If you’ve been feeling somewhat bereft since Season 5 of Stranger Things wrapped up, you’re not alone. The show’s decade-long run gifted us infectious ride-or-die friendships steeped in warming coming-of-age charm with a hefty dose of Eighties nostalgia - via Kate Bush hits, flamboyant prom attire and electric blue eyeshadow.
Sarah Hindsgaul was a core part of creating that world. The hair designer is responsible for fashioning the vintage looks of the beloved cast, from Millie Bobby Brown’s buzzcut in Season 1 to Sadie Sink’s Merida-inspired flame of teased tresses in the series finale.
The Danish creative speaks over Zoom from Los Angeles, her long blonde waves coolly tumbling down a cosy cream jumper à la Daryl Hannah in Splash. She’s been part of the show since the very beginning, and earlier this year she gave fans a peek behind the curtain, sharing TikTok clips that revealed the inner workings of her trailer.
© @sarahhindsgaulFans loved this exclusive peek into life on set, which spanned early footage of wig tests to Sarah’s self-filmed videos that detailed her meticulous design process. “I normally get the scripts really early, and I have a long time to sit on them,” she reflects. “I’ll start texting with the different actors and say, ‘Hey, am I going in the right direction? How does this feel for you? How would this make sense for your character?’ I need to know exactly where they are in their headspace, and we need to have those discussions first.”
She then sends her ideas to Ross and Matt Duffer, the creators of the show (the latter is her betrothed). After some back and forth with the sibling duo, plus the costume department and their sketch artists, she approaches the makeup team, who start work approximately three months after their colleagues: “I’ll tweak [hair] colours for makeup. Sometimes there’s something like a blue eyeshadow that has to go on, or I might just take the fringe and pop in a tiny bit of highlight to bring out the makeup. It is such a dance, and nobody is more important than anybody else. It only looks right if we’re all on the same page.”
It’s a mammoth collaboration: “I have endless amounts of meetings with costume and makeup throughout the season because we always have new characters and we’re also doing a lot of stuff to our characters. We’re splattering them with goo, and sometimes it’s a different goo going on the hair than it is going on the face because we have sensitive skin, so they are made of two different materials - but they obviously have to look like it’s the same material." Fake blood, often whipped up by the makeup department, poses a very real threat to hair, thanks to its tendency to stain. She laughs fondly of the team’s collective effort: “Those are my favourite people, obviously.”
© Stranger ThingsCinephiles understand that there is certainly no shortage of eclectic Eighties references in the world of film. Sarah looked to Stephen Spielberg’s E.T when envisioning a young Will Byers’ epic bowl cut, while Sigourney Weaver’s bouffant ‘do in Ridley Scott’s Alien was the catalyst behind Nancy ‘Walk ‘em Down’ Wheeler’s shock of untamed curls in Season 5. As for her most sentimental source of inspiration? Richer Donner’s cult classic The Goonies: “The Goonies was huge for me because growing up, that was one of the only tapes that I owned, so I probably watched it about 500 times. When I see images from Season 1, I laugh because those teenagers are as close as I could come to the feeling of the film.”
Ensuring the characters’ hair never slipped into parody of this expansive canon (thank you, John Hughes) was essential. “You always have to be a little bit careful. It has to be a soft reference because you have to work with what people look like and actually have on their head, so it looks believable, and it doesn’t look like I just forced something over their heads.”
"If it doesn’t make you uncomfortable that Will has the worst bowl cut you have ever seen, then there’s obviously something wrong with you"
Looking pretty is not the objective here. Nancy’s hair in particular sparked widespread chatter online, with Natalie Dyer’s character growing out of her preppy half-up-half-down school-girl locks in favour of frizz. “At the end of the day, we want honesty from the actors,” Sarah notes candidly. “They have a look at themselves in their trailer for maybe half an hour to see what works for them. Sometimes I feel like they can be a little bit scared. I encourage them to touch the hair and say, ‘It’s yours! It’s yours, and it only looks like yours if you are not scared of doing anything to it. My work is mostly about movement and colour. Hair is a little bit different from makeup because hair should move, and makeup should not move.”
Obviously, actors are chameleonic by nature - it’s the name of the game. But did working with children and teenagers ever spark natural moments of insecurity about not looking ‘polished'?
“There are two kinds of ways of not feeling confident. There’s a feeling of ‘this doesn’t belong to my character, it feels out of place, and I don’t feel confident,’ or there is ‘this makes me feel like I look like my character, but I don’t feel pretty. I feel that I’m taken down by five notches.' One can be very helpful for the actors, while the other one is very unhelpful. We have a lot of moments in Stranger Things that are more about character development. Going through your developing years features many periods that we don’t want to think back on ever.”
