you know what ? i’ve been thinking a lot about lin and her hair lately- no, really, hear me out !!!
this is baby lin and slightly older lin and post scar lin - noticed something?
other than the fact that she and opal look a lot like each other (family resemblance and all that jazz)
lin’s hair slowly grows to reflect more and more of her personality- getting more and more stiff and sharper denoting a personality that craves security and is determined.
eventually, when shes older (and I’m betting this changed soon after the scar) she gives up of her natural hairstyle in favour of something more balanced and orderly
and who else had a similar style? yup, her former mother in law. I personally hc that after toph retired and left republic city, lin (who at that point was most likely dating tenzin for a while now) unconsciously turned to katara as a role model & somewhat parental figure she desperately wanted and needed, even if without knowing, in midst of such troubled times (her mother leaving, su running away, her being scarred for life).
[and now that i think about it, perhaps that too was one of the reasons why she reacted so strongly to tenzin breaking up with her??? that was yet another family she lost]
one of the main cores of katara’s personality is how responsible, duty bound, fair and balanced she is - all traits that lin seems to have aspired to have.
the only one lacking is balanced, but that we see that it is likely related to the traumas she never addressed till that point where she was dragged to meet her sister and her family by korra.
when she is forced to confront her traumas with both su and toph ( though it was definitely not in the healthiest way ) she started to move on from all of this and actually started to heal in the best way that she could- accepting that what had happened to her couldn’t be changed but that it was okay. Thus, balance.
her entire demeanour starts to shift from this point on - i mean, shes still good ole lin, dont get me wrong thats not changing, but she is now much more in touch with her feelings and emotions, thus accepting opal and in extent her family as well.
not only she is seen sitting by her sister’s side at varricks wedding to zhu li, but her features aren’t as harsh as they usually are (granted, she was in the background but still you can see she wasn’t with her perpetual frown)
she even returns to use her hair on it’s natural way??? shes also taking better care of what she wears, considering that all other parties she went pre-fight with su she was wearing her armour and here she’s wearing somewhat civilian clothes??
now why the heck did i mention opal right at the beginning?? it wasnt just for the kicks, i believe that lin sees a lot of her in her niece (hence the strong reaction at first - opal reminds her of a time lin was, or rather felt, vulnerable and weak and being reminded of that is in itself a trigger to her) just as she sees at first a lot of su in korra’s recklessness. both set her alarms ringing but in the end she managed to see them for who they are and not who they remind her of.
does any of that excuse the way she acted around them at first? absolutely not, but it sure as hell places things into perspective.