History Main / ByTheHair

* In one ''HarryPotter'' film, Bellatrix grabs Harry by the hair after his face got hit by a spell from Hermione.

* ''FairyTail'': When Lucy is captured by Phantom Lord, Gajeel yanks on her hair to make her scream, thus alerting the Fairy Tail guild members that she was their hostage.

[[AC: Professional Wrestling]]

-->--''WWE Velocity''[-[[TedBaxter Billocity!]]-]

* When women sneak into the men's quarters and abduct Jerin in ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'', they seize his long braided hair, and he screams.

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''TimeEnoughForLove''.

A close cousin to the StandardFemaleGrabArea where, if whoever it is can't grab ahold of the woman's wrist or upper arm, they'll just grab onto her hair instead. Obviously a lot more realistic than a wrist being the weak point as anyone who has had their hair pulled can vouch for how painful it is. While this typically happens to women with long hair, it can happen with short hair as well. The hair just needs to be long enough to pull. Although it is mostly a female trope, it can happen to men with long hair as well though examples are rare.

It can be played both for comedy and seriously, depending on the nature of the scuffle. It will normally happen in a CatFight and in that case it will be played up as arousing for male onlookers. If it's happening to a mean girl then it might cause a HairstyleMalfunction if she's wearing extensions. If the girl happens to be badass then expect her to overcome this problem, sometimes by cutting the hair off at the point where it's being held. See also LifeOrLimbDecision and GivingThemTheStrip.

A close cousin to the StandardFemaleGrabArea where if whoever it is can't grab ahold of the woman's wrist or upper arm, they'll just grab onto her hair instead. Obviously a lot more realistic than a wrist being the weak point as anyone who has had their hair pulled can vouch for how painful it is. While this typically happens to women with long hair, it can happen with short hair as well. The hair just needs to be long enough to pull. Although it is mostly a female trope, it can happen to men with long hair as well though examples are rare.

[[AC: Film]]

[[AC:Comic Books]]

[[AC: Literature]]

* In the VorkosiganSaga novel ''Cetaganda'', a Cetagandan haut-lady is imprisoned by trapping her hair, which works because her culture has strong taboos around hair-cutting, so it's effectively a LifeOrLimbDecision.

[[AC: Live Action TV]]

[[AC: Western Animation]]

A close cousin to the StandardFemaleGrabArea where if whoever it is can't grab ahold of the woman's wrist or upper arm, they'll just grab onto her hair instead. Obviously a lot more realistic than a wrist being the weak point as anyone who has had their hair pulled can vouch for how painful it is. While this typically happens to women with long hair, it can happen with short hair as well. The hair just needs to be long enough to pull. Although it is mostly a female trope, it can happen to men with long hair as well though examples are rare.

It can be played both for comedy and seriously, depending on the nature of the scuffle. It will normally happen in a CatFight and in that case it will be played up as arousing for male onlookers. If it's happening to a mean girl then it might cause a HairstyleMalfunction if she's wearing extensions. If the girl happens to be badass then expect her to overcome this problem, sometimes by cutting the hair off at the point where it's being held. See also LifeOrLimbDecision and GivingThemTheStrip.

* In ''FruitsBasket'' episode 26 Akito does this to Tohru when angry with her.
* ''FairyTail'': When Lucy is captured by Phantom Lord, Gajeel yanks on her hair to make her scream, thus alerting the Fairy Tail guild members that she was their hostage.

[[AC: Film]]
* In ''TheTenthKingdom'' when Virgina's hair is cursed to grow fifty feet long, the Huntsman drags her through the forest by it and even uses it to chain her up.
* ''Film/{{Matilda}}'': On Matilda's first day at school the Trunchbull grabs a young girl by her pigtails and throws her over the fence. The girl learns her lesson and makes sure the Trunchbull never sees her with pigtails again.

[[AC: Literature]]
* In ''Murder At Drumshee'' [[spoiler: Colm]] apprehends Mahon and Ita by grabbing onto one of Ita's long plaits and holding a knife at her throat.
* In ''SistersNoWay'' during an argument at the breakfast table, Aishling grabs Cindy by her hair to try and calm her down.
* In ''TheLastBattle'' the last Tirian sees of Jill is a Calormene soldier dragging her away from the battle by her hair.
* ''TheZombieSurvivalGuide'' warns men and women to cut their hair short to prevent this from happening.
* On ''{{Gor}}'' a semi-standard way to control a slave girl without using chains is for the man to hold his hand at about waist-height, and the girl places her head there where he grabs her hair and basically pulls her about.
* Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''TimeEnoughForLove''.

