It's funny, even though I had played XI for years it never bothered me during that period, but now looking back at the character models they all look really creepy.

I too was disappointed not to see more variety in the character creator but I think the slim pickings is probably due to it being alpha. Maybe they only ported over existing data to keep the download small, they're not quite ready to publish the new models, or it was just too much bulk to bother with just for server stress tests.

So not having much at this point doesn't surprise me, but I'd be pretty let down if there isn't a plethora of hair styles to choose from come retail launch.
You can spend eons crafting the slope of your characters chin or the shape of their nose to be just right but the only thing really anyone will ever recognize you besides your general race/gender is your hair. If they want to expand uniqueness amongst player characters it really starts there.