Hair

"I know what you're gonna say. I changed my hair."
"It's nice that way."

―Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker^[1]

Tarfful and Chewie-SWE — Wookiees were covered in wooly hair from head to toe.

Hair was a collection of pigmented thread-like strands growing from the skin of certain species.

Description[]

Biology[]

Species with hair included humans,^[2] Weequays,^[3] and many others. The thick coat of hair of certain life-forms was also referred to as fur. Such species included the Wookiees of Kashyyyk^[4] and the Talz of Orto Plutonia.^[5] Hair came in a great variety of colors, lengths, and thicknesses.^[6] As exemplified by the case of the human Obi-Wan Kenobi, hair lost its hue with old age.^[7]^[8] In humans, gray hairs were an easily identifiable sign of aging.^[9] Premature graying could also be a sign of stress, and was common in members of the Resistance.^[10]

Hairstyles[]

Overview[]

Sabine Wren-Rebels Season 3-Disney XD UK — Sabine Wren (pictured) dyed her hair and tried to keep it short so as to keep it from getting sweaty under her helmet.

Hair could be styled in a vast number of ways for practical or aesthetic reasons. The human weapon experts Sabine Wren used to keep her hair short because it would often get sweaty under her Mandalorian helmet. Nonetheless, she also did dye jobs to artificially add various colors her hair.^[11] Besides conventional dyes such as the purple substance extracted from the carnivorous Morogian snap plant,^[12] there existed a Mon Cal microplankton that would bond with each strand of hair, giving it a bioluminescent glow.^[11] The queens of Naboo often sported very intricate hairstyles.^[6]^[13] A product known as hair gel could be applied to tame any unruly hairs one may have.^[14]

A thermal blower was used to dry one's hair.^[15] Hairstyles were sometimes influenced by trends. Many of the women at the Resistance base on Ajan Kloss were influenced by Princess Leia's Alderaanian hairstyle and wrapped their hair around their head like a crown, although Rey believed that Leia didn't notice that she had started a trend.^[16]

In the aftermath of the Duel on Cloud City, Darth Vader became obsessed with locating his son Luke Skywalker; however, instead of his son, he found impostors who had grown their hair to match Skywalker's and even adopted an astromech droid partner to make easy money.^[17]

Appearance standards[]

Militaries typically had requirements regarding the hairstyle of their officers. For example, close-cropped hair was a requirement in the Galactic Republic's military.^[18] In the Galactic Empire, officers often cut their hair short for optimal efficiency, but were allowed to keep it long on the condition that they wore it pinned back in tight braids.^[19]

Kylo and Ren argue — The long, flowing hair of Supreme Leader Kylo Ren (left) was not to the military standards of General Armitage Hux (right).

The First Order also had regulations on hair length. General Armitage Hux secretly disapproved of Kylo Ren's hairstyle, which did not conform to the First Order's requirements. Convinced that an effective leader ruled by example, Hux felt that Ren's long hair was an "indignant assault" on his office as Supreme Leader. Hux's disapproval was such that he came to see it as a reminder of everything that he hated about Ren whom he saw lacking in discipline and military bearing. Hux vowed that if he replaced Ren as Supreme Leader, his first act would be to force his predecessor to "cut off his hair."^[16]

Practical uses[]

The Nightsisters of Dathomir could inflict a curse on a given individual by creating a waxen effigy of that person. The creation of the effigy required a lock of the intended victim's hair.^[20]

Female porgs crafted nests by using hair, fiber, or grass.^[21]

Range trooper armor had large pads of white fur on its shoulders and lining the interior of its kama to keep the rugged troopers warm on cold-weather planets, such as Vandor.^[22]