When Odo Was Human..

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Why did he have no facial hair? In Ascent he is without hair removal facilities for some days and no facial hair grows. Or.. in the future can you just cease it from growing through some special laser thingie?

Miles O'Brien grows his facial hair when imprisoned without any removal options so he must not have used any futuristic Nair that keeps it from growing.

 

[SilentP]

Might just be that Odo is one of those humans that have no facial hair? Or the Founders forced him into a human body but with his old fixed appearance as part of the punishment?

 

[Eyes]

Odo isn't turned into a human, but rather a humanoid (solid), a humanoid who looks like he used to as a changeling. I would say that since his form is based on his changeling appearance, he doesn't have any hair follicles on his face, so can't grow any. While a changeling, Odo based the look on Dr. Mora, who doesn't have facial hair, and so he didn't morph anything similar to hair follicles then, and he keeps his old body.

 

[Danoz]

Odo isn't turned into a human, but rather a humanoid (solid), a humanoid who looks like he used to as a changeling. I would say that since his form is based on his changeling appearance, he doesn't have any hair follicles on his face, so can't grow any. While a changeling, Odo based the look on Dr. Mora, who doesn't have facial hair, and so he didn't morph anything similar to hair follicles then, and he keeps his old body.

Basically this.

It's evident that other changlings are capable of a far more exacting emulation (vital organs, bloodstream, etc)-- and they were able to lock Odo into this form against his will. The "infant" changling detected this was able to unlock the punishment.

 

[Navaros]

Odo isn't turned into a human, but rather a humanoid (solid),

That is incorrect. Canon says Odo was turned into a human.

Answer to the OP's question: this is something the writers probably simply never bothered to think about.

 

[SoM]

Here's the thing - in the DS9 Companion, the writers say they weren't sure at all about how depowering Odo would go across, and made an absolute point to keep the makeup (they say something like "if you lose the face, you lose Odo"). Now, of course, they explain him still looking like that in "Broken Link" as part of the punishment - looking in the mirror will always remind him of what he's lost. And since he would never have grown a beard as a changeling...

[Then, of course, they turn him into a Klingon in "Apocalypse Rising"! (and it's not a combination of Klingon makeup and Odo makeup, it's just the Klingon forehead and suchforth over Rene A's own lower face). They kind of handwave Odo choosing to go back to his "unfinished" face under Dr. Bashir's knife at the end by having Bashir suggest a human or Bajoran face, and him just saying his "old face will do very nicely". It still undercuts the "punishment" aspect to it though...]

 

[Eyes]

Odo isn't turned into a human, but rather a humanoid (solid),

That is incorrect. Canon says Odo was turned into a human.

Memory Alpha would disagree with you: http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Odo. It says his species is humanoid from late 2372 to mid 2373. Humanoid, not human, just a generic solid. And I normally trust Memory Alpha.

 

[DevilEyes]

Odo isn't turned into a human, but rather a humanoid (solid),

That is incorrect. Canon says Odo was turned into a human.

Memory Alpha would disagree with you: http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Odo. It says his species is humanoid from late 2372 to mid 2373. Humanoid, not human, just a generic solid. And I normally trust Memory Alpha.

Why would they turn him into a Human, anyway? Why not Bajoran, if they wanted a specific race? They just told him he would be punished by becoming one of the solids, no reason to turn him specifically into a Human.

 

[Vulcan Princess]

From the transcript of Broken Link (emphasis added):

BASHIR: It's blood, all right. Not a trace of changeling protoplasm in your entire system. Type O negative, if you were wondering.
ODO: I'll be sure to remember that.
BASHIR: Physiologically, you're completely human.
ODO: Except for my face.

It would appear that the Founders did turn Odo into a human. I always found that strange and figured that if they were going to pick a specific species, they should have turned him into a Bajoran. Maybe since he showed up with two humans, the founders turned him into a human since they didn't have a handy model of a Bajoran. (I'm reaching here.)

 

[Smellincoffee]

From the transcript of Broken Link (emphasis added):

BASHIR: It's blood, all right. Not a trace of changeling protoplasm in your entire system. Type O negative, if you were wondering.
ODO: I'll be sure to remember that.
BASHIR: Physiologically, you're completely human.
ODO: Except for my face.

It would appear that the Founders did turn Odo into a human. I always found that strange and figured that if they were going to pick a specific species, they should have turned him into a Bajoran. Maybe since he showed up with two humans, the founders turned him into a human since they didn't have a handy model of a Bajoran. (I'm reaching here.)

They also might not have cared to do a lot of research into Odo's situation. Sure, he works in the Bajoran militia, but associating him with humans was much easier, given that he worked beside the Federation. We can assume that most of the contact the Dominion had with the Federation was with humans, since they seem to dominate the Federation's ranks. Maybe to the Founders, all those "solids" look alike.

 

[Bluesteel]

It was part of the punishment. To be Solid but not to be completely human. They wanted it so that when he walks people could still recognize that he wasn't normal.