I understand that you have to stylize hair to some degree on statues, but comparing ancient Greek/Roman Statues to modern ones there is a big difference imo.
So did they portray hair in this certain manner (lots of texture, waves etc.) to achieve a desirable aesthetic or was hair 'different' in these societies compared to ours.?
The hair of the ancient Greeks and Romans was, of course, more or less the same as that of modern Mediterranean populations. The odd-looking hair you see on some statues usually reflects come combination of (a) contemporary hairstyles and (b) sculptural techniques.
Elaborately teased and coiffed hairstyles and wigs, for example, were fashionable among elite Roman women in the late first and early second centuries CE (some examples here). Some of the more extravagant examples were probably wigs.
Most of the strangest-looking hairstyles you see in museums, however, date to the second and early third centuries CE, when sculptors began to use drilling and polishing techniques that created dramatically "wavy" or curled hair, as seen here.
Source
Jane Feifer, "Roman Portraits" in B. Borg (ed.), A Companion to Roman Art (2015), 233-51
