Jitter: Having done a lot of physically strenuous and sometimes dangerous things while having very long hair, I have actually found major safety advantages in having my hair braided up, including one mountain climbing accident where I was hit in the head by a falling rock, and I think my life was saved by my long hair braided up under my climbing helmet, so that I sustained a skull fracture rather than a pulped head. And I would certainly have wished to avoid what happened to a friend who was using a lathe with their long hair loose, and had one side of their scalp snatched bald when the hair got caught in the lathe.
At times when I have taught blacksmithing I have encouraged people to braid up their hair, because a forge, like any workshop, is a very dangerous place to have loose bits of anything, be it hair or clothing, floating about in the path of tools or fire.
And yes, Emil would look extra gorgeous with braids. It can really change a man’s look. I remember one young man I knew, must be forty years ago, who had the most beautiful copper-red hair. When I first met him he was doing Mediæval style reenactment fighting, and given that he played a Viking the long braided hair and beard just suited the role, as well as showing off his features in a most flattering way. Some ten years after that he cut his hair to shoulder length and shaved his beard, (his wife preferred him so), and he turned out to be one of those rare men who looks good with both styles- beardless, he looked like a Renaissance angel.
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