Oh, I agree. I think it added a lot of nuance and believability to his character as well. Diana Gabaldon's refusal to inflict 20th century morality on Jamie was shocking to me, in a good way.

There's an explanation for why he doesn't wear a beard too, though it's not as plot-relevant as the short hair explanation will be.

Jamie will probably seem like a perfect guy for the next few eps. I wouldn't worry about it. Not a spoiler: But as a reader of the book, just when I started to think "This guy is way too good to be true…" he did something that is about as far from good as it gets. And as someone mentioned below, it's definitely not…