James Turner has provided a handy web page to help disable Sims 4 packs.
LINK: The Sims 4 Disable Packs
The verdict; it does in fact work and I didn't have any ill effects using this method. The hair, makeup, clothes and build mode items were simply removed. I didn't try this with a Get to Work illness active so I don't know the game will behave if that is the case in your game. I did get a game launch notice that I had content being installed but it was a false flag; the content I had disabled was not being installed.