Speaking of hair, there's a scene in one of the books, where they're sleigh riding or something, and Mary Power (who was also awesome) was wearing a switch or something? I assumed it was fake hair, but does that mean that she didn't have long long hair? That always confused me, I imagined her hair falling off and her being totally bald.
********************
The hairstyles in the 1880's and 1890's (not sure exactly what decade the courtship took place in) required a lot of hair. Even people with long hair supplemented it with switches, or better yet "rats" (ew), to get all that puffiness and the elaborate buns and braids and curls and such. In one of the middle books, Laura and Mary make a hair receiver for Ma. When women combed or brushed their hair they'd keep the hair in the comb or the brush and save until they had enough to make their own rats for their hair. Or better yet, make jewelry or art out of it. ::shudder::
I've always loved that picture of the three girls that someone posted on page 3. Laura is the one standing, and she is so vibrant compared to the other two, who look very passive and timid; Laura looks like she's going to take off running the moment the photographer is done.
edited to fix the fact that I hit quote and it still didn't come out right....stupid Safari