what was your first long-hair novel ?

[patsur]

As a little child, I remember that my love for long hair was quite vague. Only later (say - 11 or 12 years old), I came across the novel of "She" by R. Haggard, about an immortal Egyptian queen, who lived for 2000 years in a city deep in the caves of Kor in Africa. Her hair was long (down to the floor), and glossy black.
I think that at that point I started to understand that I have this thing with long hair. The book did not have too many pictures, so my imagination played a major role.

What is your "first long-hair" novel ?

Oh, by the way, it was a very heart-breaking scene at the end of this book, when she lost her immortality, then lost her sight, then lost all of her hair, and then shrunk into a hideous 2000 years old creature, who died within minutes.

[jeannie]

When I was about 16 I found the Anne of Green Gables series, I loved reading those books as a child and I still do love to read them. In the book "Anne's House of Dreams" one of the characters Owen is talking to Anne about his landlady Leslie. He asks Anne of she had ever seen Leslie's hair down. When Anne says no he tells her he did. He was supposed to be out for the day so Leslie had taken the oppurtunity to wash her hair. She was standing on the veranda in the sunshine to dry it, and it fell about her feet in a fountain of living gold. When she saw him watching her, she turned and hurried into the house and the wind caught her hair and swirled it all around her - like Danae in her cloud.

What a lovely vision, I have a couple more but this is my earliest memory of long hair in a novel.

jeannie

[SylphideNoir]

Originally Posted by patsur

Oh, by the way, it was a very heart-breaking scene at the end of this book, when she lost her immortality, then lost her sight, then lost all of her hair, and then shrunk into a hideous 2000 years old creature, who died within minutes.

Oh, well thanks for giving away the ending!
Just teasing. Sounds like a very cool book!

[Emichiee]

Sorry no Long hair novels I ever read...but I got some movies:

A japanese old old Anime...with ghosts and scary stuff as far as I can remember.
The girl in the movie had very long hair..


And of course lady Amalthia in the Last Unicorn..^^

[artemis]

I have an illustrated version of George MacDonald's "At the Back of the North Wind" that I used to love as a kid. There are a few pictures of the North Wind with her hair pouring over the floor at her feet. Beautiful.

[allege]

I think it was a romance novel either viking or irish, can't remember which.

[dancingbarefoot]

Probably the Little House on the Prairie series, which I read when I was four. The girls in that series have long hair.

But honestly, I didn't care about long hair then. My whole life has not been one long quest for or admiration of long hair.

[suezyque]

I never really paid attention to the hair in the books I read until recently. I found the Merry Gentry series by Laurell K Hamilton and alot of the men hair hair waist length or longer. Is that cool or what? Of course they are sidhe and magic and that appealed to Scotch-Irish in me!

[JoieBruce]

I remember being very upset when Jo cut her hair in "Little Women". But my childhood hair inspiration always came from "Little House on the Prairie" reruns. I wanted to be just like Laura, right down to drinking out of a coffee cup.

Joie

[Clare-Dragonfly]

I'm sure I read lots of stories with longhaired characters when I was young... I certainly read Anne of Green Gables many times, and I liked the Little House on the Prairie series, though I don't remember long hair in either of those books. The first one I remember, though, was a children's book: The Rainbabies. There's a picture near the end of an old woman with beautiful, long, silver hair. I knew as soon as I saw that that I wanted hair just like hers when I was old. That's still one of my goals I just have to wait a long time.

[mira-chan]

Genji Monogatari, 10th century japanese literature. (world's first novel, by the way, and it was written by a woman, Murasaki Shikibu.) Floor length hair or longer was the japanese court fashion then.

[Athena's Owl]

I noticed the long hair references in Tanith Lee's early books.

[Leia's_Advocate]

Originally Posted by Clare-Dragonfly

I'm sure I read lots of stories with longhaired characters when I was young... I certainly read Anne of Green Gables many times, and I liked the Little House on the Prairie series, though I don't remember long hair in either of those books. The first one I remember, though, was a children's book: The Rainbabies. There's a picture near the end of an old woman with beautiful, long, silver hair. I knew as soon as I saw that that I wanted hair just like hers when I was old. That's still one of my goals I just have to wait a long time.

Laura, by the end of the series, was mentioned as having hair that fell nearly to her knees. It's also mentioned in the Rose series that follows it. Also, one day while Ma is commenting on how dry Laura's hair is from not brushing it enough(to distribute the oils, I suppose), she says that when she was married she had braids long enough to sit on.

So, if you haven't noticed, Little House on the Prairie was one of my first long hair books. Also, Star Wars: The Crystal Star, in which it also mentions that Leia had hair that fell to her knees.

[GlennaGirl]

Originally Posted by dancingbarefoot

But honestly, I didn't care about long hair then. My whole life has not been one long quest for or admiration of long hair.

Wow, I sure didn't take the original post that way! I guess it's all in how you see things.

I second (or third or fourth by this point) the Little House books, especially Little Town on the Prairie, which is the book people have pointed out here stating Laura's hair was to her knees. The one about Ma stroking Laura's hair was, I believe Little House on the Prairie, which took place much earlier (Laura was, what, six or seven in that one maybe?). I was already in love with history in general, so longer hair was just part of the whole shebang of "how people lived in the old days". I am a history buff, from apparel/adornment (including hair), to transportation, to inventions, to eating habits...just everything. So historical novels have always drawn my interest.

I also resonated with the Tree Grows in Brooklyn commentary on how Francie viewed her own hair. She saw it as a nuisance. I wished I had hair long enough to be able to consider it a nuisance! (But I was always made to cut mine.)

[ilumma]

It was probably the Lord of the Rings, but I find the Silmarillion to be much more hairinspiring.

On a related note, I read Lord of the Flies last sommer, and it was sickening how much the author describes his hatred for long hair through that story, even if it is about a bunch of crazy kids who have better things to do--he keeps bringing it up needlesly as a symbol for all that is evil in mankind or something... quite sad...