#hair analysis

[stumbling-towards-the-light]

Was no one gonna tell me that THE Maggie Kang had confirmed that Rumi's braid was meant to pay homage to Daenggi (댕기), a thing I have long theorized about, or was I supposed to find out about that for myself?

[foreverinthepagesofhistoryy]

OTMA + Hair Types

(Disclaimer: this hypothesis is purely my opinion based off of facts)

~~~~

We all are very familiar with the girl’s many signature hairstyles and colors but what about the scientific textures of their hair?

For reference, here is a chart depicting what hair type textures are.

I believe that all of the girls were somewhere between the 2b to 2c range and here is why:

Hair in its purest form changes throughout childhood and into puberty. It is a fluctuating scale that is affected by many conditions such as weather. Hair usually stays in its natural and unstyled texture after getting wet and when you brush it out it usually stays straight or frizzes up depending on your hair type. Nowadays we have many creams and mechanical devices to style curly or even wavy hair but back then options were very limited. Sure very early forms of hair cream were around and curlers were very much a thing, but not all people wanted or even needed to use them.

Immediately once OTMA’s hair was long enough, they would wear it down until about ages 15-16 depending on which girl you looked at (Maria started putting her hair up a year earlier than the age that Olga and Tatiana did). Once the girls started putting their hair up, their unique textures weren’t visible as commonly because a brush was used to put hair up so a lot of the photos you are about to see are childhood photos. OTMA also brushed out their hair before official portraits, no matter how old they were, so you will also see evidence of that too.

Here are all of the girls’s hair comparisons:

Olga’s Natural hair:

Olga’s hair brushed out:

Tatiana’s natural hair

Tatiana’s hair brushed out:

Maria’s natural hair:

Maria’s hair brushed out:

Anastasia’s natural hair:

Anastasia’s hair brushed out:

Key facts we can see after looking at all of these photos is that during official portraits or slightly official settings that their hair was consistently brushed out and was occasionally brushed out for recreational purposes. Their hair was at its most natural state during family trips or homely settings.

In conclusion, the girls didn’t have pin straight hair and in fact had naturally wavy hair. Even though we stopped seeing it as they got older, we can always appreciate how OTMA had some of the same struggles as we do with hair and how hair textures were always very much a thing.

Comment or send me an ask if anyone wants to see this idea with any other royals and I hope you all have a nice day!

[rhaenaoflesbos]

so I've been thinking for years about the choice to give Alicent red/auburn hair in House of the Dragon, and after some searching, I can't really see anyone talking about it aside from that it was unlikely to be her hair colour in fire and blood.

so why was it unlikely red in fire and blood? the only hightowers described in asoiaf are alerie hightower (wife of mace tyrell) and lynesse hightower (jorah's former wife) and they are both blonde. genetic hair colour, as we know, is more important in asoiaf and more exact than in real life. we also know that ryan condal has read the books. in official art, alicent appears to have brown hair (though this is hard to tell exactly, because the official art is greyscaled). You could make arguments that at least two of them could be a dark blonde/mousier brown.

so why red? its not olivia's (or emily's) natural colour, in fact, she has the dark brown of official art alicent. the most obvious answer is that it reflects Targaryen red, fire and blood itself. which very easily could be the answer and it's not any deeper than that. but lets indulge. lets remember ryan condal read the books.

in the context of the books, alicent's hair is a direct callback to catelyn and sansa. in many ways, alicent's story in many ways mimics sansa's - her relationship with otto is almost directly correlated with sansa and littlefinger's in the show ('you look so much like your mother in certain lights'/ 'she is the very image of cat at the same age') and in the way otto pushes alicent to pursue/attend to viserys. in one of the original drafts of asoiaf, sansa was going to marry and have a child with joffrey, ultimately choosing them over her family. who does that sound like? in asoiaf, sansa's first period is the death warrant signalling the shift from betrothal to marriage. in hotd, otto remarks that alicent has grown up. alicent, at 15, is considered an appropriate match to viserys in comparison to laena at 12. sansa, just like alicent, is beginning to learn the game of thrones. you can argue moreover, that winterfell to sansa is what rhaenyra is to alicent. a home to which she cannot return. 'i am stronger within the walls of winterfell' and alicent, returning to her childhood blue (the colour her and rhaenyra share), and returning to rhaenyra when she realises the state of the war and her family.