"People don’t want to go through these awkward stages - they want to cheat life in some kind of way, but you can’t cheat it"
I openly admit that I fell hard for the St. Trinian's-esque side ponytail and heavy waterline eyeliner. "It feels like nails on a chalkboard!” Sarah continues, impassioned. “It has to be uncomfortable - because it’s wrong, it feels right, and it is not a photoshoot. It is supposed to feel like real life, otherwise it would not get under your skin. If it doesn’t make you uncomfortable that Will has the worst bowl cut you have ever seen, then there’s obviously something wrong with you. Of course, Noah felt like a dork - he felt all of the things that were exactly what he was supposed to be feeling - and he loved that it helped him to get into his character.”
© Stranger ThingsWe reminisce about the growing pains of adolescence - a painfully awkward time for yours truly as a quiet, gangly pre-teen with a penchant for acid-wash denim (proof still buried somewhere deep in my Facebook archives) - and I can’t help but think it’s easy to see why the cast adores Sarah so completely. “You survive, it makes you stronger, and it makes you come out knowing so much more about yourself," she animatedly adds.
Sarah’s words of wisdom translate beyond the screen. In fact, the final series of the show cleverly holds a mirror up to the zeitgeist. Gen Z are growing increasingly tired of the picture-perfect image of the influencer, craving individuality and a bit of mess.
"Learn to work with what you've got. I hope that Stranger Things has taught people that"
“Life is not a photoshoot. You’re taking the joy out of everything. You’re taking the most beautiful part out of it, especially hair. Hair should move. That’s when hair is most beautiful. Over the last ten years, I’ve seen very sleek, contracted looks where I think, is everybody in jail? I can’t see who you are. I think the Eighties symbolises a freer world. It was a time when we were not concerned if somebody was filming us on their phone. You had space to play. People don’t want to go through these awkward stages - they want to cheat life in some kind of way, but you can’t cheat it. Enjoy it and don’t be scared of finding out who you are.”
© Stranger ThingsHer philosophy forms the backbone of the show’s message about growing up and toying with self-expression: “Don’t be scared of texture. I see people with these beautiful curls in all different shapes and patterns, and they suppress them. Learn to work with what you've got. I hope that Stranger Things has taught people that. You want to offset stuff a little bit. Like a crooked tooth or a little cute freckle. It’s what makes you you, and that is charming. That is real beauty that nobody else can have, only you. So use it. For example, with Steve’s hair, I would make it really perfect, and then I would destroy it.”
Oh Steve, Hawkins' heartthrob and internet darling. The perfect moment arrives. Is Joe Keery - the actor who brought the beloved beau idéal of fictional high school stardom to life - as utterly delightful as we’ve all imagined?
"He makes you feel exactly how a man should make you feel. Whichever girl gets that man one day, she is so lucky”
In short, no. He’s better: “Oh my god, I love Joe. We had a blast. In Season 1, when we were filming that party scene where he opens the doors, he came to me and said, ‘Can we make me pop? I need something that makes me feel like the coolest guy in the world, but also maybe a guy you want to punch a little.’ He is one of the sweetest human beings and so grounded. I don’t know if this has anything to do with it, but he has four sisters. Makes sense, right? So he treats you and makes you feel exactly how a man should make you feel. Whichever girl gets that man one day, she is so lucky.”
© Stranger ThingsMy poorly-restrained swoon was saved by the bell, the hair designer announcing her phone was nearly out of juice. Yet, this is certainly not the last we’ll see of Sarah, who is launching her eponymous hair care line on January 12. In one of those wholesome full-circle moments, Sadie Sink played a key role in helping her establish the label. The actress offered guidance on sustainability measures that would resonate with a Gen Z audience.
Critics have long tipped the 23-year-old for Hollywood stardom - a prediction Sarah herself wholeheartedly confirms: "She has this zen to her. She’s always been very, very quiet, and I was always really curious about what was in there. It was different from some of the other girls who I really admire, like Millie and Maya (Hawke), because they are very chatty. With Sadie, it took years before she really started opening up. She is so equipped and classy in every single way.”
With her focus on embracing quirks, baby hairs and all, Sarah was the perfect person to bring the Stranger Things world to life. In a landscape dominated by digitally altered ideals, she continues to build her mountain of philosophy: true magic lies in imperfection. As for her next onscreen venture, details are scarce - but when it arrives, we’ll be running up that hill.
