By the Hair: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
A close cousin to the [[Standard Female Grab Area]] 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
It can be played both for comedy and seriously, depending on the nature of the scuffle. It will normally happen in a [[Cat Fight]] 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 [[Hairstyle Malfunction]] 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 [[Life or Limb Decision]] and [[Giving Them the Strip]].
For the record, while hair pulling is painful, the commonality of the "dragging her around by the hair" bit in film and television is because it's fairly easy to stage and relatively painless. Notice that when the man grabs her by the hair, she immediately grabs onto his wrists. Usually at this point, the puller lets go of the hair, and instead drags the woman around by the arms instead. All the kicking and screaming? She's usually digging her heels into the ground for leverage and trying to help him by making herself lurch ahead. Historical warriors with long hair were common in some cultures like the Celts and Sudanese (nicknamed the "fuzzy-wuzzies") for their massive afros) because hair-pulling is not an effective way to cause injury to someone in armed battlefield combat, though it can be an effective way to grab hold of someone in an unarmed street fight.
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
== Anime and Manga ==
* 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.
* In ''[[Fruits Basket]]'' episode 26 Akito does this to Tohru when angry with her.
* ''[[Fairy Tail]]'': 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 ''[[My Hero Academia]]'' Toga pinned Tsuyu to a tree by throwing a needle into her hair.
== Film ==
* In ''[[The Tenth Kingdom]]'' 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.
* ''[[Matilda (
* In one ''[[Harry Potter]]'' film, Bellatrix grabs Harry by the hair after his face got hit by a spell from Hermione.
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== 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 ''[[Sisters... No Way!]]'' during an argument at the breakfast table, Aishling grabs Cindy by her hair to try and calm her down.
* In ''[[The Last Battle]]'' the last Tirian sees of Jill is a Calormene soldier dragging her away from the battle by her hair.
* ''[[The Zombie Survival Guide]]'' 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.
* [[Robert Heinlein]]'s ''[[Time Enough for Love]]''.
{{quote|
* In the [[Vorkosigan Saga]] 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 [[Life or Limb Decision]].
* In ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'' 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. Strangely, little reference is made to how painful this must have been, and it doesn't seem to have damaged either her hair or her neck.
* This Trope is much [[Older Than They Think]]; carefully read the original translated text of ''[[Beowulf]]'' and it becomes clear the hero did this in his battle with Grendel's mother.
== Live Action TV ==
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== Western Animation ==
* Rapunzel in ''[[
* '''[[Ambiguously Gay|Jimmy]]''' of all people does this to Nazz in ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]'' when he becomes convinced she stole his shampoo.
* During Terra and Raven's mud fight in ''[[Teen Titans (
== Other ==
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* The heroine in Irish mythology Grace O'Malley had long black [[Rapunzel Hair]] and her father joked she wouldn't be allowed to become a sailor because the hair would constantly get caught in things. She took the joke a bit too literally and shaved her head before becoming a captain.
* Alexander the Great ordered his soldiers to shave their beards so their enemies couldn't use them to grab onto.
* In the early days of [[Mixed Martial Arts]], this was a legal move, used by some fighters to varying degrees of success. At UFC 1, Zane Frazier ripped a clump of Kevin Rozier's hair out; Rozier was unfazed and proceeded to stomp on Frazier's head. The most notorious use came next year at UFC 3, where Royce Gracie, struggling against the gigantic Kimo Leopoldo, pulled Kimo's hair while punching him in the face from bottom position, before eventually going on to submit him by armbar. Royce was unable to continue after this fight, and some say he only won the fight because of hair-pulling and [[Groin Attack|a massive knee to Kimo's groin]], which was also legal at the time. Averted at UFC 4, where Guy Mezger and Jason Fairn agreed not to pull each other's hair during the bout, and by the present day rules of the sport, which consider it a foul.
* Happened once to the great British bare-knuckle boxing champion Daniel "The Jew" Mendoza in his bout against John "The Gentleman" Jackson. Jackson, the challenger, was significantly younger, stronger, and bigger than Mendoza, who was only a middleweight, and used his physical advantages to muscle Mendoza into the corner of the ring, where he pulled his hair and pummeled him senseless. Mendoza called out Jackson for his dirty tactics after the fight and demanded a rematch, but Jackson declined and retired to run his successful boxing school. Even without Jackson's dirty fighting, the physical disparity between the fighters meant that Mendoza's chance of victory would have been slim.
* Mark Morton of [[Lamb of God]] [https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcmas6 did this to Randy Blythe] during their drunken brawl{{when}} before slamming him into the pavement and knocking him out cold. Ironically, Blythe had much shorter hair than Morton at the time.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty]]
[[Category:Hair Tropes]]
[[Category:By
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