Not Even the Upside Down Can Ruin Nancy Wheeler's Epic Hair in 'Stranger Things'

There’s a lot to discuss after watching part one of the “Stranger Things” final season, all of which are complicated and spoiler-y and better left to the Reddit threads and fan pages. The element we couldn’t wait to dissect, however, is less about “Stranger Things” lore and more about enviable coiffures: Nancy’s hair. Loads of fans think it’s the best she’s ever looked. Others equate the shaggy, softly-permed style with Eddie’s glorious mullet (RIP). Her wigs even made a hilarious appearance on Jimmy Fallon during the cast’s press tour, while the woman who designed the look, hairstylist Sarah Hindsgaul, says it might be her favorite Nancy Wheeler hairstyle of the entire series.

Nancy’s hairstyles have always closely followed her character arc on the show. Long and innocent in season one. Over-styled in season three as she embarks on her first job; over-permed in season four. For the show’s last run, Nancy’s hair not only had to match the grittiness of the overall season, but it also needed to complement her kick-ass attitude. Hindsgaul found the perfect inspiration rewatching “Alien." "I was like, this is perfect, [Sigourney Weaver’s] hair is just like Nancy’s,” the hairstylist told The Set Set. 

In “Alien,” Weaver’s hair breaks down beautifully as the action intensifies for her character, Ellen Ripley. In such a high-intensity season, this was exactly what Hindsgaul was after for Nancy. “I love the way Sigourney's hair becomes undone, so for Nancy I knew I was going for something like that where we could have it wet and piece-y, and she could go through a lot of stuff and it looks cooler as it gets messier and pushed to the limit,” Hindsgaul highlighted on her Instagram feed. 

Nancy’s hair might be more low-key than before, but it was important to Hindsgaul that the esence of her character was still felt, despite her being stuck under lockdown in Hawkins and about to face-off with some seriously scary demons from the Upside Down in part two of season five. “There's a lot of fighting coming up and while I wanted to make it look like she's not really spending that much time on herself anymore, I think she is a woman that still gets a haircut, gets a perm, still brushes and styles her hair … I mean, she is Karen Wheeler's daughter,” Hindsgaul says. 

To maintain that consistency, Hindsgaul and the show’s wigmaker created a wig using hair with a soft curl pattern that matched Nancy’s texture from previous seasons. The wigmaker also added extra hair into the wig so “we could layer it into a period-correct hairstyle, with enough shorter layers on top to give it the movement we wanted,” explains Hindsgaul. The end result is extremely close to a modern-day “wolf cut,” which is an iteration of the classic shag, which Eddie rocked in seasons three and four. (Although, his is “broken up, rock ‘n roll … much wilder and more extreme,” according to Hindsgaul.)

The big difference is that Hindsgaul didn’t over-process Nancy’s hair this time around, a technique that involved leaving the perm solution on the wig a little bit too long—in essence burning the hair to get that tighter, crunchier curl. “I didn't need that for her [this season]. I wanted her to be soft and natural,” she says. “Nancy went through all these years of overdoing it a little bit and being so insecure that she felt like she had to put up a full front… put a full face on every morning to be taken seriously at work and to be in with the boys. Now, she's just like, "I only need myself.”” 

Fans are obsessed with Nancy’s season five style switch-up—just head to the comments section of Hindsgaul’s Instagram posts and you’ll find people saying they want to copy the cut at home. When asked why she thinks the look is resonating so strongly in 2025, Hindsgaul chalks it up to the overall shift happening in beauty and fashion right now (her incredible talent at making ‘80s hair look wearable and soft also has something to do with it). “I think we have gone through 10 years of fashion that's been very controlled and very clean, and I think we’re all ready to feel more free and have more individuality in our expression,” she says. “I think we're longing for texture and curls and layers and being able to put a personal spin on stuff, and to also have mistakes and quirks and to enjoy your individuality.” 

Nancy’s bravery, sass, and overall badass-ery throughout the entire run of “Stranger Things” could also be a reason that people are so attracted to her and her hairstyles over the years—and that includes Hindsgaul herself. “If I could choose to be any of these [characters],’ I would be Nancy," she says.