Shave & Stuff’s Dreads DLC: A New Hairdo, Same Old Shallow Roots

The Dreads DLC for Shave & Stuff arrives with the promise of injecting some much‑needed variety into the base game’s shallow barbershop antics, and on the surface, it does exactly that. Adding dreadlocks to the roster of hairstyles gives you something more substantial to work with than the usual stubble‑and‑shave routine, and the first time you’re handed a client with a full head of chunky, stylised dreads, it feels like the game is finally stretching beyond its original toy‑box limitations. The DLC leans into the tactile fantasy of grooming textured hair, and while it never becomes a true simulation, it at least offers a different rhythm: twisting, trimming, separating, and occasionally wrestling with a hairstyle that has more personality than anything in the base game.

Unfortunately, the novelty doesn’t last as long as you’d hope. While the dreads themselves look decent in the game’s cartoonish art style, the interactions remain as surface‑level as ever. You’re not really maintaining or styling dreads so much as performing simplified gestures that vaguely resemble the real thing.

The PSVR2 haptics do their best to sell the illusion, giving each lock a satisfying weight and resistance, but the underlying mechanics don’t evolve beyond a handful of repetitive motions. After a few clients, you’ve essentially seen everything the DLC has to offer, and the sense of discovery evaporates. It’s a shame, because the concept has real potential, textured hair could have opened the door to more complex grooming systems, more expressive character designs, or even a deeper progression loop, but ultimately the DLC settles for being a small, quirky add‑on rather than a meaningful expansion.

Where the Dreads DLC does succeed is in injecting a bit of visual flair into the game. Clients sporting dreads tend to have more personality, and the hairstyles themselves add a welcome splash of variety to the otherwise repetitive customer pool. The exaggerated cartoon aesthetic works surprisingly well with the chunky, stylised locks, and the animations, while simple are expressive enough to make each haircut feel slightly different. Still, the lack of new environments, tools, or scenarios means the DLC never escapes the feeling of being a single new toy dropped into the same old sandbox.

Pros

• Adds visual variety and personality to the customer roster

• Dreads look good within the game’s cartoonish art style

• Haptics give each lock a satisfying sense of weight

• Offers a brief change of pace from the base game’s shaving loop

Cons

• Very shallow mechanics with limited interaction depth

• Repetitive motions that grow stale quickly

• No new tools, environments, or meaningful progression

• Feels more like a cosmetic pack than a true gameplay expansion

• Short‑lived novelty with little long‑term value

In terms of value, the Dreads DLC sits in that awkward space where it’s fun for a short burst but doesn’t meaningfully extend the life of the game. If you already enjoy Shave & Stuff as a quick, goofy VR distraction, this add‑on gives you another reason to boot it up for a few minutes. But if you were hoping for something that deepens the experience or fixes the base game’s lack of progression, this isn’t the upgrade that will change your mind. It’s a small, charming addition to a small, charming game but like the original, it’s over almost as soon as it begins.

XPN Rating: 3 out of 5 (SILVER)

Dreads DLC is available now!