Guild Wars 2

My main is a character of “elonan” descent, and I’m a bit disappointed there aren’t any decidedly natural-looking hairstyles for black characters among the human hairstyle options – dreads, braids, twists, afros, cornrows, or curly hair (tight and/or loose).

I’ve been rocking the faux-hawk (pictured) since the game dropped, but I’ve never been able to update her look because the sleek, straight hair doesn’t fit my concept for her.

There are dreads and afro hairstyles on races like the Charr, Asura, and Sylvari, but not for actual human black characters. The norn have one or two, but it really bothers me that there aren’t any true options in the same vein for humans.

I, and others I’m sure, would really appreciate it if the team could include some new natural-looking hairstyles for human characters in a future update.

Sweet Christmas, yes please. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease. I need them. Human hair on human heads.

Wait, is this an issue with female characters? Male humans have lots of those hairstyles. I can think of like 4 off the top of my head.

Wait for the expansion. I think it will have what you’re looking for.

Grimwolf.7163:

Wait, is this an issue with female characters? Male humans have lots of those hairstyles. I can think of like 4 off the top of my head.

Yeah, it is. Female humans only have straight or wavy hair. Lots of different styles but all for the same type of hair. You can see all the default options here: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/File:Human_female_hair_styles.jpg

I definitely vote Yes for this. I don’t understand why Anet would put this type of hairstyle on Alien races and not on Humans.

Danikat.8537:

Grimwolf.7163:

Wait, is this an issue with female characters? Male humans have lots of those hairstyles. I can think of like 4 off the top of my head.

Yeah, it is. Female humans only have straight or wavy hair. Lots of different styles but all for the same type of hair. You can see all the default options here: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/File:Human_female_hair_styles.jpg

Wow, you’re right. I even looked over the style kit options, and human females literally do not have one single hairstyle like this, while males have half a dozen.

Grimwolf.7163:

Danikat.8537:

Grimwolf.7163:

Wait, is this an issue with female characters? Male humans have lots of those hairstyles. I can think of like 4 off the top of my head.

Yeah, it is. Female humans only have straight or wavy hair. Lots of different styles but all for the same type of hair. You can see all the default options here: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/File:Human_female_hair_styles.jpg

Wow, you’re right. I even looked over the style kit options, and human females literally do not have one single hairstyle like this, while males have half a dozen.

Ya it is a bit of a issue I have with the Female Human hair styles being they focus a lot on clean cut hair styles and lack natuarally grown hair styles that have not been cut and groomed.

I suspect the reason there’s not a lot of natural hair styles in general is that there’s probably not a lot of variety for them. It’d basically be loose with varying degrees of straightness and length.

The one on the right hand side of the second row looks like a shorter version of my hair in real-life (only with less frizz) and literally all I do is wash it and brush it so it’s not too tangled. It’s down to my waist and I get it trimmed about every 6-9 months when I notice the ends are really uneven. (You can get away with less frequent hair cuts with long hair because an extra couple of inches isn’t noticeable – most people don’t notice when I cut it.)

People always ask me why I don’t do more with it (my options are basically loose, pony tail or plait) but I can never think of anything that wouldn’t take ages, and I have no interest in spending forever doing my hair. I had some small braids down the sides and 2 meeting in the middle with some shiny things braided in for my wedding, but for every day I cannot be bothered.

But the lack of less styled hair generally is quite different to the total absence of any black/curly hairstyles – whether natural or styled.

I have to admit I didn’t notice until the OP pointed it out (I only have 1 human character and she has very straight hair, maybe one of her Mary Sue features), but it is pretty bad that there’s no options for black characters that wouldn’t require them to artificially straighten their hair.

grooming seems pretty natural, considering most animals do it in some fashion or another

Crab Fear.1624:

grooming seems pretty natural, considering most animals do it in some fashion or another

Looks like someone doesn’t know what natural hair means… or maybe doesn’t know how much “grooming” it requires (hint: it’s a lot more than straight hair!).

On topic generally, yes, we really do need more, especially if we’re going back to Elona. That does give me hope at least – presumably they’ll need to create more to give the NPCs there more different-but-appropriate hair, so that would translate to more being added to the options for players (via gem store of course).

