Once more... Where are the curly werewolves?

This is the place for discussion and voting on various aspects of werewolf life, social ideas, physical appearance, etc. Also a place to vote on how a werewolf should look.
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JoshuaMadoc
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Once more... Where are the curly werewolves?

Post by JoshuaMadoc »

I don't just mean hardcore poodle 'fro wolves. I also mean the kind of curly you'd see in sculptures or pottery of ancient greek folks and their hairstyles.

There's just so many werewolves with long flowy straight locks and "wolf-mullets" and some nondescript sets of braids pinned with bones or feathers that it just leaves me wondering if people have no love for curls. To see curly fur all but absent really bothers me since it's like living in a world where everyone's caucasian.

Oh, and I'm also cursed with extremely dense curly hair.
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Re: Once more... Where are the curly werewolves?

Post by Sevena »

thats a good one.you would think with people drawing werewolves(especially if they are drawing them in their likeness) with fashions such as mullets,braids and even clothing fashions like loin cloths and ripped up shorts that they would included more personal aspects.it seems many stick to what a real wolfs fur looks like.it would make sense if a person had curly hair that when they turned into a werewolf that the werewolves fur would take on the curliness that their human side sported.
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Re: Once more... Where are the curly werewolves?

Post by JoshuaMadoc »

Another thing that bothers me is the fact that when something like this comes up, I just KNOW someone's going to crack a joke about how a werepoodle would look hilariously stupid, and then make a reference about wearing spartan armor and yelling to his men that they will all dine in heaven, because all dogs go to heaven.

While it's true how funny that sounds, the joke itself is something I take very seriously, because it makes me wonder if being curly would amount to becoming a huge joke in front of the crowd before they start screaming in agony as said wolf is mashing everyone to the ground with a semi-trailer.
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Re: Once more... Where are the curly werewolves?

Post by Terastas »

kitetsu wrote:Oh, and I'm also cursed with extremely dense curly hair.
As am I. A lot of people assume I must spend half an hour every morning getting my hair the way it is. But I don't, and I've got the baby pictures to prove it.

Anyway, I think we haven't seen any because, as you more or less just illustrated, there are typically two kinds of werewolves: the natural kind, and the braided, Celtic and/or native American tribal kind.

I have a feeling that's probably how it would look in real life too. We've had discussions about hair styles / colorings transferring over to the werewolf form, and I remember arguing that if it were possible, any smart werewolves would try to avoid styling their hair in such a way that it might be recognizable as originating from their human form (like that idiot one-shot werewolf from Cybersix).

Then on the other side, you'd have the idiots that outright embrace lycanthropy on an open level. Even if they didn't automatically associate werewolves with Celtic / native American tribal imagery, I think they'd delve into it anyway. Werewolves don't exactly have a default culture, so any delusional romantics or angsty wannabes would likely adopt traits from cultures where turning into a man-wolf could be (in their own interpretations) socially acceptable.

I don't think a curly-haired human would make for a total afro-werewolf though, so I do plan on addressing it eventually.
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Re: Once more... Where are the curly werewolves?

Post by RedEye »

Sometimes "Curly" in ancient sculpture was there because it was hard work to chisel out long flowing locks and either braids or curls was something repetetive that could be left to apprentices to cut while the Master did the facial work.
Then too, not all European hair is curly; in fact it's rare in Euro-based population groups outside of Rossoids (Redheads).
Also, not all werewolves keep their human hair when they switch; sometimes it just goes poof with the rest of their human parts.

Kitetsu; if you were a werewolf, and if you were the kind that kept your human hair when you shifted, then you'd have curly hair as a werewolf. Frequently, curly hair is associated with people of African ancestry; and Africa has Lion, Hyena, Jackal, and Leopard were' legends, but not were Wolf legends to draw on.
When it comes to artwork, straight or braided hair is the easiest to draw; so there's another reason...
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Re: Once more... Where are the curly werewolves?

Post by vrikasatma »

Yeah, I got curly hair, too. It's below-the-shoulder/standard heavy metal mane, used to be dark auburn but is relentlessly turning silver-grey. Hey, wolf-coloured! :D And at the slightest hint of humidity, which is pretty much always here in Oregon, it turns into something Carrot Top would be jealous about. According to the Curly Girl book (worth reading), I have Shirley Temple curls, they've just been allowed to grow out long and are coming close to being Ronnie James Dio/Brian May curls.

As I remember, there are some illos in the Werewolf:the Apocalypse books showing werewolves with curly hair. They tended to be illos by…[wheels turning] dah, carp, I forgot his name, one moment…[nips off to the bookcase, comes back muttering, pages flipping] Ah! Ron Spencer. Especially his work in the first Black Furies tribebook. Some fine, fine examples there. There's a beautiful Glabro form she-wolf with Botticelli curls as the frontispiece in the "Rage Across Chicago" supplement.

I think Botticelli curls, worn super-long (collarbones and lower), are the crowning glory of human beauty.
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Re: Once more... Where are the curly werewolves?

Post by RedEye »

Another horrible possibility to consider vs. Curly Werewolves is that they were thought to be Poodles; dogs with very curly hair.
I suspect that any werewolf that shifted and came out as a werepoodle would revert and never, ever shift again; full moon or not. :cry:
After all, whether the Werewolf in question is the "Anger-filled human killer" or the "OMG what's happened to me" or even the "I'm a Werewolf. Get over it" type of lycanthrope, there will be a certain amount of vanity involved, and looking like a giant poodle would be more than most were's could manage.
Not to mention the curls wouldpick up every leaf, twig, and bit of dry grass the werewolf traveled through. Said wolf could snarl without making a sound.
Hence, the straight coated werewolf, methinks. :lol:
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Re: Once more... Where are the curly werewolves?

Post by JoshuaMadoc »

And thus I must parrot the prior post I made with great stress of importance:
Another thing that bothers me is the fact that when something like this comes up, I just KNOW someone's going to crack a joke about how a werepoodle would look hilariously stupid, and then make a reference about wearing spartan armor and yelling to his men that they will all dine in heaven, because all dogs go to heaven.

While it's true how funny that sounds, the joke itself is something I take very seriously, because it makes me wonder if being curly would amount to becoming a huge joke in front of the crowd before they start screaming in agony as said wolf is mashing everyone to the ground with a semi-trailer.
In the end, if walking poodles show up, there shouldn't be any harm in getting dreadlocks. Really, if it's portuguese water dogs instead, all the earth that gets into their pelt would make them look perfect as mangrove swamp monsters.
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Re: Once more... Where are the curly werewolves?

Post by Terastas »

Okay, I can't take it any more. A) Poodles are poofy, not curly, B) deliberately so, and C) only to that extent on certain parts of their body, so unless all werewolves are bald except for on their heads, tails, wrists and ankles, they wouldn't look like were-poodles (and if that were the case, it wouldn't matter because then the werewolves with straight hair would look like were-chinese cresteds).

Curly hair would translate, I think, into a werewolf looking more bushy and knotted and give them a more wild look as opposed to a disarming one.

At least assuming they were naturally curly. If someone had their hair curled, permed or otherwise tampered with at a salon, I don't think it would match the hair on the rest of the werewolf's form and be (even more) recognizable as such.
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