History Main / ShakingHerHairLoose

* Another parody in an episode of ''{{Degrassi}}'' where Holly J shakes her hair out in a failed seduction attempt.

This trope is usually either be part of a romantic scene or something dramatic, though it is also frequently parodied. The woman will usually be dressed up to the nines, and letting her hair out of its fancy updo is often the first step towards her undressing for her lover. Or attacking someone with the CombatHaircomb that held up her hair. A lot of the time this woman will have RapunzelHair, but the hair just needs to be long enough to tie up, so past the shoulders at the shortest.

* Homura Akemi in ''PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', opens her braided twintails, followed by [[TookALevelInBadass taking]] [[OverNineThousand over 9000 levels]] [[TookALevelInBadass in badass.]]

* Homura Akemi in ''PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', followed by [[TookALevelInBadass taking]] [[OverNineThousand over 9000 levels]] [[TookALevelInBadass in badass.]]

* In the ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "Go Fish", Buffy pulls a stake out of her hair and shakes it loose as she prepares to fight a vampire.

This trope is usually either be part of a romantic scene or something dramatic, though it is also frequently parodied. The woman will usually be dressed up to the nines, and letting her hair out of its fancy updo is often the first step towards her undressing for her lover. A lot of the time this woman will have RapunzelHair, but the hair just needs to be long enough to tie up, so past the shoulders at the shortest.

Imagine this picture: a woman with her hair tied up in a bun, held in place only with a pin or some kind of stick. She pulls it out of her hair and shakes it out, allowing it to fall down freely. This is sometimes accompanied by a DramaticWind.

This trope is usually either be part of a romantic scene or something dramatic, though it is also frequently parodied. The woman will usually be dressed up to the nines, and letting her hair out of its fancy updo is often the first step towards her undressing for her lover. A lot of the time this woman will have RapunzelHair, but the hair just needs to be long enough to tie up, so past the shoulders at the shortest.

Compare LettingHerHairDown when a woman is shown wearing her hair down or looser to show how she's relaxing as a character, and SlipknotPonytail when the hair gradually becomes undone on its own. Sometimes overlaps with BeautifulAllAlong. Could be seen as a sister trope to the ImportantHaircut without any actual hair cutting. If it's done for FanService then it'll usually be accompanied by a HairFlip.

!!'''Examples:'''

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* Sophie of ''LastExile'' is prim and proper with her hair tied up in a bun all the time. But when she is revealed to be the princess and returns to claim the throne she removes the bun and lets down her hair, resulting in a shift of behaviour as well.

* Happens in ''Disney/{{Mulan}}'' at the end of the "Reflection" song where Mulan slowly removes all traces of the makeover she got for her meeting with the Matchmaker.

* Happens to ''{{Disney/Cinderella}}'' during the scene where the FairyGodmother's magic spell is wearing off during the return trip from the ball.

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]
* At the end of ''TheMagdaleneSisters'' Bernadette sees two nuns watching her in the tunnel and, remembering when her hair was forcibly cut off, takes out the pin and shakes it loose before looking at them.
* At the end of ''Film/{{Twilight}}'', we see Victoria watching Edward and Bella through a window, all dressed up. As she walks away she pulls a pin out of her hair and lets it fall to her waist.
* In ''AmericanBeauty'' when Jane strips for Ricky she unties her hair before taking off her bra and is more beautiful because of it.
* In the Disney Channel movie ''Model Behaviour'', Alex always wears her hair up in a tight bun held in place with two chopsticks. When she and Janine switch the first part of her transformation is shaking her hair out. This then gets inverted when Janine changes to Alex as she puts her hair up.
* Parodied in ''LoadedWeapon'' where a plain dowdy woman unties her hair and when she looks up she's played by a completely different actress.
* A variation in ''{{Heartbreakers}}'' when Paige/Wendy is revealed to be Max's daughter she pulls off her red wig and shakes her natural brown hair loose.
* In ''MrAndMrsSmith'' Jane goes to see a mark pretending to be a prostitute with her hair pinned up. The first part of the seduction is shaking her hair out.

