Na'vi hair

[Herwìna]

I've been wondering about the queues. How are they braided? They cannot be simple English braids, because they have the neural tendrils running through them. I have hard time believing it just grows like that.

In that vein, do you think Na'vi have flaps of skin around the neural tendrils, like the animals we have seen seem to do? Do they just braid over it because they think it looks nicer? Or do the neural tendrils run separated if there is no braid; did primitive Na'vi let their neural tendrils hang loose like the trees?
Or does the hair grow like that after all?

We can also talk about Na'vi hair texture and hairstyles. Do you think there is variation in hair colour and texture, like we have on Earth? Would they perhaps have hair colours we humans would consider really weird?

Headcanon!

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

From an anatomical standpoint, the tswin has to be more than just a ponytail. I think there is a solid core on the inside, that carries the nerves running to the tendrils. this would also have the blood supply for the nerves, etc. This structure is likely mainly tough connective tissue to protect the nerves. This would also be consistent with the meswin on the animals.

The hair grows on the outside of the tswin and is simply braided by the Na'vi.

[Kamean]

Look at man with mohawk. Tswin is braided in the queue.

[Herwìna]

  So it does have skin on it! Great to know! That probably means that the dual braids in Mo'at's hair do not have her tswin running inside them!

The braid around a tswin still cannot be an English braid though.

[Tsyalatun te Eyktan Txuratu'itan]

There is some information on this at http://www.pandorapedia.com/navi/appearance_behavior/navi_queue but unfortunately, it doesn't answer all Herwìna's questions.

However, it does talk about the hair being braided over the "antenna like neural whip"...

[Kamean]

So it does have skin on it!

Yes.

That probably means that the dual braids in Mo'at's hair do not have her tswin running inside them!

It entwine only in one braid.

[Herwìna]

But then there would have to be less hair in one braid or they wouldn't be the same thickness! Arrgghh that would bother me so much D:<

[Raiden]

Pretty sure it's just a bunch of hair wrapped around a secondary nerve cord. Not much to it.

My explanation is supported by an image on one of the computer screens before Jake links for the first time.

[Herwìna]

Anyway. I was actually hoping for hairstyle inspiration images. Like what kind of hairstyles could you see Na'vi wearing aside from loose box braids and this boxbraidhawk thing?

Also, the tswin braids. As I said, they really cannot be standard English braids since they got to be braided around the tswin. 3-strand braids don't work like that. I guess it could be some kinda 6-strand weave... Or if they went for a look not so much like English braid, perhaps even macramé. But honestly, does a braid that looks like standard 3-strand English braid, but can be braided around something, even exist?

[Taronyu Leleioae]

...but can be braided around something, even exist?

Absolutely.  Here is an RDA commercial example.  If you have "cable" tv which is a round cable with a single wire in the center, the outer wires are tightly braided around an inner plastic insulator.  This is a very common manufacturing technique.  In the US, we use this type of cable for both tv (and security), as well as communications like radio transmitters.

I don't see a tswin any different.  You have your neural strands as your core, protected by some sort of natural protective outer sheath.  Then perhaps layered with skin that can grow hair with the same skin cells on their head.  Thinking about this, I don't see this to be that different from the top of an earth horse's tail...

Now as to growing hair that long to be able to securely braid the full length is another question.  From a film clip, even the children in the village all had double braids.  To braid this in one length of hair though, would take significant lengths.  Wondering if they are... say hairs a foot or two long, and are just braided down on top of each other in a layered effect top to bottom.  Over time, loose hairs would pull free though...   

[Herwìna]

I don't think I've ever seen a cord that looks like a standard 3-strand English braid, and that's what the Na'vi's tswin braids look like.

[Tsyalatun te Eyktan Txuratu'itan]

Absolutely.  Here is an RDA commercial example.  If you have "cable" tv which is a round cable with a single wire in the center, the outer wires are tightly braided around an inner plastic insulator.  This is a very common manufacturing technique.  In the US, we use this type of cable for both tv (and security), as well as communications like radio transmitters.

What you refer to is "Coaxial cable" - a term which you can throw into google's image search and find lots of hits for it.

[Human No More]

In the scene in Hometree where they are eating after Jake arrives, you can see one Na'vi who has a bit of what appears to be the tendrils showing through his braids.

As for why, I'd guess protection as much as aesthetics.

[Ikxeru]

Reading through all this...  I have seen a (rare) picture on the official Avatar page on Feyspuk.
It seems as the Na'vi babies don't have any hair and tswin at all. How does it grow out? The tswin is very sensitive and has to be very stressable. I wonder when and how it starts to grow.

Here is the picture.

[Eana Unil]

Kaltxì ma Ikxeru,

I think explaining this should be easy... The picture you have found is highly likely a very early concept art of the Na'vi people from project 880... So I guess this was just an idea, a concept and not the final decision on how Na'vi (babies) look like

Plus I think I recall to have read something about the fact that the tswin is already there, when the baby is still unborn, and also braided, but I can't recall where I've read it. I think Pandorapedia, but I can't find it anymore... Plus... Pandorapedia is a questionable source imho. I mean... how's the tswin supposed to be perfectly braided while the baby is still inside the womb of its mother? How can that be?
An explanation like... a ritual for every new born baby where its tswin gets braided for the first time or something would be more... logical... and way cooler imho.

Edit: Fount it.

From birth on, the Na'vi individual's hair is painstakingly braided over the antenna-like neural whip, protecting it from harm.
http://www.pandorapedia.com/navi/appearance_behavior/navi_queue

Or does that mean, that others braid the tswin?

[Kamean]

I agree with Eana Unil - probably it's an early concept.

[Ikxeru]

Irayo ma Eana Unil sì Kamean ulte tswinìri mllte. I always felt that the neural nerves are already there when a baby is born and from then on they just grow.

And I don't believe that the hair is braided already in the mother's womb, too. What for? There is no anatomical reason for baby to grow up inside the womb with a braid.
The neural pathway is resistant and flexible. And even a Na'vi without any hair could still use it.
I find it way cooler, too that there is some sort of ritual ceremony to make the braid. All Na'vi we know have one - but this hasn't to be the case with all Na'vi.

But maybe it is just practical to put all the long hair and the single neural "hanks" together in one "rope", for easy access to make tsaheylu very fast. When I think of my tswin, it is very easy just to grasp behind my back, so I can connect very quick to e.g. a Pa'li.