A Science Fiction Take on Rapunzel's Hair?

So while back I watched a video by LavenderTowne on youtube where she did a redesign of Rapunzel from Tangled. She took a modern look and played a bit of the lore in the movie to create the design from a conceptually accurate level.


Later on, I was throwing stupid ideas around in my head, as I always do to keep my sanity. And a Rapunzel redesign using my styles and concepts crossed somewhere in there. The thing I wanted to resolve first was the hair. I haven't taken the time to work anything else but I wanted the hair to hold to the lore but also work on a technical level with what I might do.


Rapunzel's hair is a bright gold color unless it's cut, then it turns brown. While it is gold, if you sing to it, the strands begin glowing and have the power to heal and sustain. Given that my strong suits are in science fiction the fantasy aspect would've been a bit of an oddity.My biggest hitters are biology, physics, chemistry, and technology.


After a bit of thinking, this is what I had for a science fiction explanation on Rapunzel's hair.


Glowing is easy, we can just chalk up bioluminescence. But what about color change when cut? One utility that transfers over else where is to have many the cells in each hair strand remain alive rather than dying as the hair grows out. As normal for humans. This way, if the hair is cut, then the chain of cells can deny needed nutrients as there would be lost when the hair is cut. When the base cell chain dies out, the strand turns brown.


One way to explain it's healing properties is by excreting a stimulant biochemical when it is activated. Stimulants, such as ones given to a developing fetus, are rather potent and would allow for faster, more in depth healing.


But then how do you activate all this by singing? The idea I had for this was to tie the hair's abilities to the Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, other wise known as ASMR. This is an audio/visual response that creates a sense of low-grade euphoria, starting at the back of the neck and flowing out through the nervous system. So if beautiful vocal tones and melodies trigger ASMR for Rapunzel, then this would activate the healing abilities of her hair.


All that said, this is my take on how to recreate Rapunzel's hair in a science fiction format. All of this ended up being just biology which gives it a lot of flexibility across genres. And all together just ended up being an interesting concept.