Men's Second Style

Welcome to the third installment of my Hair Fair 2009 coverage!  Although I didn’t set out with a theme in mind, upon reflection it seems to me that the styles here are all nicely suited for summer, with its plethora of outdoor activities and generally casual vibe.  I hope you’ll like at least some of these styles as much as I do.  First, though, some brief editorializing, as I can’t seem to help myself.  Feel free to read through or skip on down to the pretty pictures.

Nothing consumes me like editing hair.  (I know, I ranted before on the topic of scripted vs. moddable hair.  But this is different, so please indulge me.  I’ll keep it short, I promise!)  When a hairstyle calls for significant custom tweaking to fit my avie, it’s a serious undertaking.  The result can be me falling into a Zen-like state, zoning out and not really being aware of things around me.  Things like music playing, the phone ringing, and announcements that it’s time for dinner.  You know…stuff like that.

I actually kind of enjoy editing hair.  Hopefully that doesn’t make me sick and twisted.  It’s just that there’s some real satisfaction in getting a hairstyle to fit “just perfectly,” and the reality is that simple resize almost never does the trick.  (This is why I’m still not sold on resize scripting for hair.)  There’s always a strand here, a fringe there, or a lock around the other side that needs to be tweaked ever so slightly.  I suppose for some it could be a never-ending battle, but me, I find that I’m either satisfied within a reasonable amount of time, or I take a break and come back to try again later, or I write the style off as too much trouble.  That’s very definitely a last resort, and hardly ever happens.

My point, and like Ellen I do have one, is that some hairstyles are easier to fit than others.  This can be due to one or more of a several different factors.  Here are just a few from my own experience:

1. The designer’s head may be very different in size and shape than yours.  The key word here is “very”.  It’s unlikely that any hairstyle will ever fit you perfectly “out of the box” and require no fitting, but the greater the differences between your head and that of the designer (or head model), the more adjustments the hair will need to fit you.  Size in theory shouldn’t be much of an issue, as simple stretch up/down should take care of fitting for size (and that of course is exactly what resizer scripts do).  But now imagine differences in shape and proportion—larger ears, for example, or a differently sloped forehead, or…I could go on.  To accommodate these differences, you may need to adjust the placement and size of individual prims within the style.  This is where it gets really fun, and where my Zen state takes over.
2. The style may be more complex than others.  This can make a not inconsiderable difference in the editing task.  There are any number of ways to make a hairstyle “more complex,” but one that throws me pretty much every time is the use of overlapping prims with alpha textures, such as fringes.  Other prims can be “hidden” behind these, yet still be visible, which makes it challenging anywhere from fairly challenging to pretty much impossible to select the desired prim (using edit linked parts) so it can be re-positioned individually.
3. The style may have construction issues that make editing difficult.  I’m not just talking about poorly constructed hairstyles, although that certainly can and does happen—but hopefully one can get at least an idea of construction quality from the demo.  (If a style looks great in the vendor artwork but less great as a demo on your head, you probably shouldn’t expect the purchased style to look more rather than less great when you try it on.)  Other, more subtle issues may present problems as well, and these can’t always be spotted in a no-mod demo.  Over time I’ve run into a tiny handful of hairstyles that couldn’t be sized down much or at all from their “out of the box” size, due to embedded prims, somewhere in the style, that were already at minimum size.  It’s crazy-making to try to search out one or a few individual prims that can’t be sized down, and even more maddening to try to shrink the rest of the style independently.  And even then, the results may not be what you hoped for.
4. The style may not suit your look as well as you first thought.  This is a more subtle area of concern, one that only you can ultimately evaluate, and really nobody’s fault.  Sometimes I get a style home, try it on, get it fitted—and it looks fine, even great, but something just doesn’t “click.”  Consider it a lesson learned.
5. You may be drunk.  Now, I like to relax in the evening with a cocktail.  Laugh if you must, but more than once I’ve been greatly frustrated by my inability to get a hairstyle properly fitted.  I put it away, come back later to try again, and Presto!  It’s like a magic trick.  The only difference, as you have doubtless already guessed, is that the second time I was sober.  Friends don’t let friends edit complex prim attachments while drinking.

