Although I cannot speak for every person in the galaxy, I can say for myself that I like my hair. Perhaps I like it a little too much, but what can I say? It’s fun to style from time to time, and it looks nice! At one point of time when I was a teenager at the Jedi Academy, I would have even said that my hair was my greatest pride. With that information in mind, you can only imagine my horror when I was told I’d have to get a Padawan Braid and eventually have it cut in order to become a Jedi Knight.

Absolutely. Not. Do you have any idea how bad that would look? It would take ages for me to grow out that one spot of hair where the Padawan Braid was, making my hair look terribly uneven. The mere thought even now frightens me. Hair takes a while to naturally grow back as well, leaving me to deal with a small clump of strangely uneven hair on my head of mostly even hair.

However, the Padawan Braid holds importance when it comes to being a Jedi, as Jedi apprentices use their Padawan Braid to symbolize their rank within the Order. I have heard that species that don’t necessarily grow hair use beads as their Padawan Braid, but unfortunately, that was not a path I could take when I was in the Academy quite a few years back.

All those years ago, I was very, very stressed over the matter. It got to a point where I was lying awake in bed, stressing over (in my opinion at the time) a stupid Padawan Braid. Now, don’t tell anyone I said this, but I even considered switching from the light side of the Force to the dark side—just to save myself from the fate of uneven hair from a Padawan Braid. I don’t think the Sith require Padawan Braids… do they??

One of the many thoughts that came to mind while I was fretting over the idea of my Padawan Braid was what happens to it after I become a Jedi Knight. What do people even do with a strand of braided hair? Do you give it to someone? Do you try and feed it to the nearest rancor you can find? Do you try to flush it down the drain? Much to my disappointment, no one seemed to really have an answer to my question. One Jedi Knight I once talked to even claimed his just mysteriously vanished one night and was never seen again.

As much as I disliked the idea of having a Padawan Braid, I also disliked the idea of it vanishing. After all, it is my hair—personal property, if you get what I mean. All those years ago, my younger self went from annoyed at my Padawan Braid to overly protective of it. Now that I think about it, I might have gotten a bit attached to it… that would have earned me a good scolding.

Now, you may be wondering what happened to me and my dilemma. I can say with great joy that my hair remains as even as it could be. Although I had my Padawan Braid for a good amount of time, I found my calling in other places and eventually in the Senate, allowing for my fears to be assuaged. In this case, me and my hair found our well deserved happy ending. Thank goodness.