[[AC: Live Action TV]]
* In a BBC series that modernised fairytales, the episode of ''Rapunzel'' had the stepmother grabbing onto her daughter's long hair to stop her from leaving. The daughter grabs the scissors and hacks the ponytail off to escape.
* The ''GhostWhisperer'' episode "Last Execution" Melinda was washing her hair in the sink and a ghost caused it to get caught in the garbage disposal. Jim had to cut it to free her.
* Karen in ''CoronationStreet'' loved doing this whenever she got into Catfights with Tracy Barlow. The universe gave her some form of comeuppance when her long hair got caught in one of her sewing machines, forcing her to remove her extensions.

[[AC: Professional Wrestling]]
* It's a common dirty heel tactic in women's wrestling for the heel to throw her opponent across the ring by her hair. Sometimes also happens for extra leverage in a submission hold (a common one in Diva's matches is to stand on their hair while they're on the ground, then pull them up by the arms; shoulder, neck and hair pain all in one shot.) Can sometimes happen to men as well if the hair is long enough.
* It used to be a tactic in intergender tag matches for the man on the team to grab the woman by the hair and slam her down to the mat when she hit the ropes.
* It's now so widely seen for the hair to be grabbed as leverage during a snapmare, it now has a technical name - "hair-mare".

[[AC: Western Animation]]
* Rapunzel in ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'' has this happen to her a couple of times, understandable since she has over 70 feet of hair. It even gets used as a gag at one point. She also uses it to subdue other people, notably when she ties Flynn up after he breaks into her tower.
* '''[[AmbiguouslyGay Jimmy]]''' of all people does this to Nazz in ''EdEddNEddy'' when he becomes convinced she stole his shampoo.
* During Terra and Raven's mud fight in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' Terra briefly subdues Raven by grabbing her by the hair.

[[AC: Other]]
* The classic "caveman dragging a woman by the hair" bit. The man finds a mate by clubbing her over the head and then dragging her off to his cave by her hair.

* RobertHeinlein's ''TimeEnoughForLove''.

* Alexander the Great ordered his soldiers to shave their beards so their enemies couldn't use them to grab onto.

* In {{Naruto}} during the Chuunin Exams, Sakura Haruno had to fend off a competing team of Sound ninja who came to fight an incapacitated Sasuke. One of the ninjas, Kin, grabbed Sakura by the hair and ridiculed her for spending more time keeping it clean than training her skills. Sakura grew some balls and cut it with her kunai, allowing her to escape Kin's grasp, and emerged with a short pixie-ish hairstyle, which she later kept.

* ''FairyTail'': When Lucy is captured by Phantom Lord, Gajeel yanks on her hair to make her scream, thus alerting the Fairy Tail guild members that she was their hostage.
* In one ''Harry Potter'' film Bellatrix grabs Harry by the hair after his face got hit by a spell from Hermione.

* During Terra and Raven's mud fight in ''TeenTitans'' Terra briefly subdues Raven by grabbing her by the hair.

* Alexander the Great ordered his soldiers to shave their beards so their enemies couldn't use them to grab onto.

* In ''ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' book "The Wide Window" the person who looks like neither a man nor a woman grabs Violet by her hair, swinging her over his shoulder.

* In ''ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents" book "The Wide Window" the person who looks like neither a man nor a woman grabs Violet by her hair, swinging her over his shoulder.

* It's a common dirty heel tactic in women's wrestling for the heel to throw her opponent across the ring by her hair. Sometimes also happens for extra leverage in a submission hold. Can sometimes happen to men as well if the hair is long enough.

!Examples:

* On ''[[{{Matilda}} Matilda's]]'' first day at school the Trunchbull grabs a young girl by her pigtails and throws her over the fence. The girl learns her lesson and makes sure the Trunchbull never sees her with pigtails again.

->Lazarus Long: Not only does long hair need a lot of timewasting care, it gives your opponent something to grab in close combat and can obscure your view at a critical moment - either one can be fatal.

* Rapunzel in ''Tangled'' has this happen to her a couple of times, understandable since she has over 70 feet of hair. It even gets used as a gag at one point. She also uses it to subdue other people, notably when she ties Flynn up after he breaks into her tower.