The Magic Hair Stripe

[tailrustedtealeaf]

You know what's really cute? That little stripe of complimentary color hair in unicorn hair.
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It's such a cute design quirk. I wish they had touched upon it in MLPn'Friends, maybe they mentioned it in the comics? Most standard Pony/Pegasus releases have one color for the mane and tail, at least up until, ehhh, year six or so? The multi-color hair without any unicorn horn has been limited to rainbow ponies or twinkle eye ponies. Even TAF seems to have included the magic hair stripe and left the pony/pegasus manes one-tone.
So...if unicorns have this magic stripe of hair, does anyone have headcanons for why unicorn newborns don't have this stripe?
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[Khoufu]

Maybe they grow it during puberty, or once they really get a grip on their magic powers, or simply when their magic abilities mature to their full (adult) power.

[Safflower]

They kind of stopped doing it for later years. For example, Boisenberry Pie. Later years had mostly theme and gimmick sets rather than just unicorn, pegasi, and earth sets too.

[Gator]

I love the magic hair stripe.  When I draw the later years unicorns, I sometimes add the stripe Hasbro denied them in real life. 
Here I gave Tabby a yellow stripe:
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[tailrustedtealeaf]

They kind of stopped doing it for later years. For example, Boisenberry Pie. Later years had mostly theme and gimmick sets rather than just unicorn, pegasi, and earth sets too.

It's interesting to see how they line changes as the years go on! I suppose from a business standpoint you have to keep the kids with pounds of ponies interested with new gimmicks and not just new characters.

Maybe they grow it during puberty, or once they really get a grip on their magic powers, or simply when their magic abilities mature to their full (adult) power.

I'd like to think of it as the latter two, sort of like G4's idea of cutie marks. Imagine if Rattles and Tattles got their stripes at different times! That'd be interesting for a story.

I love the magic hair stripe.  When I draw the later years unicorns, I sometimes add the stripe Hasbro denied them in real life. 
Here I gave Tabby a yellow stripe:
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She looks really cute with the yellow! Maybe that's why her design feels a bit plain to me otherwise. I mean, she does come with the yellow hair pick, but that's an accessory, not a feature.

[Khoufu]

I have Rattles, and love the idea of him and Tattles having different hair stripes so that they're not entirely identical. Like, if Rattles got blue and Tattles got red.

[PoserBeachball]

I have Rattles, and love the idea of him and Tattles having different hair stripes so that they're not entirely identical. Like, if Rattles got blue and Tattles got red.

Now that's not much fun for mischievous twin babies if they can be easily recognised apart

I love the stripe.

[Taffeta]

This is one of the reasons I love Gypsy. She's a complete social renegade Aside those with rainbow hair (TE and Rainbow Ponies), the stripe in the unicorn hair happens all the way to 1987 (So Softs - Bangles, TAF Milky Way, and here, Buttons and Gusty from the movie line). All except Gypsy, who came out in 1986 but apparently stuck two hooves up at the idea of convention and didn't bother to have a streak. She had freckles instead

On the stripe note, the Mountain Boys and Big Brothers also have this stripe feature. I don't know if we should consider that as them all being descended from unicorn blood or not though?

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Gypsy: Fashion Rebel

If you want to play genetics with the newborns, maybe stripes are recessive genes or maybe they grow into them as they get older...

[PoserBeachball]

On the stripe note, the Mountain Boys and Big Brothers also have this stripe feature. I don't know if we should consider that as them all being descended from unicorn blood or not though?

or was it the result of a rowdy Boys Night Out - someone got handy with some hair dye.........and they all had to try it?

[Khoufu]

I have Rattles, and love the idea of him and Tattles having different hair stripes so that they're not entirely identical. Like, if Rattles got blue and Tattles got red.

Now that's not much fun for mischievous twin babies if they can be easily recognised apart

I love the stripe.

They can always dye their hair.

[Leave a Whisper]

I guess.  I just see it as ponies with variations in their hair. 

[Leave a Whisper]

This is one of the reasons I love Gypsy. She's a complete social renegade Aside those with rainbow hair (TE and Rainbow Ponies), the stripe in the unicorn hair happens all the way to 1987 (So Softs - Bangles, TAF Milky Way, and here, Buttons and Gusty from the movie line). All except Gypsy, who came out in 1986 but apparently stuck two hooves up at the idea of convention and didn't bother to have a streak. She had freckles instead

On the stripe note, the Mountain Boys and Big Brothers also have this stripe feature. I don't know if we should consider that as them all being descended from unicorn blood or not though?

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Gypsy: Fashion Rebel

If you want to play genetics with the newborns, maybe stripes are recessive genes or maybe they grow into them as they get older...

Gypsy!!!!! Neeeeeed!!!

[Taffeta]

LAW's avatar reminds me that the magic strike also manifests in 3 adult sea ponies and six (?) baby sea ponies. It's more widespread than we thought and must be an evolutionary anomaly...

[Lilja]

I like the unicorn stripe! I guess the reason they got it originally was because in the first set every unicorn had either white hair or a white body. So the streak was added to have some more color variety. Later we got unicorns that didn't have white anywhere, but they still kept using the streak for a while. But white was still used for unicorns a lot, for the first few years with the exception of Minty they were the only ponies with (intentionally) white hair.

Sparkler was the first to break the pattern, and the first unicorn to get curly hair too. Majesty was the only unicorn to have both a white body and white in her hair, so that's pretty special. Although she was mostly shown without the white streak in official art work. I wonder if that was intentional.

I think it's nice with little details like this, that each species is given their own characteristics. The stripe does mark out the unicorns as special, which goes along nice with their magical qualities.

[Taffeta]

I like the unicorn stripe! I guess the reason they got it originally was because in the first set every unicorn had either white hair or a white body. So the streak was added to have some more color variety. Later we got unicorns that didn't have white anywhere, but they still kept using the streak for a while. But white was still used for unicorns a lot, for the first few years with the exception of Minty they were the only ponies with (intentionally) white hair.

You forgot Snowflake. Though she's another fashion rebel, as she breaks the glittery symbol rule.