Let me open by saying that I'm a big fan of FFXIV in no small part because of the wide variety of pretty things I can dress my character up in. But more than glamour, hairstyles are what get me really excited for a new patch. I've been pleased to see that new ones have been released fairly regularly with new content, especially since recently new hairstyles have been unisex. This has felt like a step in the right direction towards expanding the variety of character aesthetics available to male and female characters beyond the usual stereotypes.
So imagine my disappointment to learn that the newest set of hairstyles is in fact only one, and it changes depending on the character's gender. I'd been pretty excited to use the long ponytail with a bow on my male character, only to realize that it's locked to female models. While I'm enjoying the rest of patch 4.5, it would be a lie to say that trying on new hairstyles isn't my favorite part of patch day.
Even though I totally understand that the hairstyles we got in 4.5 belong to NPCs and to that extent were already designed with a particular model gender in mind, I do think that this genderlocked hairstyle release is a disappointing step backwards. With Shadowbringers right around the corner, perhaps adjusting the hairstyles to suit both male and female models was just too low on the list of priorities right now; I get that. But given the precedent for new, unisex hairstyles set in the past, I admit I got my hopes up.
Part of my disappointment stems from the distinct lack of long hairstyles available to male characters generally, especially compared to the options for female characters. I've heard from friends that there's a possibility this will be addressed in the future, and I'm posting today to strongly encourage that.
TLDR: Newest hairstyles genderlocked, I'm frustrated. Get rid of genderlocked hair!