it's always been an enigma to me why such a borderline fug would hack her hair really short and bring more attention to her face.

it was part of the reason i found jo so mysterious in season one of melrose place. i didn't give a fuck about the cryptic husband references, but i was in suspense about the hair.
was it like that movie angie, where before breaking free from her old life she hacks all her hair off in a gas station washroom?

well, i'm still not certain about the character's motivations. but i think i've tracked down zuniga's inspiration to marcia gay harden's character in miller's crossing.

daphne and marcia gay do sort of resemble each other. in fact, i was watching mystic river a few nights before and thought how great it would be if daphne played tim robbin's wife.
not because i think she's a better actress than marcia (she isn't), but because i'm infatuated with her and need fuel for my addiction.

anyway, i think daphne must have seen miller's crossing, realized that the haircut makes that character look sexy, tough, east coast and all the things jo reynolds ought to be, and thought "that could be me."
so she copied it, only with unimpressive results.
this may seem like a stretch, but i instinctively feel this is how the haircut came to be, and that the coen brother's character can safely be considered proto-jo.