Skyrim hair mods: ApachiiSkyHair and other hairstyle mods for SE

“Alright, I admit I am not sure how I feel about this one.” That was the first line of our December 2012 review of ApachiiSkyHair. The reviewer disliked mods that “make women unrealistically beautiful”, but had to admit that Skyrim itself offered few good hairstyles. ApachiiSkyHair has stayed in use among Skyrim hair mods: its two Nexus Mods pages count more than 24 million downloads, and many NPC overhauls, retextures and patches build on it.

ApachiiSkyHair is no longer updated. Apachii uploaded the original in February 2012 and the Special Edition version in November 2016. The last files went up in October 2020: an updated male hair pack and a replacement for one hairstyle.

This is a refresh of our old review, widened to the other big Skyrim hair mods for Special Edition. Nobody here has played Skyrim with any of these hairstyles. Every fact comes from each mod’s official Nexus Mods page, checked on October 20, 2026.

What ApachiiSkyHair adds

The files add more than 200 hairstyles for men and women. They are conversions from The Sims 2 and 3, Oblivion and The Witcher, and the page credits each original author. Apachii did the conversions, rigging and textures, with help from Geonox and Jeir. The hair fits humans, elves and orcs, and the main file includes styles for Khajiit.

The hair comes in separate files, so you install only what you want:

Each file is standalone. On Special Edition the current files use optimized meshes; the older unoptimized uploads stay on the page as old versions. The original Skyrim page has the same kind of files, with the main file at 1.6 Full from January 2015.

Helmets and wigs

To stop the hair from clipping through helmets, it does not show under one, so characters look bald with a helmet on. The optional wig file is the fix: “Equipable Wigs for use under helmet and hats.” You craft them at the forge, or take them free from a barrel outside the Riften stable.

How to give an existing character new hair

New hairstyles appear when you create a character. For a character you already play, the page describes a console route:

1. Switch to third-person view. In first person, your character is invisible in the menu.
2. Open the console with the ` key, type showracemenu and press Enter.
3. Change only cosmetic things like the hair. Changing race, sex or a preset can change your skills and attributes.
4. Enter your name again. If your stats look wrong afterwards, re-equip your gear.

On the original Skyrim, the race menu could crash with many hairs installed. The page recommends RaceMenu, which needs the Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE), and the original page lists ShowRaceMenu Precache Killer as a requirement.

How to install ApachiiSkyHair

1. Open the Apachii Sky Hair SSE page on Nexus Mods, or the original page for the 2011 game.
2. On the Files tab, download the main file with Mod manager download. Add the female pack, the male pack and the wigs if you want them.
3. Enable each file and its plugin in your mod manager. Our Mod Organizer 2 guide covers the setup.
4. Create a new character, or use showracemenu as above.

Two notes from the page. NPC mods made in the Creation Kit that give characters these hairs need all of their face files installed, or the changed NPCs get “a grey-green face”. And the author does not allow uploads to the Steam Workshop, so get the mod from Nexus Mods.

Verdict

3.5 out of 5

Start with the main file and the wigs, and add the 98-style female pack or the 72-style male pack only if you need them. It loses points because the last file is from October 2020 and helmets hide the hair unless you use the wigs.

Version checked: 1.6 Full for Skyrim Special Edition, on October 20, 2026

Other Skyrim hair mods for Special Edition

Nexus Mods hosts several other large hair mods for Skyrim Special Edition. None of the mods below is marked as adult content on its page. The sections group them by type and do not rank them. Descriptions and requirements are taken from each mod’s page.

KS Hairdos SSE

KS Hairdos, by Kalilies and Stealthic, is a hair pack that the page counts at 1,058 hairstyles: 951 for women and 107 for men. The hairstyles were retextured “for a more clean, realistic look”, and elven support is included. The page lists no required mods and recommends RaceMenu.

You can download a complete package or separate female and male files. The complete package and the female file are at version 1.10, from May 17, 2025. The male file is at 1.91M, from March 3, 2022. Four notes from the FAQ:

• The hairstyles are for your character only. NPCs in the base game do not use them.
• If the game freezes when you open the character menu, wait: “the game needs a moment to process all hairstyles”. The FAQ also suggests SSE Engine Fixes.
• The pack works with other hair packs.
• Some hairstyles can clip with some body shapes, and the page says “the hairs can’t fit perfectly to every body”.

