Are you a beauty school dropout who missed your mid-terms, and flunked shampoo? Don't worry!
TV Tropes is here to teach you all about hair!
TV Tropes is here to teach you all about hair!
Give me a head with hair, long beautiful hair
Shinin', gleamin', steamin', flaxen, waxen
Give me down to there (hair!)
Shoulder length or longer
Here baby, there mama
Everywhere, daddy, daddy, hair!
Shinin', gleamin', steamin', flaxen, waxen
Give me down to there (hair!)
Shoulder length or longer
Here baby, there mama
Everywhere, daddy, daddy, hair!
Hair is a good indicator of a character's social class, time period, clique, outlook, and even moral alignment. The following are some of the ways hair can provide nuance, as well as show character and plot turning points.
Tropes:
General categories:
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Scalp hair
- '20s Bob Haircut: A 20s flapper bob.
- '50s Hair: 1950s-style hair.
- '60s Hair: 1960s-style hair.
- '70s Hair: 1970s-style hair.
- '80s Hair: 1980s-style hair.
- '90s Hair: 1990s-style hair.
- Affair Hair: A strange hair on a coat means cheating.
- Afro Asskicker: A badass with an afro.
- Alien Hair: Aliens have a very limited range of hairstyles.
- Bad Hair Day: A character suffers a bad hair day.
- Barbarian Longhair: Barbarians don't do haircuts, and are still attractive thanks to their brawny physiques.
- Barbershop Episode: An episode where the characters go to the barbershop to get a haircut and/or shave.
- Bedhead-itis: A character has messy hair when they are sick as a visual indicator of how messy they feel on the inside.
- Beehive Hairdo: Long hair piled on top of the head and cemented with plenty of hairspray.
- Boyish Short Hair: Short hair on a girl that indicates tomboyishness.
- Braids of Action: Action Girl with braided hair.
- Braids of Barbarism: Barbarian Longhair braided.
- By the Hair: Pulling someone by the hair.
- Chatty Hairdresser: Cuts and styles women's hair, while being talkative and a gossip.
- Childish Bangs: Short hair across the forehead, rest of the hair long.
- Close-Call Haircut: A shot or cut so close to the head it cuts hair.
- Compressed Hair: A large amount of hair is easily compressed into a smaller shape.
- Covering Up Your Gray: Older people dyeing their gray hair to try and look younger.
- Curly Hair Is Ugly: Curly hair being seen as either unattractive or a source of mockery.
- Delinquent Hair: Outrageous punk hair.
- Devilish Hair Horns: Evil characters with hair reminiscent of horns.
- Dodgy Toupee: An obviously fake toupee.
- Dreadlock Rasta: Dreadlocks that signify rebellion, independence, spirituality, or quirkiness.
- Dreadlock Warrior: A badass warrior with dreadlocks.
- Dye or Die: Dyeing hair for the purpose of disguise.
- Ears as Hair: Anthropomorphic animals using their ears like hair.
- Einstein Hair: A scientist with Einstein-like hair.
- Elemental Hair Composition: Hair made from natural elements as a symbol of magical, divine powers.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Hairstyle change signals a characterization change.
- Expressive Hair: Hair that is independently mobile and responsive to mood.
- Fake-Hair Drama: Drama over wigs, weaves and such.
- Flaming Hair: Hair that is composed of flame.
- Funny Afro: Funny afros.
- Funny Flashback Haircut: Flashbacks (particularly in sitcoms) often give well-known characters a stupid-looking haircut for a quick visual gag.
- Gag Haircut: Someone gets a bad haircut which is played for laughs, and their normal hair is restored by the next episode.
- Girlish Pigtails: Pigtails make young girls look even younger.
- Glasses-and-Ponytail Coverup: Hair up (with spectacles) makes you look different than hair down (and eyes uncovered).
- Godiva Hair: Long hair drapes down a woman's chest and covers her breasts.
- Good Hair, Evil Hair: How hair indicates moral alignment.
- Gum In Hair: Chewing gum gets stuck in a character's hair.
- Hair Antennae: Two strands of anime hair that stick up from the top of the head and curve forward like antennae.
- Hair-Contrast Duo: A duo whose contrasting hair colors signify their opposing worldviews.
- Hair Flip: Someone flips their hair.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Blond characters who are good and have a heart of gold.
- Hair Intakes: Anime hair with little "hoods."
- Hair Memento: Giving someone a piece of your hair as a keepsake.
- Hair Reboot: Seemingly destroyed hair can be returned to its proper shape and volume by merely shaking it.
- Hairstyle Inertia: A character's hair remains the same throughout their life.
- Hair Substitute Feature: Something that's mimicking the appearance of hair, for artistic character design reasons.
- Hair Wings: Hair that doubles as wings.
- Hammerspace Hair: A character pulls out something they were storing in their hair.
- Helicopter Hair: Hair that works as a propeller, lifting the character into the air.
- Hereditary Hairstyle: Family members with the same hairstyle.
- Hiding Behind Your Bangs: Hair that covers one eye as a sign of shyness, antisocial natures, and/or hidden personalities.
- Hime Cut: A proper, upper-class Japanese girl with a traditional haircut. It has three parts: long length in back, straight even bangs and sidelocks.
- Idiot Hair: Single strand of hair sticks up.
- Important Haircut: A haircut symbolizing Character Development.
- Improbable Hairstyle: Hair that shouldn't be possible, given the circumstances.
- Improbable Hairstyle Sequence: A character goes through a series of apparently random hairstyles.
