Super Health and Beauty

[Ragnorok64]

First time poster long time lurker (that saying just doesn't sound right, does it?) I wish my first post here could be a bit more profound but oh well. Just a few Super/ related questions i've been mulling over.

How do the Kryptonians, Superman, Super Girl, Super Boy, and Power Girl, do all the things we take for granted? Thinks like cut and style thier hair and clip thier fingernails? Just how invulnerable are they?

For example I've seen several times that for Superman to shave he bounces his heat vision off a mirror to burn off his stubble? If that's how he has to shave, then what do Super and Power Girl have to do? Given that Clark has been depicted as having a hairy chest, it chould be assumed that Kryptonians grow hair wherever human's go. Now given the design of thier outfits it's appearant that they'd have to ...well shave or something down there. Does that mean that normal morning ritual would include having to laser blast thier armpits and crotch everyday :eek: ?

While on the subject of hair. All the Supers tend to have well kept healthy lockes. But if your hair is impervious to subzero temperatures, explosive heat, and the vacuum of space would shampoo and conditioners really have any effect? How do you style hair that's as strong as tensile steel?

And how about clipping fingernails? If your hand can survive bending steel and punching super villians galor what chance are a pair of metal nail clips going to stand? Also, wouldn't the option of earrings be right out the window?

Have any of these points ever been touched on anywhere or am I totally overthinking this?

[Kilgore Trout]

You can't over-think ANYTHING around here...

[PatrickG]

Well, the heat vision solution is the big one there, yes.

But in terms of how they style their hair...

Kryptonian skin is resistant to damage but it steel feels like normal skin. Likewise Kryptonian hair.

It isn't like steel growing out of their head.

Rather, their body has exotic molecular properties coupled with a force field aura around it.

I rather liked the pre-Crisis notion that Kryptonians didn't grow facial or body hair under a red sun and that their fingernails didn't grow because hair and fingernails were dead cells and super-powered Kryptonian cells never die, at least not naturally. In the case of their hair, the hair they had was, in almost all cases, roughly the amount of hair they had when they came to earth.

[JulianPerez]

Superman - and all Kryptonians - have hair and nails that do not grow under a Red Sun. Their skin cells don't die, either, as he is superpowered to the cellular level. This means that, for instance, the Fortress of Solitude has no dust (90% of dust is dead skin and hair cells - that, combined with Superman's tendency to take a "shower" in flame eliminates the cause of the rest). If Superman ever leaves the Earth's yellow sun, such as when he visits New Krypton in his rocketship, he takes great care to shave and trim his nails before leaving.

It also means that Superman has no fingerprints, either. The only way Superman leaves fingerprints is by pressing hard into metal - occasionally, Lois Lane used this in her mad attempts to prove that Superman and Clark Kent are one and the same.

Superman doesn't have to apply deoderant or brush his teeth - it's unlikely that any type of tooth decay could affect his tougher than diamond chompers, and further, no bacteria could make a home on him. Superman's digestive system is said to obtain every bit of nutritional value from his food, which means that he probably doesn't get "garlic breath" either (and it also means that Superman does not have to use the bathroom). Superman's body does not need heat regulation, either; Superman consequently does not sweat even in physical exertion. Though it is likely that Superman has to wash and bathe regularly just to remove particles of dirt and dust that he acquires in both the course of a day.

Superman's hair is tough enough to support cruise ships, but just like the rest of Superman's body, it's apparently flexible enough to feel normal to the touch, and consequently can be combed.

Supergirl is a different question entirely. As for why Supergirl could have so many stylish looks: from her Hilary Clinton-esque "pageboy" cut of the 1950s to her giant curly eighties perm...well, actually, that's a durn good question, isn't it? Generally, consistency can be demanded of writing, but not of art (Wayne Boring drew Superman as slightly balding and older, compared to Swan's powerhouse man of action, for instance, though his "true age" remains fixed). The perm is highly unusual, after all, because if you can use a 5,000 degree volcano as a relaxing steam bath...well, it's doubtful that curling irons could possibly work. The single most obvious answer may be that Supergirl has a regular stylist in Kandor when she goes to visit her parents - the beautiful part of this would be that once she pops back onto Earth, her hair keeps its frizz and shape!

Although it may be possible that there is a sightly more exotic explanation - perhaps Supergirl uses plasma she obtained from the heart of a white sun to wrap her blonde locks around, giving them that distinctive eighties krinkle.

[Lurker]

You can't over-think ANYTHING around here...


Yep .................................................. ..............................

[JulianPerez]

Does that mean that normal morning ritual would include having to laser blast thier armpits and crotch everyday ?

By the way, it's quotes like this that make me glad that the internet exists. :D

[dancj]

Superman - and all Kryptonians - have hair and nails that do not grow under a Red Sun.

Only pre-Crisis

[Ragnorok64]

Thanks. Has any of this been addressed Post Crisis?


also i recale seeing a comic cover that had Conner with his head shaved bald. Does that mean that his hair can be cut normally?