KS Hairdos – HDT SMP (Physics)

This separate mod, by ousnius, Kalilies and Stealthic, takes 100 female hairstyles from KS Hairdos and adds HDT-SMP physics, so the hair moves. It is standalone and does not replace anything in the main KS Hairdos pack. The hairstyles are “real” hair, so you choose them in RaceMenu, and NPC mods can use them too. An optional file adds wigs, items you can give to a follower. You craft the wigs at the Skyforge, and you can temper them.

The page lists five requirements:

• SKSE64, the Skyrim Script Extender.
• Faster HDT-SMP (FSMP) 3.0.4 or later.
• RaceMenu: 0.4.16 on Special Edition, or 0.4.19 or later on Anniversary Edition.
• One of the four body mods it supports, for hair collision. BodySlide files for each are included.
• Hair Suppression Fix, but only if you use the wigs.

The page warns: “Make sure your versions of the game, SKSE64, RaceMenu and Faster HDT-SMP match up!” Our Special Edition vs Anniversary Edition guide explains how the two relate. On performance, the FAQ says FSMP’s speed depends on your CPU, and too many physics hairstyles at once slow the game down. There are no plans for male versions. Version 1.5.0 is from May 17, 2026.

Vanilla hair remake

Vanilla hair remake, by jg1, is “a remake from scratch of 146 vanilla hairstyles, across all playable races”. The page promises the “same scruffy look, but with greater detail”. It replaces the base game’s hairstyles instead of adding new ones.

• The main files change the player only. Pick the version with or without physics.
• Optional files change NPCs too: “over 2000 vanilla NPCs, including random no-names”, again with or without physics. You can mix main and optional files.
• The main files have no plugin, and the page calls the mod “safe to install and uninstall at any time”.
• Physics needs FSMP 1.50.1 or later. The requirement note adds that no custom skeleton is needed.
• To stop physics hair from clipping through helmets, the page recommends the FSMP option disableSMPHairWhenWigEquipped.
• It works with High Poly Vanilla Hair, but not with Vanilla Hair Replacer.

The author leaves out body collisions to keep the physics light: “This mod is not for high-end systems. It’s for everyone.” The version without physics is 1.0.2, from May 15, 2024. The physics version is 1.0.3, from June 11, 2024.

High Poly Vanilla Hair

High Poly Vanilla Hair, by Macxhiin, also reworks the base game’s hair. It gives the hair meshes of the human races a higher polygon count for smoother hair, with UV and bone-weight tweaks and “detailed 3d braids”. It covers human races only for now. The page lists no requirements. Version 3.0 went up on February 2, 2021.

Modular SMP Hairstyles

Modular SMP Hairstyles, by Everglaid, borrows the idea of Tekken 6’s hair customization: you mix a back of the hair with a front. The page lists 12 bases and 13 bangs, for more than 100 unisex combinations for humans and elves, plus a handful of unique styles. All of them have SMP physics “with a performant low bone count”, so FSMP is required.

Every style sits in the game’s normal Hair slider, with no new sliders or menus. RaceMenu is optional and helps you read the hairstyle names. The page warns that some styles can float near the forehead or clip with some ear shapes, and says a bit of manual sculpting fixes that. The plugin is ESL-flagged. Version 1.031 is from April 6, 2024.

Salt and Wind retextures

Two texture mods by mashanen, built on jasperthegnome’s Salt and Wind textures, change how hair looks without adding hairstyles:

• Vanilla hair – Salt and Wind gives the base game’s hair softer 2K textures. It “works for all races and mods that use vanilla hair assets”, and it is textures only, with no plugin. The Vanilla hair remake page says its own footage uses these textures.
• KS Hairdos 1.7 Salt and Wind retextures KS Hairdos SSE 1.7, which it lists as a requirement. An optional plugin cuts the female hairstyles you see from 792 to 333, without deleting the others. The page links an update for KS Hairdos 1.9 by another author.

