Arrow may have been the show that started the Arrowverse, but The CW series’ debut also launched an eight-year trend of bad hair and wigs. It all began with Oliver Queen’s untamed and, quite honestly, atrocious Lian Yu hair and it hasn’t let up since. Oliver’s island hair set the stage for a variety of terrible looks that have run the gamut throughout the various shows of the Arrowverse of being anywhere from forgettable to distractingly terrible.
Of course, not all of the Arrowverse’s wigs and hair have been bad. Some of them are inoffensive, easily forgotten as soon as the episode ends. Others are so awful they've made this list. And so, here are the ten worst Arrowverse hair wigs, ranked and with every show getting at least two.
10. Zari’s Waterfall Hair
There’s no getting around the fact that Tala Ashe has great hair and Zari’s looks have often reflected just that. However, the Legends of Tomorrow hair department occasionally gets it wrong, which results in the look above. Laying it on thick with the bangs in the front, this isn’t the only time this look has made its way onto the show and it’s often far worse and distracting enough that it takes me completely out of any given scene. Justice for Zari’s hair.
9. Kara's Cover-up
Supergirl's 100th episode was a big deal. Very rarely do shows get to such a milestone and the superhero series was focusing on Lena and Kara's friendship, as well as bringing back the magical Mr. Mxyzptlk. Offering Kara a walk through memory lane, Melissa Benoist had to wear a wig for flashbacks to the show's earlier seasons. This wig was so distracting that I had to watch parts of the episode over again. The wig looks very uneven and lacks the flair and bounce of Kara's typical hairstyle.
8. Alice's Pilot Wig
Alice is one of the strongest first season villains of the Arrowverse thus far. Batwoman would have been nothing without her or her need for chaos. That said, Alice's hair hasn't always been reflective of her unhinged personality and that was most evident in the Batwoman pilot. Check out the mop above. It's way too short, uncharacteristically buoyant and wavy, and it looks like it was simply plopped atop her head with no care. Thankfully, the hair department opted for a different look later on.
7. Not All Wells Have Great Hair
Tom Cavanagh’s hair as Sherloque Wells in The Flash Season 5 was rather unappealing, growing longer and more untamed as the season went on. However, he's not the Wells with the most egregious hairdo. That distinction belongs to none other than one H. Lothario Wells, the robe-wearing version of Harrison Wells from Earth-47. First introduced in Season 4, this iteration of Wells has very Oliver Queen-like island hair, but with incredibly short and wavy bangs. It makes Wells look a lot like a creep to be honest.
6. Halloween Party For Magpie
Batwoman Season 1 introduced Magpie, the thieving villain who ultimately stole Lucius Fox's secret book to give to Alice. Her look though is quite amateurish and comes off like a knock-off Hit Girl from 2010's Kick-Ass. To be frank, Magpie's wig looks like she walked right out of a Halloween store. This wig is frumpy, uneven, and boring. If this wig was meant to instill fear into the hearts of Gotham City's citizens, then it missed the target entirely.
5. Oliver's Golden Flashback 'Do
I can't speak for everyone, but Oliver's flashback hair is the worst. However, what's wild are the inconsistencies. Sometimes it's longer than others or perhaps more unkempt, depending on the season. Whichever flashback look you dislike the most, there's no denying that this wig in particular is horrible. It just hangs there and looks like someone had sat on it before handing it to Stephen Amell to put on.
4. Barry's Emo Wig
Barry Allen's hairstyle hasn't changed very much since Season 1 of The Flash. So, when Barry time-traveled in Season 3's "The Once and Future Flash" to visit the future version of himself, it was off-putting to see how the years had affected Barry's typically well-groomed hair. Emo Barry's hair was unkempt and dirty. I was torn between wanting to give him a comb or throwing him into the nearest shower. Yes, this wig was representative of what a future Barry looked like without Iris, but the Scarlet Speedster could have managed to give this horrifying hairstyle a trim.
3. Oliver's No Good, Very Bad Hair
There are just so many Oliver flashback wigs to choose from. All of them are bad, but some of them are worse than others — they're bad enough that he landed twice on this list. This one stands out because it's just remarkably terrible and screams "I'm an asshole." Which, to be fair, pre-island Oliver kind of was. Why is it floppy at the edges? Oliver's family was rich so that there's no denying that he could have afforded to get a better hairstyle.
2. Indigo's Tragic Wig
At this stage, Supergirl was still on CBS in Season 1, so I assume the budget was higher, but here we are with this very cheap looking wig. It's a mess, with only its braids holding the thin strands together. Smallville alum Laura Vandervoort was ready for her close-up, but this sad wig was really not. I've seen better wigs at costume stores. This one's just so unfortunate that I'm not sure where it went wrong.
1. Young Damien Darhk's '60s Hair
Ah yes, Damien Darhk. The villain first appeared in Arrow's fourth season before turning into Legends of Tomorrow's worst nightmare in Season 2. Neal McDonough’s Damien has always sported a very short haircut on the show. So, you can imagine the collective horror when he showed up on screen wearing this hideous and badly proportioned wig in the episode "No Country for Old Dads." Sure, the Legends had time traveled to the 1960s, but this wig is the stuff of nightmares, flat, distracting and also kinda terrifying.
Honorable mentions
Take a look at some of the hair and wigs that were pretty bad, but not quite bad enough to earn a spot on the Top 10 list!
On the surface, this may not seem like a bad look, but this was supposed to be an edgy, emo look for Felicity while in witness protection. Maybe the hair department should've brought back the Goth look.
This must be Nate Heywood's "I woke up on the wrong side of bed" hair.
Reverse-Flash is supposed to be menacing and all, but this hairstyle makes him look like he should be in a rock band.
While Arrow will no longer be offering anymore questionable hairdos now that it's over, The Flash, Batwoman, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow have all been renewed and will be back next year on The CW. Brace yourselves for more wigs and bizarre hairstyles.
For more on what to watch in the meantime, be sure to check out our 2020 summer TV premiere guide, as well as our fall schedule for new and returning shows.
