapes.

I say all that because I've seen sentiments that it might be hard to put a curly hair model into the game, but in fact most of the work could sufficiently be done with the normal, and has been done VERY poorly on this hairstyle, when talking about the winner's entry it's based on. They are more than capable of translating this extremely faithfully in-game, and the fact they haven't is genuinely disappointing as hell.

I also wanted to add screenshots of very old highlander hairstyles that showcase sufficient curls in-game, provided by PudDraws on Bluesky.

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsi...yqbqhq4hi@jpeghttps://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsi...mxi5srlia@jpeg

The curls here are mostly achieved with a flat 3D model (were you to turn these hairstyles at the right angle in game, you'd see the curly strands 'disappear', because it's basically got the 3D shape of a piece of paper) and well-articulated normal texture. Several straight-haired styles in the game have lots of these features too, and much of the fluffiness of some shorter hairstyles is achieved through that same "flat 3D model with detailed normal" method. The bulk of the hair would be, without its textures, just a weird hair-shaped blob, and the normal would again add the curls and depth. Again, this is how all the hair is designed already: look at any model and you'll notice that, aside from some strands and such, the bulk of the hair is one 3D hunk, and it's the textures that make it appear more like a full head of hair.

Ultimately, making a faithful translation of the original entry winner's hairstyle would be completely within their ability, and the fact they thus chose not to is upsetting. I won't speculate on their reasoning, but I will say this: We do not need more hairstyles that can realistically be worn by straight-haired or vaguely wavy-haired people. We have tons of those, and those people can MORE than afford to be left out of a few hairstyles that black and brown people would be able to realistically and EASILY wear. The fact is, making a straight-haired or wavy-haired WoL is easy in this game, we have tons of options for this. What we DON'T have are almost ANY options for curly or textured hair, and that makes it really hard for anyone to make a WoL who is black, brown, or even just someone with very curly hair. Instead, these people have to compromise with hairstyles ill-suited to their visions, and that's unfortunately a reality in SO many games that pride themselves on letting the player design their very own character.

So many people were ELATED to see this entry win, because they were under the impression the in-game hairstyle that would be made off it would be faithful to the entry, and understandably so. Lots of previous entries have been much more faithful than this. It's super disappointing to see how utterly unlike its winning entry this hairstyle is, especially when you KNOW this is within Square's ability and cannot be excused as "difficult to translate". This hairstyle could be improved DRAMATICALLY just with a rehaul of the normal texture (but it would also really benefit from a little more volume so it's not so "flat like it's wet" to the head). I really, really hope Square hears this and withholds the hairstyle until it's fixed; I don't think any of us mind waiting as long as it's faithful to what the winner (who I hear is quite personally upset by this as well) envisioned.

I've been waiting for so long to have a hair style that reflects me and my preferences. Guess I just won't have it at this rate.

Cosigning/+1 the bait and switch of it all feels really disheartening

I don't even hate the wavy hair that is included in the patch notes for implementation, honestly personally I'm more likely to use it, but as someone who likes straight to wavy styles for my character I have so many options when people who want curly and kinky hair have so few.

I was really excited for people who wanted these styles and feel seen by them to get this and another from the contest. Now a style that I otherwise might have enjoyed and used feels tainted because I know what ir wss meant to be/could have been

Hello, I’m the original creator and artist and i just wanted to say thank you for fighting to fix the hair or at lest have SE do better for the other hairstyles that won.

I understood that the hair would not be an exact 1 to 1 to my design but , since i saw how to treated previous designs that won including my mch gun, i had assumed that would at lest find a way to make it somewhat recognizable.

The thing that really bothers me is the fact that I made this hair for my friends and for people who needed this representation.
All three of the hairs i submitted were made with them in mind while i specifically also toned it down enough that they could be used with non poc characters. Especially since curly hair is something that anyone of any skin color and ethnicity could have. (Which is why i even added the examples of non dark skinned characters using it)

When the hair won, i had so many heartfelt and emotional thank you messages from so many people around the world because their hair was finally going to be in game.
So many people who were just happy to finally be themselves.
Now i’m just here so angry and disappointed for them because not only does it look nothing like it while being of strange odd quality, it just also feels like they didn't even try and now all those players lost something they needed.

I would love to be wrong. I would love to learn that someone tried really hard, and even fought to have more curly hair in the game.
Cause atlest then it wouldn't be such a letdown or betrayal.


I want to end with, i know the dev team is probably overworked and overwhelmed. And i do not mean them any hate or bad words. I just wish they can take their time and get things right next time.

Sorry for the long post. And thank you.

looks like someone put one of these on their bald head
https://www.veto.eu/media/catalog/pr...0/0/000846.jpg