but lets move on to catelyn. what similarities can we draw between her and alicent? while you can most certainly draw littlefinger and larys comparisons with alicent as sansa, this web weave by @franzkafkagf basically hits the nail on the head capturing the cycle of alicent as catelyn and aegon as sansa in this reading with larys, so i won't bother repeating. besides this, i think you can clearly see catelyn in alicent in her motherhood. aegon and aemond, despite being wildly different, represent the robb of alicent's story. catelyn's entire story with robb, as he goes from a listening to her council to 'kings are not supposed to have mothers', directly mimics the way her power shifts in season 2 as they (aemond primarily) begin to dismiss her. aegon's injuries and bran's paralysis can be paralleled in aegon's muttering of 'mummy', just as alicent leaves, and bran being 'killed' by theon once cat finally decides to leave his bedside. helaena, alicent's only daughter, is primarily sansa (though also arya in the general sense of her 'girls' stuck in the capitol). alicent cannot protect her daughter from the war, anymore than catelyn can. in the show, she wants to run away with helaena, just like catelyn is willing to free jaime in order to rescue the girls. in the books, viserys is the one to arrange the marriage between aegon and helaena and the only evidence in the show indicating it was alicent is aemond's line about 'if only mother had betrothed us' and alicent's refusal to allow helaena to marry jace implies at least some semblance of control. so this doesnt necessarily contradict the catelyn/alicent of it all, only indicates that to alicent, it is jace who is the joffrey to be feared of. but the other person jace (+luke + joffrey) represent is jon snow. just as jon's presence in the house (a persistent reminder of his mother + undermine of cat) is what primarily drives the wedge between him and catelyn, the reason alicent hates the strong boys is because they represent the freedom rhaenyra has that alicent does not and undermine the 'sacrifices' she undertook in her marriage. daeron the retconned idk about. maybe arya. the last comparison is lady stoneheart; alicent outlives everyone in the war, just like lady stoneheart lives beyond shes meant to. but lady stoneheart loses her red hair, symbolising that she is no longer living. alicent's life during aegon iii's rule is the same, she wishes the same violent revenge as catelyn does when she tells jaehaera to kill aegon iii.

so why? why compare alicent with sansa and catelyn so much, especially when half of these decisions are unique to the show? because just like both of these women get vilified in the books, despite grrm numerous and in depth attempts to paint a very nuanced depiction of women suffering under the patriarchy, alicent is. it was inevitable. condal has made a distinct effort to parallel her with other misunderstood women from asoiaf, in the way she never was in fire and blood. i mean some people (me included) were frustrated at her path in s2 (jaehaerys the never mentioned…) but i tho k considering it in this context, of what was maybe being alluded to, helps. just like sansa cannot + does not rejoice in joffrey's death, alicent can't either. they may have made a bit of a mess with alicent's continuity, but i think understanding that that was always there, that her red hair symbolises that, is a good way to come to terms with their decisions in hotd.

or maybe red hair is just hot.

in wider media!

this is less relevant to alicent in particular but i wanted a little section on red hair in general in media. red hair, in it's rarity, was often viewed with both exoticism and awe historically. often in gaelic + celtic cultures (who have been particularly associated with red hair since the roman invasion), red hair has been often associated with warriors such as Cuchulainn and Boudica. Cassius Dio's description of Boudica as 'tawny haired' could easily and perhaps more likely indicates red than blonde as pointed out by caroline lawrence here . Later, however, a prominent character who was often depicted with red hair was judas iscariot, leading to an association with betrayal and untrustworthiness. it is hard not to notice on the other hand, the way that renaissance artists celebrate red hair, centring it in their muses, in contrast to the more complicated associations with judas. the most beautiful women: venus, helen etc. are depicted with red hair, as a symbol of sensuality.

later again, red hair carries various stereotypes. the fiery temper (see anne shirley, merida, maedhros) is perhaps an evolution of the warrior depiction of red hair and indeed is important in consideration with grrm's writing on fire and fiery personalities. the seductress (as seen in hollywood golden age a la rita hayworth's gilda) is a prime example of how rhaenyra considers alicent in regard to her father. the exotic outsider represents alicent 'inserting' herself into the targaryen family. she is the one who controls team green, not aegon. the orphan/outcast (seen in annie, pippy longstocking, anne again, hetty feather) while alicent's mother is dead by the start of the story and otto dies mid-story, alicent best represents this loneliness in her status as the only survivor of her family (barring jaehaera + aegon iii) after the war.

[babybells123]

Do you ever think of how;

“Robb and Sansa and Bran and even little Rickon all took after the Tullys, with easy smiles and fire in their hair.” (Arya, AGOT I)

“The wildlings seemed to think Ygritte a great beauty because of her hair; red hair was rare among the free folk, and those who had it were said to be kissed by fire, which was supposed to be lucky.” (Jon II, ASOS)

“I might get her with child."

"Aye, I'd hope so. A strong son or a lively laughing girl kissed by fire, and where's the harm in that?" (Jon II, ASOS)

(And Sansa II follows where she thinks of having children resembling/named after lost family members)

‘Sometimes she sang in a low husky voice that stirred him. And sometimes by the cookfire when she sat hugging her knees with the flames waking echoes in her red hair, and looked at him, just smiling . . . well, that stirred some things as well.’ (Jon II , ASOS)

‘Sansa could sew and dance and sing. She wrote poetry. She knew how to dress. She played the high harp and the bells.’ (Arya I AGOT)

“She had auburn hair, lighter than mine, and so thick and soft . . . the red in it would catch the light of the torches and shine like copper.” (Catelyn, ACOK VII)

