Why does almost every female character on TV have the same perfect locks?

Hero or villain, black or white, gay or straight — why does almost every female character on TV have the same perfect locks? asks Emily Witt

I JUDGE TELEVISION shows by the women’s hair. It turns out this is a binary judgment: Either the women have TV hair, or they don’t. What is TV hair? It’s shiny, long, has obviously been styled with a curling iron at the ends, and looks like that of a beauty pageant contestant. (The style is known as ‘‘The Cosmo’’ in the parlance of Drybar, the blowout salon that has more than 70 locations across America.)

It is also ubiquitous. On the show Divorce, as the life of Frances, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, falls apart around her, she maintains the absurdly perfect hair of someone perpetually about to attend the prom.