] To get this back to Jane Austen, we know that even when she was young, she kept her hair long enough to wear in plaits. (braids)..

This reminded me that I had made a note of what the young Louisa Knight,younger daughter to Janes brother Edward,and god-daughter to Jane, recalled about her: "She had large dark eyes and a brilliant complextion, and long long black hair down to her knees." And this is sometime around 1814.
(Quoted from Park Honans biography).

By the way,this Louisa was the one who replaced her younger sister Cassandra Jane,after she had died,as wife to Lord George Hill.
Her sister died when 36. And Louisa married the lord five years later at the age of 43. And they had one child.

Leif G-n