So I’ve got a headcanon about the drow...
… spoiler: it’s about their hair.
You know how the drow are all too fond of killing each other? I imagine that it’s not uncommon to find two drow (evenly or unevenly matched - who cares they sure don’t) who really want to duke it out, one on one. It’s fine to beat each other up in an alleyway, but you know what’s tremendously more satisfying? Doing it for the whole province to see. Thus, there are numerous plazas in every faction of the Underdark designed for such battles, for the sole purpose of the winner getting the satisfaction of beating up his foe in public in an Age of Enlightenment dueling way, to prove that he’s right. If the loser dies, oh well. But if he doesn’t (either from mercy or the wish that he’ll be humiliated in public rather than offered a swift and easy death), then the duel ends with his hair getting chopped off for all onlookers to see.
In a culture built upon survival of the fittest, the length of a drow’s hair signifies not only their ability of survival, but also their honor, dignity, and a piece of their family’s reputation.
It’s customary to tie one’s hair up in a high ponytail before a fight and considered extremely disrespectful to cut (accidentally or intentionally) your duel partner’s ponytail before the fight is complete, but in everyday life, drow take pride in wearing their hair a number of ways. Soldiers tend to wear theirs in tightly braided buns that are then easily stuffed into helmets. Nobility pin theirs up in gilded hairpins before letting it cascade down their back in neat coils. Priestesses are partial to segmenting parts of their locks into tiny braids and then weaving those together in a messy, cobwebish pattern. Those with chopped, ragged strands cut to the quick tend to cover their hair with hats and hoods, lowering their head in shame when another scoffs at them. Sons and daughters who come back from a duel with short hair have brought dishonor to their family, and must suffer the punishment of judgement and mockery until their locks return.
This custom translates over to warfare, and therefore, when one region, province, or even family wins a war against another, it’s tradition to line all the members of the losing side up in one such plaza and chop off all their hair, one after the other. (After which they’re typically sacrificed, but let’s not dwell on that part.)
If a drow was feeling self-loathing, he/she could choose to cut off his/her own hair.
Due to this obsession with one’s hair, the drow have designed a few cultural symbols found in one’s hairstyle.
Bangs represent that a drow has been permanently dishonored. This is typically done by a person of authority, but could be done by the drow him/herself, especially if he/she was banished or otherwise snubbed by his/her province or family.
Cutting the strands above the temples shorter than the rest of the hair is symbolic of mourning. The gesture is typically reserved for family members, but cutting them short for friends or mentor figures isn’t unheard of.
Shaving off one side of a head of hair means that the individual was an illegitimate child (this custom is usually reserved to those of royal blood).
Keeping the sides short and the middle long (like a fluffy mohawk) is indicative of the drow being a danger to society. This is typically used for revolutionaries and prisoners of war.
Cutting the hair haphazardly, all at different angles, symbolizes that the drow was non-conforming. This was usually reserved for those with a mental disability, or even other elven races that had chosen for one reason or another to live with the drow.
These hairstyles could be combined to create several meanings. For example, a drow with bangs and shorter locks around their temples represent that he/she is both permanently dishonored and in mourning (though he would leave the rest of his hair long to represent his remaining honor, and that part is what would be cut if he lost in a duel).