Hmm, well, so much for keeping it short.  Without further ado, or rambling on my part, here are six more great styles for men I brought home from Hair Fair!  (Plus one more, just for luck.)

“Blown” by Sebastian Aries is a casual style that looks like you may have just rolled out of bed, run your fingers through your hair, and dashed out the door.  If you have this kind of hair in RL, I hate you a little.  This style uses a lot of sculpties, so be prepared to look like a balloon animal for a few moments after you wear it.  Shown in Copper.

Also by Sebastian Aries, this more dramatic style is called “Thrust”.  I’m not sure there’s anything sexual in the name, but interpret it how you will.  The shock of hair that falls down over the left eye is impressively showy, but for some reason I really like the small lock that curls down just in front of the right ear.  It’s a combination of sleek and devil-may-care that somehow works.  Show in Dirty Blonde.

Both of these styles are available at SHAG (Silent 200, 147, 36).

Britnee Hadlee’s “Dimitri” is decidedly anti-sleek, with a slightly grown-out look that I really like.  This style was specifically in my mind when I wrote section (2) up above—Britnee has used several overlapping prims with alpha-channel textures to make the curly fringes around the ears and back of the neck.  This made for a challenging fitting exercise as I had to move a couple of fringe prims out of the way to get at strand prims “hiding” behind them, so I could move them slightly.  Then of course I had to put the fringe prims back in place again.  It was worth the extra effort, though.  And remember…always, always, always make a backup copy before editing your hairstyle, especially if you’re going to be moving prims all around!  Shown in Penny, a nicely coppery red tone.  Available at Simply Britnee (Juicy Del Mar 238, 18, 25).

We’ve all seen any number of hair-with-hat (or cap) styles.  This is a great way to get hat and hair to play nicely with one another, without having to resort to truly extensive editing to re-arrange hair strands so they don’t poke through the hat.  The sad truth is that a certain percentage of these are far more hat than hair, and sometimes the hair is more an errant escaped fringe than it is a “style.”  Bryce Tully’s “Brewce” doesn’t fall into that trap—there’s a realistic amount of hair, and it looks like it would be a great style even without the color-change cap.  Alas, it can’t be worn the cap.  D’oh!  Shown in Sand.

Bryce scores again with “Cosmo,” a style that’s longish in front but slicked back and up, up, up.  There’s nothing pompadour-retro about it, though, nor is it in any way an Eighties flashback (not that there’s anything wrong with that).  Instead, this is a classic style with a contemporary twist.  Shown in Sienna.

“Holmes” is one more style from the embarrassment of riches released by Bryce for Hair Fair 2009.  If you look at this style just right, it could indeed be seen as somewhat Sherlockian, although I’m not sure if that’s what Bryce had in mind.  I do have difficulty seeing Robert Downey, Jr. in this style, appropriate as it might have been for Guy Ritchie’s upcoming Sherlock Holmes reboot.  (That does seem to be all the rage these days.  My guess is that the film will either succeed tremendously or crash and burn impressively, but either way it’ll be a fascinating experiment.)  Now all I need is my deerstalker!  Shown in Buff.

Bryce Tully’s hairstyles are available at Bryce Designs (Tully 179, 134, 25).

Although it wasn’t a new release for Hair Fair, I simply can’t not mention Bryce’s “Saul” (that’s it, way up top).  This was available as a freebie color demo at Hair Fair, and you can still pick it up as an all-colors freebie in the shop.  It’s fun and casual, with loose almost-bangs that cascade softly over the forehead.  This is a solid style anyway, but as a freebie it’s a must-have.  Shown in Penny.

Hair Fair styles are now (as of July 5) available for purchase at the designers’ own shops.  All styles come in a range of colors.  Most are available in “color packs” that include hair in a handful of shades in the same color family.  Some styles are provided by the designer in multiple “starting” sizes, for your fitting convenience.  Some are moddable, so you can resize and otherwise tweak them to fit your avatar; others are scripted for automatic resize.  Most styles are priced at around L$200, but some may cost less or more.  All have free or L$1 demos available, so be sure to try on the demo before buying.

Stay tuned for the fourth (and final!) installment of my coverage of Hair Fair 2009 styles for men!