What Skyrim hair mods require

The pages above split hair mods into two groups:

• Static hair. ApachiiSkyHair, KS Hairdos, High Poly Vanilla Hair, the version of Vanilla hair remake without physics, and the texture mods list no required mods.
• Physics hair, marked SMP. KS Hairdos – HDT SMP, Modular SMP Hairstyles and the physics files of Vanilla hair remake all require FSMP.

FSMP, SKSE and skeletons

FSMP, short for Faster HDT-Skinned Mesh Physics, is “an SKSE plugin allowing advanced physics, movements and collisions, to be applied to actors”. It replaces the original HDT-SMP completely, and its page tells you not to install the original as well. FSMP’s own requirements include Address Library for SKSE Plugins and a skeleton mod, “or maybe one of its alternatives”. SkyUI and a few other entries are needed only for the version 3.5 settings menu; version 4 and later list SKSE Menu Framework. Our SkyUI guide covers that mod.

The pages do not agree on the skeleton. FSMP lists one, but Vanilla hair remake states that its physics hair does not need it. Read both pages before you install.

SKSE64 is a requirement for all of these: KS Hairdos – HDT SMP lists it, RaceMenu requires it, and FSMP is a plugin for it. The SKSE64 page states that it “supports the releases of Skyrim on Steam and GOG”. It does not support the Epic Games Store, Windows Store or Game Pass versions.

Changing hairstyles: RaceMenu and the character menu

New hairstyles show up in the game’s character menu. For a character you already play, the ApachiiSkyHair and KS Hairdos pages both give the console command showracemenu. The KS Hairdos FAQ adds a warning: do not change your race, “or else your skills and perks will be reset”. It also names an in-game route: the Face Sculptor in the Ragged Flagon, which needs the Dawnguard add-on.

What RaceMenu adds

RaceMenu, by Expired, is a “complete overhaul to the character creation menu”. It requires SKSE64 2.0.7 or a newer version that matches the RaceMenu version. Version 0.4.20.0 went up on April 19, 2026. Features from its page that matter for hair:

• Color any tint, hair included, with an exact AARRGGBB value.
• A search filter by name.
• Show each head part’s name and the mod it comes from.
• A sculpt mode for changing the head mesh.
• Menus sorted in the SkyUI style.

How each hair mod uses RaceMenu

• ApachiiSkyHair: the Special Edition page lists RaceMenu as the supporting mod for changing hair color. On the original Skyrim, the page recommends it against race menu crashes.
• KS Hairdos SSE: recommended. Version 1.6 added files “so now you can sculpt everything with Racemenu”, and 1.61F fixed a RaceMenu crash.
• KS Hairdos – HDT SMP: required. RaceMenu also gives the wigs the correct hair color automatically, for the player and NPCs.
• Modular SMP Hairstyles: optional, to read the hairstyle names.
• Vanilla hair remake: for its optional wearable hair items, use RaceMenu or Hair Colour Sync to get the right color.

Hair on NPCs

Hair mods treat NPCs differently. KS Hairdos is for your character only. KS Hairdos – HDT SMP hair can go on NPCs through NPC mods or the wigs. Vanilla hair remake has optional NPC files for the base game’s NPCs. Its page says mods that change NPC heads should load after it and will override it. To combine the two, you generate new face data in the Creation Kit. For ApachiiSkyHair, NPC mods need all of their face files, as the install notes above explain.

Sources

• Apachii Sky Hair SSE on Nexus Mods
• Apachii Sky Hair for Skyrim on Nexus Mods
• KS Hairdos SSE on Nexus Mods
• KS Hairdos – HDT SMP (Physics) on Nexus Mods
• Vanilla hair remake on Nexus Mods
• High Poly Vanilla Hair on Nexus Mods
• Modular SMP Hairstyles on Nexus Mods
• Vanilla hair – Salt and Wind on Nexus Mods
• KS Hairdos 1.7 Salt and Wind on Nexus Mods
• FSMP – Faster HDT-SMP on Nexus Mods
• RaceMenu on Nexus Mods
• Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE64) on Nexus Mods