History Main / HairstyleMalfunction

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* In ''Batman: Dark Victory'', Sofia Gigante pulls off her wig to embarrass Batman for accusing her, a wheelchair user due to an accident, of aiding a crime. [[spoiler: She doesn't need the wheelchair at all, and the baldness and wheelchair is largely to give her an alibi.]]
* Happens to the school teacher Miss Grundy in ''Archie Comics''.

* ''Film/TheValleyOfTheDolls'' has a famous catfight which climaxes with Neely tearing Helen's wig off her head. She looks at it with shock for a second, then runs to the nearest toilet and flushes it.

* An episode of ''KenanAndKel'' had a rat loose in Rigby's and Kel found it crawling around in a woman's hair. He goes to grab it...and reveals she's wearing a wig.

* [[spoiler:Benny]] in ''Film/{{Kopps}}'' is revealed to have a toupee.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* Louise in ''House Arrest'' wears a hairpiece that accidentally gets pulled off by one of the other moms. Her hair isn't that much shorter so she goes without it for the rest of the film.

* ''TheParty'' - during a sit-down dinner, Bakshi is trying to cut into his cornish hen, and in the struggle it flies off his plate and lodges, unnoticed, onto a posh woman's tiara. Horrified, Bakshi whispers the situation to the waiter, who by this point is staggering drunk - he discreetly weaves his way to the woman and pulls the hen off - along with the tiara and hairpiece she's wearing.
* ''TheValleyOfTheDolls'' has a famous catfight which climaxes with Neely tearing Helen's wig off her head. She looks at it with shock for a second, then runs to the nearest toilet and flushes it.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' had a news reporter who the others kept referring to as "the one with the hair". When an avalanche of rubbish pours out from the garage, the force of it knocks the reporter's wig off on live TV.

* [[spoiler: Rapunzel]] in ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird'' is revealed to be bald when the Gingerbread Man uses her hair as a bungee cord.
* In ''Disney/PocahontasIIJourneyToANewWorld'' ,during the "What A Day In London" musical number, one random woman sings [about Pocahontas] "I wish I had her hair" just as someone behind her with a mop accidentally lifts her wig off.

* Yzma in ''Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove'' is enraged when Kronk enters her tent at night and finds out she's bald.

* [[spoiler: Rapunzel]] in ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}} the Third'' is revealed to be bald when the Gingerbread Man uses her hair as a bungee cord.
* In ''Disney/{{Pocahontas}} II: Journey To A New World'' ,during the "What A Day In London" musical number, one random woman sings [about Pocahontas] "I wish I had her hair" just as someone behind her with a mop accidentally lifts her wig off.

The DistaffCounterpart to DodgyToupee. From the existence of the BaldWoman trope, you know that if a woman is bald then there's obviously something not right and she'll likely try to hide this lack of hair with a wig. Whatever wig she's chosen is apparently very flimsy as it'll inevitably get ripped off, exposing her naked head to the world. She will shriek in embarrassment and try to cover it up while the person who ripped off the wig will apologise endlessly. This is always PlayedForLaughs and the woman will typically be just a random extra or if she's a developed character, she'll be a nasty person so this wig reveal is her getting some kind of comeuppance. The woman doesn't actually have to be bald as the wig could just be covering up a bad dye job or the woman just felt like wearing a wig for some reason. Another variation can include a girl wearing hair extensions to get them ripped out. See also GagHaircut.

* Molly Holly had her head shaved at ''[=WrestleMania=] XX'' and wore a wig for the next several months. There was a RunningGag of her losing matches when the wig would get ripped off, embarrassing her.
* {{Natalya|Neidheart}} and AliciaFox currently seem to love doing this to each other. Alicia first ripped a chunk out of Natalya's weave in a match on ''Raw''. Six months later Nattie returned the favour on ''Superstars'' and she did it again in another match. Alicia got her revenge a few weeks later. In that case the malfunction helped her win the match.

