So I was using Gary Oliverios character modeling tutorial and I noticed he combined to the sides of the model before texturing, do you HAVE to do this, because I was going to model the clothes ONTO the model and then merge, because I want it symetrical, is there a reason for combining the two halves before texturing?

And second question, what is the easiet way to get this kind of hair? https://kupika.com/pics/2008/12/07/fv_flpdwzbwyu.jpg