Hair is undoubtedly big business in SL, and I would guess that many female avatars regularly spend a fair bit of L$ on new styles. Up until recently, however, I have not been one of them. The main reason has been that I have not been able to find a lot of styles that I really like, and I have also found it too difficult to get exactly the shades I want. For a while, I was making my own textures to retexture hairs I had bought so I could have matching colours regardless of the designer, but I haven’t had much time for that lately. Plus, retexturing the hairs that I prefer to wear tends to be rather tricky. Eventually I’ll get around to finishing up my new textures and I’ll get Ran a better graphics card so he can start making hairs, but until then I’ll have to be satisfied with what is on offer.
As it happens, I have a bit of a flexi curl addiction, and unless the outfit calls for it I don’t tend to wear more modern styles. Instead, I prefer the sort of hair styles one might find on a pre-Raphaelite painting, or a fantasy book cover. But finding those done well in SL has not been easy. Quite often flexi curl hairs are too large and wild for my tastes, and they have bangs that look too modern or just too spikey and harsh. Fortunately, I have found two hair creators that have a selection of hairs that are just what I am after: Calico Creations and Jolie Femme.
Skins:
Kalista Light 01 by Tuli
Devon t2 Cranberry by Adam n Eve
Lustre Fit Dark Red Onyx by Pixel Deep
Zarya Raffle Gift by Skin Within
Hairs: Amy I Midnight, Emily Copper, Helen I Snow and Madison Midnight by Calico Creations
Outfit: Speak to me of Summer Cherry Popsicle by Ornamental Life
Here we have Amy I, Emily, Helen I and Madison from Calico Creations. Calico Creations was a store that I looked at quite early on, since the creator had a large selection of flexi curl hairs and many with a distinct fantasy feel. However, at the time I didn’t quite like how the curl textures were done, and some of the styles also felt rather bulky.
Then the first version of Emily was released, with a new texture style, and I was in love. This was just what I had been looking for. The Emily shown here is an example of the first version and the old Copper colour. The style was re-released a while ago, with somewhat altered textures (possibly just the colours, actually) and a slightly altered structure as well. I think I actually prefer the first version, but it is not at all a huge difference.
The other hairs are all examples of the re-released styles. The textures are now quite nice and they have also been made less bulky. Amy and Helen are both available in several different versions, giving you options for the length and in some cases a choice between curlier or straighter hair. They are perhaps not the most realistic textures or styles, but they are great for a fantasy look.
Hairs from Calico Creations are sold for 200 per pack, which includes five colours (the base colour, a light and a dark version and a highlighted and a burnt version), and I rather like the overall selection of colours.
Skins:
Kalista Light 01 by Tuli
Devon t2 Cranberry by Adam n Eve
Lustre Fit Dark Red Onyx by Pixel Deep
Zarya Raffle Gift by Skin Within
Hairs: Amy I Dusk, Amy III Black, Bella Nearly Black (tinted red) and Bella 2 Dark Copper by Jolie Femme
Outfit: Speak to me of Summer Cherry Popsicle by Ornamental Life
Shown here is Amy I, Amy III, Bella and Bella 2 from Jolie Femme. This is another store that I have had my eye on for a while but haven’t actually bought from until recently. To start with, I didn’t shop there because the creator had decided to use the resize script on her hairs instead of leaving them mod. That is a deal breaker for me with hair and clothes. Fortunately, she changed a while back to offering the hairs as mod again. The resize script is also left in, and this I think is an excellent solution, because if you only need a straight resize then the script can do a good job.
When she held a sale on selected hairs some weeks ago, I ended up picking up a few of the styles I had checked out earlier (I also got Ran to buy some for himself, as I rather like his avatars to look like they stepped out of a Thomas Canty-painting), and since then I have ended up grabbing several more of her new releases. I am really loving the structure of both the Amy styles (there’s also an Amy II with yet another texture option), and the curls used on Bella, Bella 2 and Amy III are particularly fabulous. Some of her older hairs are a little too wispy (almost too realistic), but these latest ones strike a nice blend between realism and idealism.
Jolie Femme hairs tend to cost around 220-225 per pack. There’s not that many packs, but each pack has a good range of shades. My only quibble with these hairs would be with the Reds pack, as I feel the lighter reds aren’t very natural. Still, applying subtle tints to the hairs from the Light Browns pack can work pretty well.
So, if you have a love for long, luscious locks, you’ll definitely want to grab some demos from Calico Creations and Jolie Femme. Of course, that is not all they offer. Calico Creations have a wide variety of styles (including many great styles, long and short, for male avatars), and so does Jolie Femme (she doesn’t have a lot of male styles, but as noted some of her female styles can look great on guys).
Since this post was all about the hairs, I didn’t want to distract with too much clothing, so the same rather summery piece from Ornamental Life is worn in all the photos. The skins, however, are a selection of my favourites from, each worn on a different shape. The style notes with slurls are acting up again, so may or may not be showing up beneath each image. I’ll have to take some time to see if the template can be kicked into submission again.
