The Mane of Mayer's Existence

Whatever your feelings about John Mayer, it's difficult not to appreciate his hair, much in the same way it's difficult not to appreciate Hugh Grant's. Both share the same thick, wavy, dark brown locks that, let's face it, make the lady-folk swoon. For example, British thesp Grant dated supermodel turned okay-actress Elizabeth Hurley for many years (despite being a relatively average-looking Lothario with a penchant for $5 blowjobs), while Mayer has dated Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jessica Simpson (despite being a lanky, weird-looking dude with a quirky sense of humor). There's only one explanation for this: Rather than being soulmates, these two are (insert drum roll) hairmates. Either that, or Mayer just has a man-crush on Grant and can't stop replicating whatever hairstyles the actor thinks are cool.

Room for Squares (2001): On the album cover, Mayer sports boyishly short hair that makes him look like a frat boy. By the time his video for "Your Body Is a Wonderland" debuted a whole year later, he had grown the do to twice its original length and found a product that worked for him — much like Grant's "Will" character in About a Boy, which had been released the previous May. The single, like the movie, was a huge success.

Heavier Things (2003): The album cover for Heavier Things shows Mayer with a haircut not entirely dissimilar to what he sported in the "Your Body Is a Wonderland" video, but by the time "Clarity" was released as a video in March, Mayer had gone retro-Grant, combing his moppish hair forward like Grant did in Sense and Sensibility, back in 1995. The mop was passé by 2003, though, so in November 2004, he released the video for "Daughters" wearing the same coif Daniel Cleaver (Grant) had in that month's Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. Consequently, "Daughters" turned out to be much more successful for him.

Continuum (2006): With Continuum, Mayer decided to go retro-Grant again; this time, with greater success. By growing his hair to a wavy, chin-reaching length, he embraced the 2001 Bridget Jones' Diary Daniel Cleaver — the two-year period when Grant, along with Small Time Crooks, thought he'd find out how the hipsters lived by going long. It's working for Mayer, though, as Continuum — not to mention his hair — has made him more famous than ever.