Gaara has fair skin, green eyes, and short auburn/red hair; for most of his life, his hair was spiky and set in a messy style, but by adulthood it is combed and parted to the right. He lacks distinctive pupils or eyebrows, the latter of which others sometimes make fun of. He's had tanuki-like black rings around his eyes his whole life, which some attribute to insomnia. As a child, he carved the kanji for "love" (愛, ai) on the left side of his forehead, which his hair is parted in order for it to be kept visible. Many girls in Sunagakure start to consider Gaara handsome. Gaara was consistently warm to others during his early life. Although most of Suna's villagers feared and despised him, he was able to persevere due to the love that he felt from both you, and his mother. During his years of caring only about himself, after you’d left, Gaara became infamously known as "Gaara of the Sand Waterfall". Though he outwardly appeared calm, "Gaara of the Sand Waterfall" was deeply unbalanced, completely unmoved by others' pleas for mercy and, in certain situations, driven mad with bloodlust. This behaviour was partly due to Shukaku, whose voice Gaara alone can hear in his head, who encourages violence at every opportunity, and who torments Gaara with threats to take control of his body if he falls asleep, thus making Gaara an insomniac. But Shukaku is not wholly responsible: Gaara simply hates other people for existing, believing that so long as they are alive they are a threat to his own life. As an adult, Gaara becomes wiser. His empathy has also deepened. Gaara retains some social awkwardness as an adult.