Hair envy.

[wombat1138]

The Ukrainian Prime Minister has gorgeous hair. Among its impressive features are that she can get it to stay that way at all (I've occasionally attempted similar braid pin-ups, but they've always succumbed to gravity).

Sadly, despite a purported public demonstration of the lack of hair-extension involvement, I'm forced to conclude that the braid can't be completely authentic. If it were, her hair would have to have impressively uniform volume down to at least waist-length, since the braid's diameter doesn't have much visible drop-off from one side to the other. But she doesn't seem to've adopted her current hairstyle until 2005 of so; pix from 2004 show that within the year before that, her hair was only at upper-bosom length, and also that the blonde color is a relatively recent development. I assume that what she must be doing is fastening a waist-length thick cluster of extensions onto her own hair with the elastic for the "low ponytail" at the nape, and then braiding all of it together from there.

Comments

[wombat1138.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's not really a matter of dissatisfaction with my own hair, just a matter of hers being awe-inspiringly gorgeous. I think Nicole Kidman had a similar look in Portrait of a Lady (or at least the posters thereof; I don't think I ever saw more than a few minutes of the actual movie while channel-surfing), but this is somehow even prettier by virtue of being worn in such a matter-of-fact everyday way, rather than being reserved as an elaborate coiffure for the idle rich.

(Princess Leia also had a vaguely similar look for most of TESB, but leaning more toward the plural "Heidi braids" version, starting with one on each side and wrapping up around the top of the head. This is definitely One Big Braid that starts at the nape, loops up and around, and then tucks back into its own base again, ouroborosly.)

[qadgop.livejournal.com]

The braid that eats itself, follicle without end. Eh; no doubt because of my chromosomes, I've generally felt that so long as one has hair, one's doing fine. I've known two different people in their twenties with gray hair who were rather unhappy about that, but to my mind their hair was quite attractive; style is changeable and color irrelevant, at least to my grunting Neanderthal eyes. I'd say it's some general essence--what we professionals call "she put all her points into her Charisma score"--that makes Tymoshenko's stand out in photos, rather than her hair per se.

(Note that "mohawk" equals "not having enough hair".)

Saw Portrait of a Lady when it came out; I remember thinking it a bit odd, though the score worked. I could've dispensed with all the modern-day college kids sitting around with their Walkmans. (Walkmen?)

[qadgop.livejournal.com]

Anyway, shiny black hair is virually always a visual asset. Just saying.