Lara's Hair
About
Raiding tombs is a tough job and if you want to do it, you have to take care of some things. First, there are the clothes, which should allow you to move freely and secondly, your hair. Lara Croft's hair is long, brunette and straight. It would be practical for Lara to get a haircut and abandon the idea of wearing her hair long but she didn't do it and she's definitely not going to. Every time she wants to raid tombs she ties up her hair in a French braid. Most people though, call this a ponytail and that's what I'm going to do, too. When Lara was younger, she used to have two ponytails. When she grew up though, she decided that this hairstyle was too childish to keep. It's true that one ponytail is a more mature hairstyle. It's also more convenient when you're being chased...
Lara's ponytail is really one of her distinguishing features. People can recognize it. For example, when I tie my hair up in a ponytail, although I am not a look-alike, most of my classmates say that I look like Lara Croft!
What satisfies me the most in Lara's hair though is not the ponytail. It's the color. You don't have to be blonde to succeed!
History
In Tomb Raider 1, Lara's ponytail was shown only in the Full Motion Videos, because the designers weren't able to make it move as realistically as it should. In the game, Lara had her hair tied into a bob
at the back of her head, which didn't move at all. In Tomb Raider 2 Lara got a longer ponytail (well technically, it's braid but that's how we tend to call it). It could whip around, blow in the wind and float in the water.
It was in fact the most realistic object of the game. In Tomb Raider 3, Lara's ponytail could sway romantically in the wind. If Lara was standing in a breeze, her hair would reflect the wind's direction.
In Tomb Raider 4, Lara's ponytail was improved to look less blocky and flat. Although in the previous games you could easily see two hair clips, in Tomb Raider 4 there was only one(in the bottom). There were no significant changes made in Tomb Raider 5. In Tomb Raider 6, Lara will get a shorter ponytail and will tie it up with two clearly visible hairclips again. The hairclip on the top of her head will be slightly different than the one in Tomb Raider 2 and 3 though. Another difference, as we can see from the screenshots, is that she will have some flocks of hair falling on the front of her face. That's really cute! The color of Lara's hair despite all the other changes, has stayed the same. It was brunette in Tomb Raider 1 and so it will be in Tomb Raider 6.
Pictures
| Lara's Hair in Tomb Raider 1 |  |
| Lara's Hair in Tomb Raider 2 & 3 |  |
| Lara's Hair in Tomb Raider 4 & 5 |  |
| Lara's Hair in Tomb Raider 6 |  
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| The texture of Lara's Hair |  |
The way it moves
The designers have done an impressive job. The way Lara's hair moves is exactly like human ponytails move. The only things is that Lara's ponytail always keeps her shape no matter what she does. I wish I had Lara's hair gel! In the pictures below, you can see Lara's hair move while fighting. Amazingly realistic, isn't it?
Bugs
Lara's ponytail can sometimes get flat, pass through Lara or another object, or completely or partially disappear. In Tomb Raider 6, this will hopefully not happen. See those funny examples.
Lara has lost a part of her hair!
Lara's hair passes through her backpack!
Lara's ponytail has disappeared!
Lara's ponytail passes through the guard!
Someone has cut Lara's ponytail off her head!
You can check my
weird screenshots section for more funny screens!
Links
Editing Lara's Hair
How to make a French Braid
Hair Braider
