I’ve been playing ARK on and off for almost 7 years, and I still remember how frustrated I was during my first playthrough. My survivor was stuck with the default buzzcut for 30 levels, while every other player I ran into had cool braids, mohawks, or even neon-colored pigtails. I spent hours digging through forums and testing methods until I finally figured out how 2 get different hairstyles in ark, and today I’m breaking down everything you need to know, no confusing wiki deep dives required.
How 2 Get Different Hairstyles in Ark: Vanilla Unlock Methods First
If you’re playing on official servers or vanilla private servers with no mods enabled, you won’t have access to hundreds of custom cuts right away. But you don’t have to stick with your starting hairstyle forever, either. The first thing you need to craft is a pair of scissors, which is unlockable at level 21. Scissors are the only base tool you need to change hairstyles in vanilla ARK, and they only cost 12 metal ingots, 4 hide, and 2 fiber to make, so you can craft one pretty early in your playthrough.
Once you have your scissors, equip them and hold the interact button while facing yourself (or another survivor, if you’re giving them a cut) to pull up the hairstyle menu. You’ll have 2-3 basic styles available by default, but the rest are hidden behind unlock requirements. I’ve tested every unlock method over the years, and these are the only reliable ways to get all vanilla hairstyles:
- Level up your survivor to 10, 25, and 50 to unlock 4 basic default hairstyles for free, including medium length cuts and simple braids
- Collect 50, 100, and 200 explorer notes across all maps to unlock rare cuts like the mohawk, half-shaved style, and long braided looks
- Defeat Alpha bosses including the Dragon, Manticore, and Rockwell to unlock limited-edition endgame hairstyles that most casual players never get access to
One thing a lot of new players miss: you don’t have to beat every boss on every map to unlock all the hairstyles. Once you unlock a style on one map, it’s tied to your survivor profile, so you can use it if you transfer to another server or reset your playthrough. All hidden vanilla hairstyles unlock via explorer notes, achievement milestones, and boss fights, so you won’t find them randomly in loot crates or from killing wild dinos.
Customizing Your Hairstyle: Colors, Length, and Small Tweaks
Once you’ve unlocked the hairstyle you want, you don’t have to settle for the default brown or black color. You can dye your hair any shade you want using regular ARK dye, the same stuff you use to color your armor or structures. All you have to do is put the dye in your survivor’s inventory before you open the scissors menu, and the color options will be available to select. Once you get the hang of how 2 get different hairstyles in ark, you can tweak your look as often as you want without spending extra resources, other than dye if you’re changing colors.
You don’t have to change your entire hairstyle to adjust the look, either. The scissors menu has two separate sliders: one for head hair length, and one for facial hair length if you’re playing a male survivor or a female survivor with facial hair enabled. You can adjust hair length and facial hair length independently with separate sliders, so you can turn a long bob into a short pixie cut without unlocking a new style, or grow out a short beard into a long lumberjack beard over time.
I learned the hard way that bright, bold colors use a lot more dye than neutral shades. Last year I wanted to make a hot pink ponytail for my survivor on a Fjordur playthrough, and I spent almost an hour picking berries in the swamp to make enough pink dye. Darker hair colors require less dye than bright neon shades, so stock up on amarberries for yellow or azulberries for blue styles if you want to save time. You can also use industrial dye made in the chemistry bench for longer lasting color, but regular berry dye works just fine for most cases.
Using Mods to Unlock Even More Hairstyle Options
If you’re playing single-player or on a modded private server, you can get way more hairstyle options than what’s available in vanilla ARK. There are dozens of cosmetic mods made by the community that add hundreds of new styles, from anime-inspired pigtails to medieval braids to wild, fantasy-themed cuts with glowing accents.
The most popular mod for extra hairstyles is called Custom Hairstyles and Faces, which adds over 100 new cuts and facial customization options for both male and female survivors. Most popular hairstyle mods work for both single-player and player-hosted dedicated servers, and they don’t affect gameplay at all, so they’re allowed on almost all modded servers that allow cosmetic changes. Some larger overhaul mods like Primal Fear and Ark Eternal also add extra hairstyles as part of their content packs, so you might not even need to download a separate cosmetic mod if you’re already playing with overhaul content.
There are a few caveats to keep in mind if you’re using hairstyle mods, though. First, if you transfer your survivor from a modded server to a vanilla server, any modded hairstyle you have equipped will reset to the closest vanilla style. Always check server rules before installing hairstyle mods, as some servers ban cosmetic mods to prevent unfair advantages (even though most hairstyle mods don’t give any gameplay boost at all). I also recommend only downloading mods from the official Steam workshop to avoid malware or corrupted files that can break your save.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Changing Your Hairstyle
I’ve made just about every mistake possible when customizing my survivor’s look over the years, so I can save you a lot of time and frustration by pointing out the most common ones. First, don’t forget to put dye in your own inventory before you open the scissors menu. If you don’t have the dye on you, the color options will be grayed out, and you’ll have to back out of the menu to grab them, which wastes time.
Another mistake a lot of new players make is throwing away the hair they cut off. When you trim your hair with scissors, you’ll get a small amount of human hair resource added to your inventory. Hair you cut off from yourself or other survivors counts as a usable crafting resource, so don’t throw it away. You can use it to craft fiber items, rope, and even special wig pieces in some modded playthroughs. It’s not the most valuable resource in the game, but it can come in handy if you’re short on fiber early game.
A lot of new players also worry that they’ll lose their custom hairstyle if they die or switch maps. That’s not true at all. Your hairstyle saves to your survivor data, so you won’t lose it if you die, switch maps, or transfer to a new server (as long as the server supports the style you’re using, if it’s modded). You also don’t need to make a new pair of scissors every time you want to change your hair; scissors have 50 uses, so one pair will last you for dozens of cuts.
At the end of the day, customizing your survivor’s look is one of the most fun parts of playing ARK, and you don’t have to be a high-level player to make your character stand out. Whether you’re grinding explorer notes to unlock all the vanilla styles or downloading mods to get the exact cut you’ve been wanting, you now know how 2 get different hairstyles in ark for any playstyle or server type. Last month I made a long white braided style for my Ragnarok survivor that matches my fur armor perfectly, and every new tribe member I meet asks how I got it. It’s a small touch, but it makes the game feel way more personal.