All through the series, Katara wore her hair in different ways. This was based on the environment she found herself in or what was happening around her at the time.
Katara Hair Loopies
Hair loopies, as Sokka would later refer to Katara’s hair as is one of the signature patterns that Katara wore her hair although the stores. She wore different variants of the same hairdo all through the series.
Hair loopies are a type of hairstyle that is worn in the Northern and Southern Water Tribes. Although these two halves of the water tribe wear the pattern, their hair typically varies in slight ways.
The term refers to the trend among Water Tribe women to wear two loops in their hair. These loops can be formed by pulling back strands of hair on either side of the head and fasten them at the back. This is typically how Katara wore her hair most of the time. A variation of this style is to braid the pulled back strands, like Yagoda, the healer in the Northern Water Tribe did.
Another way to create these loops was seen on Yue. This pattern was seen in how Yue wore her hair in a high ponytail and let two large loops fall. Different variants to the hairstyle indeed occur, but they are generally referred to as loopies. This is alternatively similar to how men in the water tribe wear their hair in a bun and call it a warrior’s wolf tail.
Sokka first used the term when he asked Katara how she would feel if she lost something meaningful to her, such as “her hair loopies.”
After the end of the Hundred Year War, hair loopies were still a big trend among the women in the Water Tribes, as Yakone’s wife donned the hairstyle three decades later. We can see this in the Legend of Korra series. Katara retained her hair loopies throughout adulthood and continued to sport the style as an older woman.
History of Loopies
The pirate queen and leader of the Fifth Nation, Tagaka, used to wear her hair in loopies. Even though she was only partially of Water Tribe descent, she preferred this style regardless. Unfortunately, at this point, the Southern Water Tribe had disowned her entire family.
Katara considered hair loopies an important part of her identity. I mean, it had to be as she had worn the hairstyle ever since she was a little girl. However, a few times through the series, it seemed like she had lost her trademark look. One of these instances was during her fight with Pakku. She was fighting for her right to learn waterbending. At this point, her hair fell out of place.
Other times were when she and Aang battled Azula and Zuko in the Crystal Catacombs under the great city of Ba Sing Se. During this fight, her hair once again came out of place during the struggle. While her hair loopies returned for a short time after that fight, Katara changed her look slightly while traveling in the Fire Nation to blend in with the locals.
She removed her hair loopies and wore her hair down. This was a different look from the original that we were used to, and although she still tied two strands of hair behind her ears, though the loops no longer framed her face as the previous one that sported the water tribe custom style.
During the invasion of the Fire Nation, Katara began incorporating her Water Tribe hairstyle once again. She was seen making her hair at the bank, Aang shaving his head to get rid of the full hair he had come to have after a few weeks out of action.
This style she had was a bit reminiscent of her Fire Nation style, with her hair unbraided at the back, but they’re still was the return of her hair loopies, even though they appeared to be slightly thicker than the previous style we knew her to have.
Kanna, Katara, and Sokka’s Gran-Gran, also wore hair loopies. Katara remembered Kya, her mother, with them in a hallucination, but during the final raid on the Southern Water Tribe, Kya did not bear the hairstyle.
After the defeat of Fire Lord Ozai, Sokka attempted to do a painting of the heroes in the Jasmine Dragon. When Katara looked at Sokka’s rendition of her, she accused him of giving her Momo’s ears. He reassured her that they were her hair loopies. Katara had misinterpreted the hair loopies because of their round, hanging shape that resembled the winged lemur’s ears.
Fire Nation Katara Hair
As we’ve earlier stated, another time when Katara consciously wore her hair differently was when she and the rest of the team went to the fire nation.
As soon as they got in, the idea to steal some clothes and blend in as bright as day seemed even more appealing. This was as opposed to living in caves and eating cave hoppers.
On getting to the Fire Nation, Katara and the rest of the team decided to plan to steal local clothes to live incognito among the citizens.
Aang wears a headband to hide his Airbender tattoos. After accidentally putting on a Fire Nation school uniform and being accused of truancy, Aang is taken to that school. Enjoying socializing like a ‘normal’ kid and realizing the value of learning about the Fire Nation, he enrolls in the school. He later arranges a dance party for the rigidly disciplined and self-expression lacking Fire Nation pupils. When the school authorities learn about the party, the students help Aang and his friends to escape.
Fire Nation Katara wears her hair differently from the usual Katara that we know, as seen in the image below.
She originally wanted to keep her mother’s earpiece but is forced to remove it as it screams Water Tribe. She reveals herself to Aang and the
