Also I am curious how it ties into future content. I understand dress up changes, or hairdos. But changing your appearance on the fly all the time feels not very ....persistent for you as character. How it impacts commander when it walks around?
Do you really want to restart your character and loose all your credits/ship/ranks/etc just because frontier add in new hairstyles, tattoos or decide you really don't like that "wicked witch of the west" nose style? If you ask these questions that's what you'll end up with.
After a long successful time; WoW added in transmog and hairdressers etc because people like some variance; looking at the same character for 5 years can seem a bit dull, with these little vanity changes it can bring life back in to the game.
Personally from a longevity player base point of view I think it's a good idea to always have it available.
Also it allows people to gradually age/harden their characters over time for lore purposes.
Get ganked one too many times? add a few scars.
Punched in the face? add a cyborg eye and change the skull shape a little, maybe a broken nose?
There's lots of lore reasons to keep it open.
But you're of the mindset your character shouldn't change in appearance ever; then set it once and don't change it.
Do you look exactly the same as you did 20 years ago? and in 20 years time will you look the same as you do now? The answer is always no.
Some things will stay the same; example> your skin pigment is unlikely to change... unless you're Michael Jackson and your gender is unlikely to change, unless you're Lana Wachowski.
There are always exceptions and if people want to go crazy tbh that's for them to justify for themselves.