“Her hair was a rich autumn auburn, her eyes a deep Tully blue. Grief had given her a haunted, vulnerable look; if anything, it had only made her more beautiful.” (Tyrion, VIII ASOS).

This is autumn auburn hair: (*note* this photo also appears when you search dark honey hair)

I cant decide whether this is auburn or a dark blonde caramel (and I think it can be seen as both)

‘They look as though they belong together. Val was clad all in white; white woolen breeches tucked into high boots of bleached white leather, white bearskin cloak pinned at the shoulder with a carved weirwood face, white tunic with bone fastenings. Her breath was white as well … but her eyes were blue, her long braid the color of dark honey, her cheeks flushed red from the cold. It had been a long while since Jon Snow had seen a sight so lovely.’ (Jon, ADWD XI)

“She donned silken smallclothes and a linen shift, and over that a warm dress of blue lambswool. Two pairs of hose for her legs, boots that laced up to her knees, heavy leather gloves, and finally a hooded cloak of soft white fox fur.”

….

“When she opened the door to the garden, it was so lovely that she held her breath, unwilling to disturb such perfect beauty. The snow drifted down and down, all in ghostly silence, and lay thick and unbroken on the ground.”

…

“I wish you could see yourself, my lady. You are so beautiful. You're crusted over with snow like some little bear cub, but your face is flushed and you can scarcely breathe.” (Sansa VII ASOS)

“It was the old days she hungered for. Prayed for. But who could she pray to? The garden had been meant for a godswood once, she knew, but the soil was too thin and stony for a weirwood to take root. A godswood without gods, as empty as me. (Sansa VII ASOS)

A sight so lovely = Val with Ghost, cheeks flushed red, clad in all white like snow, sometimes she’s described as having grey eyes but she has blue eyes in this excerpt, bearskin cloak, long braid the colour of dark honey, reference to a weirwood = old gods.

So lovely she held her breath = Sansa clad in a white fox fur cloak (which GRRM has as a figurine), all white surroundings (snow), building a snow castle, face flushed, referred to as a little bear cub, covered in snow, the snow is very romantically coded in this scene as well + there is talk of weirwood trees = Ghost, not to mention ‘ghostly silence’ and Jon reuniting with Ghost in the previous chapter where he also talks of the godswood and weirwood trees.

The connections that Jon makes here are associated with warmth, home, belonging, and Winterfell.

Sansa’s quotes are also rich with themes of home, belonging, and Winterfell where she draws strength from the snow and rebuilds from the ‘ashes.’ Just as Jon in the previous chapter talks of doing.

And “drifting snowflakes brushed her face as light as lover’s kisses…..it was the taste of Winterfell, the taste of innocence, the taste of dreams.” (A dream of spring)

All of these above associations are overtly positive.

Now compare that to….

“The light of the half-moon turned Val’s honey-blond hair a pale silver and left her cheeks as white as snow. She took a deep breath. “The air tastes sweet.”

“My tongue is too numb to tell. All I can taste is the cold.” (Jon VIII ADWD)

I’m not going to say anymore on that.

Dark honey hair:

Light auburn hair:

Copper hair:

You could also interpret the dark honey as actual dark honey i.e

<333

[wtf-fun-factss]

FBI hair analysis has changed enormously over the years after a major crisis. Click to read the full fact.

[gwydionmisha]

How the junk science of hair analysis keeps people behind bars

The technique, developed before DNA testing, can’t definitively tie suspects to crime scenes. Try explaining that to juries — or some judges

[forensicfield]

Forensic Identification of single dyed hair strand now possible

In crime scene investigations, a single strand of hair can make a huge difference in the Investigation. If a fallen strand of hair with root cells attached is found, a DNA test can reveal the identity of a criminal; unfortunately, this seldom happens. Even though other types of DNA analysis can be conducted using the "mitochondrial DNA" embedded in the hair shaft itself, such tests are not sufficient to reliably identify a person and usually call for additional evidence.

In a recent study published in Analytical Sciences, scientists at the Tokyo University of Science, Japan, developed a strategy for identifying criminals from a single strand of hair, state the fact that hair dyes are very much common now a days. Their approach involves finding out if two individual strands of hair belong to the same person based on the composition of hair dye products found on them. To do this, they employed two well-known analytical methods: surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis.

Do you know about these techniques?

Comment your Answer.

[foxy-filly]

So I’m trying this Equine Hair Analysis thing that Jill (from JetEventing on youtube) did with her horse recently and I just got the call back with Savannah’s results. Apparently they show some lung inflammation (legit, it is SUPER dusty here always), tighness in the back end (which I had actually started to notice, especially watching our recent videos), and inflammation in the right front hoof which did surprise me at first, but then I remembered that in the past that foot has gone slightly off for a day or two at a time. It was just so long ago, like when she first started working the roundpen as a bb, I hadn’t thought about it in ages.

While I am generally skeptical of stuff like this, they got a glowing review from Jill and they did seem to pin down some legit stuff, so I’m going to give the supplements a try and we’ll see if my horse makes a miraculous turnaround of some kind =P