Forgive the quickness of this, I was too excited to do a full pic I suppose haha

Here we have Ryo at an older age.

Not all magic/monster traits have an explanation, it just simply is. For a Gorgon, their snakes are both alive, and isn't. They are connected to the person's emotions, but also have a mind of their own, moving around themselves. Some Gorgons have calmer snakes, some have more restless ones. As a Gorgon can speak to snakes, they can speak to the their snakes as well, but it's more of a collective thought, rather then a jumble of thoughts.
For a reason unknown, the snakes don't feel pain. This makes it able for them to cut the snakes, to make different "hair" styles. Over time, they can learn to control the size of the snakes growing, this also helps in styling. Three large snakes to make a braid. Small ones to make curls and so on.

At Ryo's current age default age, 13, she doesn't know how to control them, which is something that bothers her deeply since she doesn't feel she can look as nice as the other kids in school with their hair done in a nice style.
*These monster characters are not fully based on the actual mythology for them. I'm making it up myself, so if things aren't accurate, it's because I chose for it to be that way. Just so people know I didn't just mess up.