گیسو

The Persian poetic obsession with the beloved's hair has a long historical foundation. In pre-modern Iran, dark, abundant hair was a marked beauty ideal for both men and women, and hair was usually long, often plaited or worn loose under a covering. The poetic tradition both reflects and amplifies this. Modern Iranian women still inherit the cultural weight of long hair, and the word گیسو appears in personal names (a woman called Gisu is named for the long lock) and in song lyrics. Iranian pop and traditional music returns to the gisu image regularly, and the inherited register from classical poetry is what makes those lines land.