- Intimate Hair Brushing: Brushing and fixing someone's hair as a sign of affection and closeness.
- Intimate Haircut: Cutting someone's hair as a sign of mutual trust.
- Letting Her Hair Down: A woman who loosens up will also loosen her hair.
- Locked into Strangeness: Strange events do strange things to your hair.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Pretty boy with longish hair.
- Long Hair Is Feminine: Long hair signifies femininity.
- Magic Hair: Hair that has magical powers.
- Memetic Hair: Hair that spawns memes.
- Mermaid Arc Emergence: Character leaps out of the water bending backwards as far as possible, flipping most or all of their hair backwards in the process.
- Messy Hair: Someone has messy hair.
- Mistaken for Dyed: A person's hair color is thought by their peers as not actually being their natural hair color when it is.
- Motherly Side Plait: Hair braided loosely and resting on the shoulder indicates motherhood.
- My Hair Came Out Green: Someone tries to dye their hair a naturally-occurring color, but the resulting hair color is something ridiculous.
- Never Trust a Hair Tonic: Hair tonic has unpleasant side effects and/or doesn't do what it's supposed to.
- Nobody Touches the Hair: Touching their hair is their Berserk Button.
- Nonconformist Dyed Hair: Someone with hair dyed an unnatural color is artistic, rebellious, or otherwise alternative.
- Non-Mammalian Hair: Anthropomorphic non-mammalian animals who have hair.
- Ojou Ringlets: Two curls of hair by the ears that mark an Ojou woman as a member (or pretender) of high class.
- Plant Hair: Foliage as hair.
- Power Dyes Your Hair: A power boost that changes the user's hair color.
- Power Hair: Short, neat hair worn by women in power.
- Power Makes Your Hair Grow: Magical powers that cause hair growth.
- Prehensile Hair: Tentacle-like hair.
- Prim and Proper Bun: A bun worn by a woman who is neat, proper, organized and strict.
- Quirky Curls: Frizzy curls on an eccentric or high-energy person.
- Rapid Hair Growth: Hair growing faster than natural.
- Real Men Have Short Hair: When longer hair on males is seen as slovenly or unmanly.
- Regal Ringlets: Ringlets as a sign of aristocracy.
- Robot Hair: Robots with hair (or something hair-like).
- Sailor's Ponytail: A sailor with longish but tamed hair.
- Samurai Ponytail: A samurai who wears his hair in a topknot or ponytail.
- Sci-Fi Bob Haircut: Bobs are the haircut of the future.
- Selling One's Own Hair: Someone cuts off their long hair to sell it because they need money.
- Shaking Her Hair Loose: A woman dramatically removes a hair-tie, -stick, or -clip.
- Shonen Hair: Big messy spiky hair denoting a hotblooded rebel.
- Slipknot Ponytail: Hair falls loose during fights.
- Spiky Hair: Hair spiked with gel.
- Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: A common attribute of eastern ghost ladies.
- Stubborn Hair: Hair that resists styling.
- Sultry Bangs: Bangs that enhance a seductive character's allure.
- Supernatural Floating Hair: Hair which moves in defiance of gravity due to otherworldly means.
- Tentacle Hair: Tentacles used as hair.
- Tomboyish Ponytail: Tomboy who wears her hair in a ponytail.
- Traumatic Haircut: Anguish by forced haircut.
- Tuft of Head Fur: Animals have a tuft of fur on their heads resembling hair, usually to stand out.
- Villainous Widow's Peak: Widow's peaks signify evilness.
- Wild Hair: Long, unbrushed hair that signifies wildness.
Body hair
- The Bear: A burly, hairy, gay guy.
- Carpet of Virility: A man with a hairy chest.
- Hairy Girl: A woman who doesn't shave.
- Painful Body Waxing: Getting waxed and crying out in pain is funny.
- Super Wool Growth: Fictional sheep regrow their wool unrealistically fast.
Baldness and lack of hair
- Bald Head of Toughness: Baldness (or a shaved head) is used as a visual short hand for physical and mental toughness.
- Bald Mystic: Magical or enlightened people tend to be bald.
- Baldness Angst: Self-conscious about their baldness.
- Baldness Means Sickness: Baldness as a visual indicator of a severe illness such as cancer.
- Baldness Mockery: Teasing or bullying someone for having little to no hair.
- Bald of Authority: Baldness associated with positions of authority and leadership.
- Bald of Evil: Baldness is a sign of evilness.
- Charlie Brown Baldness: Illustrated character is ostensibly not bald, but has only two or three visible strands of hair on their head.
- Chrome Dome Psi: Bald and psychic.
- Furry Baldness: Anthropomorphic animals with wisps of hair atop their head to make them look like a bald old man.
- Hairstyle Malfunction: A woman's wig is removed and she is revealed to be bald.
- Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: A bald character has thick hair in a flashback.
- Ominous Hair Loss: Baldness as a sign of illness or worse.
- Prematurely Bald: A bald man much too young to be bald.
Hair accessories
- Combat Haircomb: Ornamental comb or pin worn in a woman's hair that's also a weapon.
- Important Hair Accessory: Someone gets (or gets rid of) a hair accessory symbolizing Character Development.
- Please Keep Your Hat On: Someone who is bald, doesn't like their hair, or something ugly on their head, has to perpetually wear a hat or wig to hide it.
- Signature Headgear (hair decs version): Distinctive hair ornaments make a character stand out and tells you a little bit about their character.
