Sorry this isn;'t exactly name related, but I was hoping I could get some tips on describing Nordic hairstyles.
I’m pretty much limited to “her hair was intricately braided and pinned at the sides to keep her hair back” and I just can’t really think of a better way or different way to word it. I also feel limited on the variation hair styles other than down or in braids,
If anyone could help me out a little, I would greatly appreciate it!
I actually recently wrote a scene describing a mother braiding her daughter’s hair. Some synonyms I used were weaving, twisting, and tucking. Honestly, I don’t think you need to be describing people’s hairstyles, and certainly not often enough that readers would notice the similarities between the descriptions. If you describe it once, then simply say “her hair was in braids” for the rest of the book, I’d get the gist.
I would word the sentence like this:
“Her hair was intricately braided and pinned at the sides, pulling every whispy strand away from her face.”
[name_m]Just[/name_m] to avoid using the word “hair” twice in one sentence.
I’m asking because I have a lot of characters to describe through the story, and braids were a very common hairstyle for Vikings, and considering all the different ways to braid your hair… but that was helpful, thanks! 
You could get round it by mentioning fairly early on that most / all of the women wore their hair braided, and maybe get in some character description along the lines of “yet there was something strangely defiant in the way [name_f]Sanne[/name_f] braided her hair that was different to the other women, as if each strand bristled with tension and hunger for something she had never known”. So rather than redescribing the braided hairstyle for different characters, use it as a kind of departure point for what they stand for or their emotional state or the role they represent.
It’s easy to forget that readers construct images in their own heads and don’t always need loads of “this is what she looks like in my head” from the author, as long as you give a departure point for their imaginations - in the example I gave just now, the tension and defiance. I’ve hardly gone into any physical description - “hair” and “bristling” - yet (at least to me) what I wrote still conveys a distinct image, if that makes any sense? [name_m]Even[/name_m] though I’m not told the colour or the length or whether her hair’s curly or straight.
I don’t know if that helps any, or even if I actually answered the question in the end or not . . . !