Off the Top of My Head: All About Hair

Hair brings one's self-image into focus; it is vanity's proving ground. Hair is terribly personal, a tangle of mysterious prejudices.

~Shana Alexander

Every morning when I wake up in SL, I am faced with the prospect of what my hair will look like. In my real life, I am pretty much limited to the hair I have, as messy or incalcitrant as it will be. In SL or IMVU, I have the choice of just about any hair I would want.

As Shana Alexander suggests, hair is the headliner, the opening statement, the engine to the whole train wreck.

What is amazing is that it is one of the least expensive ways to completely change one’s look in either world. Both mediums offer a variety of hairstyles for women (though the complaint in SL is that not enough are offered for men).

In SL, hair is made of prims, either native or sculpty, laid over a “bald head,” which is, in actually, a setting on the avatar mesh that turns off the scary icky hair that is part of the original avatar and sets the eyebrows in place. (And as we know, “prims” are the original building blocks of anything non-land or non-avatar in SL—the “primitive” object.) SL content creators have been amazingly inventive with textures and building in order to create these styles. Below is a glance at the many in my inventory:

/Wasabi Pills/ Lulu Hair – Grafite by MissAllSunday Lemon for /Wasabi Pills/

[rQ]Deep~ONYX/TEAL by Ruth Quan for [rQ]

::: Omega Point ::: Drop Hair ( ball ) by Sweetlemon Jewell for ::Omega Point::

Hair can, of course be funky. It can look otherworldly, anime, or futuristic.

= Hal*Hina = Hair -tina- [honey blonde] 1 by Hinano Runo for Hal*Hina

fri. - Quinn - Dramatic Red by Parvarti Monday for fri.day

>TRUTH< Harper – burgundy by Truth Hawks for >Truth<

It can be casual.

((JUNWAVE))PUNK Girl*Black* by LGM Jun for JUNWAVE

LH_hair13_rabi _white_f_L by Falastear Aeon for Little Heaven

* 0 Style * Euphoria *(Ginger Brown)_M by Rei Gully for Zero Style

It can be edgy.

*barberyumyum*16/black by toraji Voom for **DP**YUMYUM

ETD Loraine 2 – Crimson by Elikapeka Tiramisu for ETD

>TRUTH< Gogo – seaspray by Truth Hawks for >Truth<

Or elegant.

*~*Damselfly*~*Calyssa - Ruby Twilight by Shylah Honey for Dragonfly Designs

Ingenue ~ Lamour ~ Cinnamon by Betty Doyle for Ingenue

Sky Everett Designs-Temptress red Sparrow w/o lights by Sky Everett for Sky Everett Designs

Or luxuriously long and beautiful.

IMVU’s hair is based on building on meshes that are made in another program with textures laid over them. Hair in IMVU is equally as varied, though the theme of the day seems to more popularly go for that which has sex appeal and suits the more exaggerated avatar of IMVU.

~RK~ KAULITZ Black by Rakeria

$ *Obnoxia – Hair by Pop

~RK~ GG Midnight Mohawk by Rakeria

I found funky edgy hair, but it took a bit of looking. (Love the name of the middle one!)

*B* Farrah/Iced Latte by Bonkolina

-mb- Blonde Raunchy by missbetsy

! aeon red glitter by AmiCat

You can get short or sleek hair (albeit not a closely cropped cut).

~RK~ Marella Black by Rakeria

-mb- Blonde Hadley by missbetsy

Frédérique Black by GreekCandyGirl

Updos are also available for a more dressed-up look.

*AQ*MindaBlack by angleQ8

!SSS!dark red akane by sssweetyyy

|$| Crystal Brown by MrsSuPReMe

And the IMVU avatar lends itself, of course, to the long sexy wavy look.

~Mz~Blk honey Santa Hair by MZSEXY1987

*SYN*Lohan*SnowQueen by Synner

!AK! CARYL-brown by AngelKrizzu

And some creators have included streaked, well constructed hair.

Now you see SL and IMVU avatars top to bottom.. what’s next?