[[folder:Literature]]
* In the poem ''The Highwayman'', Bess the landlord's daughter leans out over the window and undoes her hair, allowing it to fall down so her lover can touch it.
* Della from "Literature/TheGiftOfTheMagi" is said to have hair right down to her waist but keeps it pinned up all the time. She lets it down dramatically just before it gets cut off to be sold.

* Perenelle from ''The Alchemyst'' series is introduced with her hair tied back in a long plait. She shakes it loose whenever she performs magic.
* In ''The Famine Secret'', Fiona's long blonde hair is cut off when she enters the workhouse and when it grows longer she keeps it tied back so it won't get in the way. When she and her siblings escape the workhouse and go back to their home she unties her hair and allows the wind to blow it around her shoulders.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* Parodied in an episode of ''Tucker'' where Tucker imagines his parents getting together in a dramatic scene without dialogue. Jeannie first takes her hairclip out and shakes her hair loose before ripping off her waitress uniform to reveal a fancy dress underneath.
* Another parody in an episode of ''{{Degrassi}}'' where Holly J shakes her hair out in a failed seduction attempt.
* In one of Barney's Imagine Spots in an episode of ''HowIMetYourMother'' he seduces a female cop and she proceeds to shake her hair out of its bun and strip for him.
* A quasi-parody happens in the Murder Mystery episode of ''LizzieMcGuire'' when Larry starts chatting up Veruca, both of them dressed in Edwardian era clothes. Veruca shakes her hair down as some faux dramatic music plays.
* An episode of ''{{Friends}}'' has Ross and Monica's cousin Cassie shaking her hair loose in slow motion, prompting a sagging jaw from Chandler, Ross forgetting he's related to her and [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer even Phoebe getting turned on]].

[[folder:Music]]
* Rachel Steven's song "Some Girls" is about a woman attempting to seduce a man to get what she wants and one of the lines is "I'm gonna shake my hair out loose".

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* Brooke Adams does this as part of her entrance in TNA, accompanied with [[TheGlassesGottaGo dramatically removing her glasses]] and her coat.
* When Michelle [=McCool=] had her sexy teacher gimmick she would sometimes come out with her hair in a bun and held in place with a pencil, only to pull it out and shake it loose when she started wrestling.
* Similarly, Molly Holly in her WCW Miss Madness gimmick wore her blonde hair in a posh updo to fit her beauty pageant gimmick but when she wrestled she would dramatically undo her hair and shake it free.

* Near the end of ''{{Webcomic/Homestuck}}'''s Act 5, Part 2, the Handmaid lets her hair down right before strifing with Doc Scratch. This is because her primary weapons--a pair of wands--doubled as the pins holding her hair bun in place.

[[folder:Western Animation]]

* In the ''FamilyGuy'' episode "Road to Rhode Island", Lois convinces Peter to watch some couples counseling with her, hosted by a [[{{Meganekko}} mousy]] relationship doctor named Dr. Amanda Rebecca. After a few seconds, Dr. Rebecca asks the women to leave the room, as the next part only pertains to the men. When Lois departs, Dr. Rebecca tells Peter to "make sure your wife is out of the room" in a slightly more forceful tone. She then [[TheGlassesComeOff removes her glasses]], shakes her [[PrimAndProperBun hair bun]] loose in a dramatic (but sexy) fashion, starts speaking in a huskier voice (with her first line being "So, you wanna talk, or do you want me to take my top off?"), and [[HiddenBuxom gives Peter quite the eyeful]] [[YouCanLeaveYourHatOn with a striptease]] as a {{Sexophone}} plays. Her eyes even (in a rare Western Animation example) shift from {{Tareme|Eyes}} to {{Tsurime|Eyes}}. It turns out that these "relationship videos" are merely a front for Amanda to distribute pornographic videos of herself. [[AllMenArePerverts Needless to say, Peter's on board with these videos.]]