I’d love to see this happen.

Eurhetemec.9052:

Crab Fear.1624:

grooming seems pretty natural, considering most animals do it in some fashion or another

Looks like someone doesn’t know what natural hair means… or maybe doesn’t know how much “grooming” it requires (hint: it’s a lot more than straight hair!).

On topic generally, yes, we really do need more, especially if we’re going back to Elona. That does give me hope at least – presumably they’ll need to create more to give the NPCs there more different-but-appropriate hair, so that would translate to more being added to the options for players (via gem store of course).

nah. i just think calling it natural is kinda a misnomer, but hey popular vote decides reality.

ive seen some folks with what i would consider to be natural, and it looks oily, mangy, and outright disgusting. but….
if you are referring to the google results of “natural hair”…natural away

Crab Fear.1624:

nah. i just think calling it natural is kinda a misnomer, but hey popular vote decides reality.

ive seen some folks with what i would consider to be natural, and it looks oily, mangy, and outright disgusting. but….
if you are referring to the google results of “natural hair”…natural away

When I say Natural Hair style I mean naturally grown hair style that is not affected by neither cutting the edges, grooming, combing, trimming the edges, hair gelling, and etc that requires actually attempting to directly affect the hair style a person would have if they did not tamper with it.

Natural Hair styles cover both short, medium, and long so they can cover 3 different lengths

Crab Fear.1624:

nah. i just think calling it natural is kinda a misnomer, but hey popular vote decides reality.

“Afro-textured hair is the natural hair texture of certain populations in Africa, the African diaspora, Australia and Asia, which has not been altered by hot combs, flat irons, or chemicals (through perming, relaxation, or other straightening methods). Each strand of this hair type grows in a tiny, spring-like helix shape. The overall effect is such that, compared to straight, wavy or curly hair,¹ afro-textured hair appears denser.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afro-textured_hair

Crab Fear.1624:

ive seen some folks with what i would consider to be natural, and it looks oily, mangy, and outright disgusting. but….
if you are referring to the google results of “natural hair”…natural away

Not sure if you’re intending to sound like a complete jerk, but you really really sound like a complete jerk.

Black “natural” hair is extremely versatile and can be styled in an endless number of ways. Personally, I don’t have a problem with “groomed” looks, it’s mostly the texture and style that comes with Afro-textured hair.

Yeah, when we say natural hair styles we mean black hair that hasn’t been treated by chemicals and tools to be straight. We mean afros, twists, locs, braids, knots, etc.

Calling it greasy and mangy and disgusting is not cool.

Females in general (regardless of the race you pick) get treated a lot different than male characters in the game:

• too many immature/child-like (or Manga-like) cutsie faces
• huge eyes and tiny mouths (on Asuras and Charr, for instance)
• no broad-shoulder option for humans (all too “girly”), only “thin” or “heavy” builds
• unnatural poses (hips and knees on humans while standing, the overly “femme” way Norn females stand and sit as well)
• unnatural movement (I always cringe when I watch my female humans run)
• very few classy armor sets; most attempt to look “sexy” while looking rather ridiculous (sure, my Norn has nothing better to do than to display her panties to everyone)

So, naturally, Anet applies the double-standard to haircuts as well. Everything that isn’t considered “femme” by those silly standards, or “cool” and trendy by kids, is not present.

I sincerely hope that will change with future releases.

I spent a lot of time googling this yesterday and it seems there’s 3 different ways people will use the term ‘natural hair’.

1) Specifically referring to black people’s natural hair, which will form tiny curls. In this instance it’s considered natural even if it’s cut, braided, washed and otherwise treated with commercial or home-made products to clean and style it. Anything except artificially straitening it is considered to be keeping it natural.

2) Any hair type, regardless of the persons race or skin colour, which has not been artificially straightened, curled, or otherwise altered. The ‘style’ you get if you wash your hair (so it doesn’t have any styling products in it) and then just let it dry is your natural hair. This is the definition I was familiar with before reading about the other two and thought we were using here. (Hence the OP specifying “natural-looking hairstyles for black characters”.)

There isn’t an exact definition for this one. Some people would say cutting it straight to keep it to a desired length is still keeping it natural, but if you cut it into layers or a specific style then it’s not. Some people only count using heated tongs to straighten or curl it. Some think cutting it is ok but gelling or spraying it to keep it in place is not. And so on.

