Why didn't Worf shave his head during the Dominion War or the Destiny Trilogy?

I observed on the DSC forum that it was ironic that the first Trek series to feature a version of the bat'leth that looked like something a guy made out his own hair and some lava also was the first to feature Klingons that were (apparently) hairless, which led to this delightful post.

 

He didn't shave because that tradition fell out of favour between DSC and DS9.

 

Yes. Once again, we are in complete agreement. (Be afraid. Be very afraid.) And the very few people who are consistently literalist in their beliefs aren't running television broadcasts or web sites; they adhere to a way of life would make the strictest Amish and Shakers seem like technophiles by comparison.

 

People often pick and choose the aspects of their culture that they’re willing to adhere to. Perhaps this was merely a tradition Worf didn’t care for.

 

My question is, were the Klingons in Into Darkness at war? It's in an alternate timeline, but one that diverged just a quarter-century earlier, and it takes place just a couple of years after DSC season 1, so the customs would have a good chance of being similar. If they were at war, though, it wasn't with the Federation, otherwise Admiral Marcus wouldn't have needed to try to provoke a war with them.

 

Maybe they were fighting with the Romulans. I feel like there’s so much history between those two powers—in any timeline—that’s yet be shared. Why do they hate each other so much?

 

Well, based on Diane Duane's works, I would conclude that the Romulans are simply racist.

 

We've already seen different Klingon traditions regarding what is to be done with a dead warrior (some consider it an empty shell to be disposed of at will, others carefully guard the body to keep away predators), so this is really no different.

 

Maybe he only shaved areas that we don't see.

Kor

 

Reminds me the whole "Romulans tatoo themselves when mourning" thing.

 

I presented that in The Struggle Within as a working-class custom, because Nero's crew were miners, not military or government elites like most of the Romulans we've seen before. So many variances in the portrayal of aliens can be easily resolved if you just expect alien cultures to be as diverse as humanity.

 

OK, I consider such things as silly but acceptable...

 

Monolithic alien cultures should not be the norm.

Kor

 

It was paint themselves when mourning. Nero's crew were just hardcore emo about it.

 

Unless it's this kind:

 

Well, I mean, they lost their entire homeworld...

 

But we don´t do such things for production reasons.

 

Worf, like all traditionalists, cherry picked which traditions he felt like following. I doubt many truly traditional Klingons would have pursued K'Ehleyr, Troi, or Dax, or joined Starfleet.