* Some versions of ''{{Rapunzel}}'' say that Rapunzel's long golden hair is braided 90% of the time, and it's only untied when Mother Gothel or the prince climb up it. [[{{Tangled}} The Disney version]] has Rapunzel's hair completely loose all the time, returning to being a braid only when she and Flynn briefly return to her home kingdom before Gothel captures her again.

* In ''The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea'', Ariel wears her hair tied up in a bun whenever she is on dry land, symbolising how much more stern and strict she is. When Triton transforms her back into a mermaid, her hair comes undone and falls loose freely. After the ordeal is over, Ariel is shown wearing her hair down as a human to reflect her change in character.

** Played straight in "Last Tap Dance in Springfield" with Lisabella, the [[HotLibrarian librarian.]]

[[folder:Film]]

* Happens in ''Disney/{{Mulan}}'' at the end of the "Reflection" song where Mulan slowly removes all traces of the makeover she got for her meeting with the Matchmaker.

This trope is usually either be part of a romantic scene or something dramatic, though it is also frequently parodied. The woman will usually be dressed up to the nines, and letting her hair out of its fancy updo is often the first step towards her undressing for her lover. A lot of the time this woman will have RapunzelHair, but the hair just needs to be long enough to tie up so past the shoulders at the shortest.

Imagine this picture: a woman with her hair tied up in a bun, held in place only with a pin or some kind of stick. She pulls it out of her hair and shakes it out, allowing it to fall down freely. This is sometimes accompanied by a DramaticWind. It can usually either be part of a romantic scene or something dramatic though it does pop up in parodies a lot of the time too. The woman will usually be dressed up to the nines as well and the letting the hair out of its fancy updo is often the first step towards her undressing for her lover. A variant is for the woman's hair being tied up to reflect discipline and structure and allowing the hair to come undone is a symbol of freedom. Or sometimes it could be just for plain old FanService. A lot of the time this woman will have RapunzelHair but the hair just needs to be long enough to tie up so past the shoulders at the shortest. Compare LettingHerHairDown when a woman is shown wearing her hair down or looser to show how she's relaxing as a character and also SlipknotPonytail when the hair gradually becomes undone on its own. Sometimes overlaps with BeautifulAllAlong. Could be seen as a sister trope to the ImportantHaircut without any actual hair cutting. If it's done for FanService then it'll usually be accompanied by a HairFlip.

!'''Examples:'''

* Parodied in ''Loaded Weapon'' where a plain dowdy woman unties her hair and when she looks up she's played by a completely different actress.

* In the poem ''The Highway Man'' Bess the landlord's daughter leans out over the window and undoes her hair, allowing it to fall down so her lover can touch it.
* Della from ''Gift of the Magi'' is said to have hair right down to her waist but keeps it pinned up all the time. She lets it down dramatically just before it gets cut off to be sold.
* Some versions of ''{{Rapunzel}}'' have the long golden hair braided 90% of the time and it's only untied when Mother Gothel or the prince climb up it. [[{{Tangled}} The Disney version]] has Rapunzel's hair completely loose all the time, but returns to being a braid only when she and Flynn briefly return to her home kingdom before Gothel captures her again.

* In ''The Famine Secret'' Fiona's long blonde hair is cut off when she enters the workhouse and when it grows longer she keeps it tied back so it won't get in the way. When she and her siblings escape the workhouse and go back to their home she unties her hair and allows the wind to blow it around her shoulders.

* In the ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "Go Fish" Buffy pulls a stake out of her hair and shakes it loose as she prepares to fight a vampire.

* In ''TrueBlood'' Bill asks Sookie to take the clip out of her hair and shake it free before their first kiss.