[[AC: Comic Books]]

[[AC: Film]]

[[AC:Literature]]

[[AC: Live Action TV]]

---> '''Actor:''' (''sternly'') Little girl, come here.
---> ''Lorenna sheepishly comes over to him''.
---> '''Actor:''' I've wanted to do that for so many years. You've finally put that wicked wicked woman in her place.
---> '''Assistant:''' She's not a very nice person.

[[AC: Professional Wrestling]]

* [[NatalyaNeidheart Natalya]] and AliciaFox currently seem to love doing this to each other. Alicia first ripped a chunk out of Natalya's weave in a match on ''Raw''. Six months later Nattie returned the favour on ''Superstars'' and she did it again in another match. Alicia got her revenge a few weeks later. In that case the malfunction helped her win the match.

[[AC: Western Animation]]

* ''ThePowerpuffGirls'': "The Mane Event" had Bubbles and Buttercup accidentally ripping off a tuft of Blossom's hair from the back. In trying to fix it, they wind up lopping off Blossom's hair almost completely.

[[AC: Real Life]]
* Happened to Mary Queen of Scots after her execution when the executioner tried to do the [[DecapitationPresentation Behold The Head Of A Traitor]]. The headsman was left with a handful of wig while Mary's head bounced under the scaffold. A final [[ButtMonkey fuck you from the universe to her]].

* ''HarryPotter'' refers to an embarrassing incident when he was in primary school and turned his teacher's wig blue by accident.

* A variation in an episode of ''SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' where molecular instability causes Sabrina's ponytail to come off. She explains it away as extensions coming loose.

* In ''TheBrothersGarcia'' Lorenna gets to meet her favourite actress but said actress is a complete diva and insults her whole family. Lorenna throws a head of lettuce at the actress and ends up knocking her wig off. The actress's co-star has this to say:

* Yzma in ''Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove'' is enraged when Kronk enters her tent at night and finds out she's bald.

* Happens in the ballroom scene in ''DontLoseYourHead''.

* ''[[Film/TheValleyOfTheDolls'']] has a famous catfight which climaxes with Neely tearing Helen's wig off her head. She looks at it with shock for a second, then runs to the nearest toilet and flushes it.

* An episode of ''{{Rugrats}}'' had a news reporter who the others kept referring to as "the one with the hair". When an avalanche of rubbish pours out from the garage, the force of it knocks the reporter's wig off on live TV.

* [[spoiler: Rapunzel]] in ''ShrekTheThird'' is revealed to be bald when the Gingerbread Man uses her hair as a bungee cord.
* In ''Pocahontas II: Journey To A New World'' during the "What A Day In London" musical number one random woman sings [about Pocahontas] "I wish I had her hair" just as someone behind her with a mop accidentally lifts her wig off.

* Natalya and AliciaFox currently seem to love doing this to each other. Alicia first ripped a chunk out of Natalya's weave in a match on ''Raw''. Six months later Nattie returned the favour on ''Superstars'' and she did it again in another match. Alicia got her revenge a few weeks later. In that case the malfunction helped her win the match.

* Happened in an episode of ''MegaMan'' to a one-off crook working with Willy.
* Yzma in ''TheEmperorsNewGroove'' is enraged when Kronk enters her tent at night and finds out she's bald.

!!'''Examples:'''

* In ThePrincessBride, a potential bride for Humperdink visits, bringing along her hugely famous collection of hats. Unfortunately for her, a breeze blows through the castle while she's there, her hat comes off to reveal her (heretofore hidden) baldness, and Humperdink is ready to go to war with her country because of the embarrassment he suffered seeing her.

* A variation in an episode of ''SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' where molecular instability causes Sabrina's
ponytail to come off. She explains it away as extensions coming loose.

* In ''AmericanDad'' Hayley's head had been shaved by Stan, and while she's working as a pole dancer her wig accidentally comes off, provoking cries of revulsion from the crowd saying "that's the only place you want them to have hair!"

* In ''AmericanDad'' Hayley's head has been shaved by Roger and while she's working as a pole dancer her wig accidentally comes off, provoking cries of revulsion from the crowd saying "that's the only place you want them to have hair!"