Why Raj Koothrappali Underwent A Style Transformation On The Big Bang Theory

Out of all the lead characters on "The Big Bang Theory," Raj Koothrappali might be the most fascinating — in his own specific way. Played by Kunal Nayyar (who was actually nearly fired before booking the job that would go on to change his life), Raj is sweet, smart, and timid around women. In fact, the writers saddle him with a bizarre selective mutism trait for the early part of the show where he can't even speak around a pretty girl, but thankfully, that changes as the show continues. Something else that changes is Raj's style. Though his outfits remain colorful and eclectic, his hair changes things up a lot, and in Jessica Radloff's 2022 book "The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series," the author, Nayyar, and costume designer Mary T. Quigley break down Raj's surprising style evolution.

As Radloff puts it in a section about the show's costume design, Raj sports a lot of hairstyles over the years: "There was the baseball cap, followed by the mullet, followed by sideburns nearly as long as the mullet, followed by the wavy-looking perm. Then there was the flat-ironed look that lasted most of the series..." As Nayyar put it, at first, he thought it was just a continuity issue.

"Curly hair is a pain in the ass, because it every scene it might look different, so for continuity's sake, I think they were like, 'Let's just iron his damn hair down,'" Nayyar joked to Radloff. "And then, ugh, it just became this thing." Eventually, "The Big Bang Theory" went ahead and provided a solid in-universe explanation for Raj's big style change, though. So what was it?

In the penultimate season of "The Big Bang Theory," we finally see Raj's natural hair ... and he explains why he's been straightening it the whole time. In the season 11 episode "The Confidence Erosion," Raj starts getting frustrated with his best friend Howard Wolowitz's (Simon Helberg) constant jokes about his appearance and eventually shows up with his real curly 'do. As it turns out, as a new immigrant in America, Raj thought Howard was the coolest person he'd ever met, so his straight hair was modeled after Howard's stark, straight bowl cut to help him fit in a little better. At this point in the show, though, Raj is ready to be himself and be open with Howard.

"It was so nice when [they stopped straightening it] because it was almost as if he was regaining his identity that he had lost," Nayyar remarked. "It happened in such a beautiful way. He had a fight with his best friend, and said to Howard, 'You've bullied me my whole life.' Even though he really hadn't, he's like, 'You've just put me in this box and I want to be free of it.' It was so well done."

As Nayyar pointed out previously, he didn't really enjoy having straightened hair ... and it doesn't seem like he wants to don any of Raj's other looks again either. "And look, I wore cargo pants for 12 years," he told Radloff. "I'm never wearing cargo pants again. Or a checkered sweater. I can't."

That's when costume designer Mary T. Quigley weighed in on why Raj sported such a specific look; apparently, she did want it to look chaotic and, perhaps, like Raj was just trying too hard. "From the track jackets to the cargo pants, every element he wore could have been hip alone in a different outfit. He just put it all together at the same time." She did have a favorite Raj piece, though: "And god bless Kunal because there was one purple jacket that was dear to my heart in the early years, and I said, we gotta bring it back for the last show, so he flung it over a chair in the final episode."

Let's not forget that, throughout "The Big Bang Theory," Kunal Nayyar does, as Raj Koothrappali, get to dress up in some pretty wild outfits during the show's Halloween episodes. In season 3's "The Wheaton Recurrence," the whole gang, including Howard, Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons), and Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki), are dressed up as superheroes, with Raj donning a latex Catwoman outfit. So what did he have to say about that specific 'fit while speaking to Jessica Radloff for her book?

"F***," Nayyar began, laughing, before making a surprising admission. "But I actually enjoyed dressing up as Catwoman! All that leather spandex was empowering ... brought out my inner sex goddess, and I loved it! I loved it a little too much. It may have gone missing on a couple of weekends. But I really enjoyed wearing that costume."

In another Halloween episode, Raj is stuck dressing up as an extremely cartoonish (and comic-book accurate) version of Aquaman, years before Jason Momoa gave the superhero a new look — and that one, Nayyar hated for a specific and understandable reason. "The most uncomfortable was the Aquaman costume because of the horse. I couldn't sit down or go to the bathroom because then you'd have to take off the horse and it would be this whole thing. So I had to hold it all night, and it was a long Halloween shoot."

Finally, Nayyar weighed in on the season 6 episode "The Monster Isolation," which features Kate Micucci as Raj's on-again, off-again paramour Lucy ... and sees the two split up. After the breakup, Raj soothes himself with an elaborate meal, and as Nayyar told Radloff, filming that sequence was really embarrassing. 

"The most humbling thing that I probably ever had to wear was when I broke up with Lucy and I'm eating lobster half naked," Nayyar said, referencing an "outfit" of just a plastic bib and underpants. "I was wearing three or four pairs of underwear to really push up the gut, because we had to make him look like he had completely let go. So that was very humbling to watch with lobster on my chest hair."

To see all of Raj's "best" looks, stream "The Big Bang Theory" on Max now.