3) Natural hair care. This means not using commercial hair care products, including shampoo and conditioner and again can apply to anyone regardless of their hair type, race or skin colour. Some people literally won’t wash it with anything except water (or maybe soap) others use home made or “natural” products (often mild bleaching agents) with familiar names like vinegar or baking soda. From my brief reading there was a lot of inconsistency in what you do with your hair after washing it. Some people also avoid styling products like hair gel, but may use heated tongs to style it, some will quite happily use commercial styling products, they just don’t like commercial shampoo. I assume preferences on cutting it or braiding it into different styles also vary.

This would probably be the one people were referring to when they said natural hair looks oily and disgusting. Although on the occasions when I’ve had to wash my hair with nothing but water because I was in the middle of nowhere it goes the other way and gets really dry and frizzy. But I suppose it depends on your hair type.

There can be some cross-over between these. For example when my brother had dreadlocks he had to stop using normal shampoo and conditioner because that’s designed to stop hair tangling, which is how it forms dreadlocks. He still washed it, but with a special dreadlock shampoo that wouldn’t undo the dreads.

But I think in this topic the OP was specifically using the first definition – stating that all of the styles human female characters can choose from (I checked and its the same for the Make-over Kit exclusives) are for straight or wavy hair, so black characters would have to be artificially straightening their hair. There should be options for curly or afro hair as well.

This has been pointed out and wished for from the beginning, and the fact that they’re still ignoring it is really not good.

Ashantara.8731:

Females in general (regardless of the race you pick) get treated a lot different than male characters in the game:

Yeah. For female characters, the focus on everything from gear to faces is overwhelmingly on being cutesy-wutesy and sexy-hexy, and apparently (but probably unsurprisingly) natural black hair doesn’t fit the bill.

Yes, the focus on cute/sexy ladies is certainly annoying… I imagine afro-textured/black hair falls outside of that definition popularly, which is a disturbing implication.

I do very much hope we’ll see some improvement soon, and based on what is rumored to be coming, that could very well happen… But I’m also skeptical since this has been an unaddressed issue since the game dropped.

It’d be nice to have an Anet team member chime in to let us know they’re aware of the issue.

Mustbeghosts.7043:

Yeah, when we say natural hair styles we mean black hair that hasn’t been treated by chemicals and tools to be straight. We mean afros, twists, locs, braids, knots, etc.

Calling it greasy and mangy and disgusting is not cool.

First off, I don’t care what is cool.

Secondly, I am not referring to African styled hair. I was imagining from experience of what has been referred to as natural growing up:

The people, mostly white, pseudo-Rastafarian types that don’t shave, bathe, or wash their hair.

They call it natural. It is gross and smells.

Crab Fear.1624:

I was imagining from experience of what has been referred to as natural growing up:

The people, mostly white, pseudo-Rastafarian types that don’t shave, bathe, or wash their hair.

They call it natural. It is gross and smells.

Agreed, but that’s a different story and not related to what this thread is about.

Chadramar.8156:

Ashantara.8731:

Females in general (regardless of the race you pick) get treated a lot different than male characters in the game:

[…]

Yeah. For female characters, the focus on everything from gear to faces is overwhelmingly on being cutesy-wutesy and sexy-hexy, and apparently (but probably unsurprisingly) natural black hair doesn’t fit the bill.

Exactly (I wish they did something about the aspects I listed).

I want more traditional styles in hair and beards, and by “traditional” I don’t mean white western standards only, but all cultures present on our world. I really don’t care for styles that look ultra-modern or even cyberpunk.

(Then again, I am having general issues with the game, which IMO was supposed to be classic fantasy, when it strays off into genre that don’t mix well with it, including armor and weapons designs etc. as well.)

Facial hair inspired by different cultures would be nice too, for sure. Especially something inspired from Chinese or one of the many African cultures, if only to bring some rep for Cantha and Elona on that front.

Wow, I was thinking of this yesterday.

How come they give most of the dreads and natural hairstyles to non-human races?

Kinda messed up. Also every MMO giving folks 10ft Afros and thinking thats it lol.