In Chinese historical dramas, a new villain has appeared. It is not a scheming official or a ghost from the tomb. It is the fake sideburns. Take Ren Jialun (任嘉伦), an actor with naturally sharp and handsome features. His latest show, Fate Chooses You (佳偶天成), should have been a hit.
Instead, his sideburns became the main topic for all the wrong reasons. These thick, plastic-looking hair pieces hang straight down to his earlobes. They turn a living face into a stiff mask. What should be a soft transition from hair to skin becomes a dark, heavy curtain. It is a small detail, but it destroys the whole illusion of a breathing ancient character. And sadly, Ren Jialun is just one victim in a widespread epidemic.
Plastic Sideburns
A natural Binjiao (鬓角) sits around the middle of the ear. It has light, wispy hairs that fade gently into the skin. It softens the jaw and creates a relaxed, human look. But the current trend in historical dramas ignores all biology. Fake sideburns stretch all the way down to the earlobe. They are thick, uniform, and rigid. They look less like hair and more like black tape stuck on the face. Ren Jialun’s good bone structure fights against them, but even he cannot win.
Imagine an orangutan’s face framed by dense, long hair. That is the visual effect of these overgrown sideburns. The whole face becomes a small island in a sea of fake hair. Face proportions collapse. This is not an insult to any actor. It is simple observation. A real human face has soft, uneven edges. A sharp, blocky sideburn breaks every rule of natural hair growth.
These sideburns came from old Peking opera styles, where exaggeration was key for stage visibility. But on today’s high-definition screens, they look alien. A good sideburn should connect the actor to his character. This version only connects him to a factory-made hairpiece. No wonder so many historical drama heroes look like dolls instead of warriors.
Hairline Trap
Sideburns are not the only problem. The hairline is another disaster zone. To create a “perfect” oval face, stylists push the front hairline forward into sharp, triangular points. These points look like neat black stickers glued to the forehead. Real hairlines are soft, uneven arcs with tiny baby hairs. A sharp triangle screams “wig” from a mile away.
Take Lu Lingfeng (卢凌风) in Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty (唐朝诡事录). In season one, his hairline was natural and pleasant. It fit his warrior role. But in season two, the team raised his hairline and gave it sharp corners. Fans complained non-stop. The older, simpler look was more real and more handsome. The sharp version looks like a math problem drawn on his forehead.
Every lead actor gets a custom wig, hand-knotted by skilled workers. The craft is fine, but the design is broken. Stylists chase an artificial “perfection” that removes all personality. Instead of seeing a Tang Dynasty character, we see a 2020s wig template. Real hairlines breathe and change with light. Painted triangles do not.
Lazy Templates
The root cause is simple: lazy beauty standards. Most drama teams copy the same assembly-line templates. No one wants to risk a natural look. Every wig is sprayed stiff with hairspray. No stray hairs allowed. Whether the character is farming rice, fighting on a battlefield, or fleeing for his life, his hair stays perfect and shiny. It is fantasy, but not the fun kind.
This kind of styling slowly trains our eyes. Watch enough fake sideburns and sharp hairlines, and they start to feel normal. But they are not normal. They are cheap shortcuts. The industry will not change because change costs time and thought. Audiences stop complaining because they forget what real hair looks like. Low-cost, cookie-cutter wigs get copied from show to show. The result is a cycle of bad taste.
Natural, character-fitting styles become rare. When a drama like The Demon Hunter’s Romance (无忧渡) does sideburns right, we notice because it is so unusual. Zhang Ruoyun (张若昀) in Joy of Life (庆余年) had clean, natural Binjiao. Ren Jialun himself in The Demon Hunter’s Romance looked fine. So good work is possible. Most teams just do not bother.
So here is the question: Can you still enjoy these historical dramas with their ugly, identical sideburns? Or do you see the black tape now? Once you notice the fake hair and the sharp triangles, it is hard to unsee. Our taste is being slowly tamed by lazy design. And that is a real loss for Chinese costume drama.