* Similar to the Michelle example Molly Holly in her WCW Miss Madness gimmick wore her blonde hair in a posh updo to fit her beauty pageant gimmick but when she wrestled she would dramatically undo her hair and shake it free.

* Happens in ''Mulan'' at the end of the "Reflection" song where Mulan slowly removes all traces of the makeover she got for her meeting with the Matchmaker.
* Another parody pops up in [[TheSimpsons Marge Simpson's]] novel "The Harpooned Heart" where the book's heroine wears her hair under a bonnet but her lover pulls it off and lets it out. Though this is Marge's hairstyle we're talking about so instead of falling down it shoots up.
* Played straight in the Simpsons Episode 'Last Tap Dance in Springfield' with Lisabella, the [[HotLibrarian librarian.]]
* In the ''FamilyGuy'' episode "Road to Rhode Island", Lois convinces Peter to watch some couples counseling with her, hosted by a [[{{Meganekko}} mousy]] relationship doctor named Dr. Amanda Rebecca. After a few seconds, Dr. Rebecca asks the women to leave the room, as the next part only corresponds to the men. When Lois departs, Dr. Rebecca tells Peter to "make sure your wife is out of the room" in a slightly more forceful tone. She then [[TheGlassesComeOff removes her glasses]], shakes her [[PrimAndProperBun hair bun]] loose in a dramatic (but sexy) fashion, starts speaking in a huskier voice (with her first line being "So, you wanna talk, or do you want me to take my top off?"), and [[HiddenBuxom gives Peter quite the eyeful]] [[YouCanLeaveYourHatOn with a striptease]] as a {{Sexophone}} plays. Her eyes even (in a rare Western Animation example) shift from {{Tareme|Eyes}} to {{Tsurime|Eyes}}. It turns out that these "relationship videos" are merely a front for Amanda to distribute pornographic videos of herself. [[AllMenArePerverts Needless to say, Peter's on board with these videos.]]

* At the end of ''Twilight'' we see Victoria watching Edward and Bella through a window, all dressed up. As she walks away she pulls a pin out of her hair and lets it fall to her waist.

* In the Disney Channel movie ''Model Behaviour'' Alex always wears her hair up in a tight bun held in place with two chopsticks. When she and Janine switch the first part of her transformation is shaking her hair out. This then gets inverted when Janine changes to Alex as she puts her hair up.

* In the ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "Go Fish" Buffy pulls a pencil out of her hair and shakes it loose.

[[AC: Anime & Manga]]

[[AC: Film]]

[[AC: Literature]]

[[AC: Live Action TV]]

[[AC: Music]]

[[AC: Professional Wrestling]]

[[AC: Western Animation]]

* In the ''FamilyGuy'' episode "Road to Rhode Island", Lois convinces Peter to watch some couples counseling with her, hosted by a [[{{Meganekko}} mousy]] relationship doctor named Dr. Amanda Rebecca. After a few seconds, Dr. Rebecca asks the women to leave the room, as the next part only corresponds to the men. When Lois departs, Dr. Rebecca tells Peter to "make sure your wife is out of the room" in a slightly more forceful tone. She then [[TheGlassesComeOff removes her glasses]], shakes her [[PrimAndProperBun hair bun]] loose in a dramatic (but sexy) fashion, starts speaking in a huskier voice (with her first line being "So, you wanna talk, or do you want me to take my top off?"), and [[HiddenBuxom gives Peter quite the eyeful]] [[YouCanLeaveYourHatOn with a striptease]] as a {{Sexophone}} plays. Her eyes even (in a rare Western Animation example) shift from {{Tareme|Eyes}} to {{Tsurime|Eyes}}. It turns out that these "relationship videos" are merely a front for Amanda to distribute pornographic videos of herself. [[AllMenArePerverts Needless to say, Peter's on board with these videos.]]

* Some versions of ''{{Rapunzel}}'' have the long golden hair braided 90% of the time and it's only untied when Mother Gothel or the prince climb up it.