Charlie Brown Baldness

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Some characters have outrageous, gravity defying hairdos. On the other hand, there are characters like this, with only two or three strands of hair. To a casual viewer, a character with Charlie Brown Baldness will appear, well, bald. However, the character may occasionally mention getting a haircut, or other characters will comment on said haircut or colour. The current Trope Namers is Charlie Brown, who, at first glance, appears bald save for a few short curls in front, but according to Word of God, just has incredibly light blond hair, buzzed short.

Contrast: Furry Baldness, where an animal character is "bald" despite still having hair, feathers, or fur.

Examples of Charlie Brown Baldness include:

Anime and Manga

Comic Books

  • Jimmy Five from Monica's Gang, who is often called "baldy" despite having, well, five strands of hair.

Literature

  • Greg Heffley from Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Since Greg in the live-action movie has a full head of hair, Greg is generally considered to have hair in the book as well.
  • A classic series of Chinese children's storybooks, San Mao, so named for the young protagonist having only three hairs on his head.

Newspaper Comics

  • Charlie Brown from Peanuts, pictured above.
    • According to Charles Schultz, it's the result of Charlie Brown's father being the local barber, who maintains Charlie with a perpetual buzz cut.
    • The buzzcut and the near-bald appearance it gives him is noted in this vignette from Drunkard's Walk.
  • Lt. Fuzz, ironically, in Beetle Bailey
  • Iggy from Little Lulu.

Professional Wrestling

  • WWE's Tyson Kidd of the Hart Dynasty. Has since shaved it off after, as the story goes, Bret Hart grabbed it in a training session to gain leverage.

Web Comics

Western Animation

  • The Simpsons
    • Homer Simpson is bald. However, his kids have hair the same color as their skin. One episode has Lisa being mistaken for a Dumb Blonde, and another has Bart's hair reverting to its natural red from lack of sun exposure. In a third episode, they start obsessing over where their head ends and the hair begins, with Lisa hastily drawing a hairline with marker.
    • Since The Simpsons has Negative Continuity, the kids' spikes are alternately hair and parts of their skulls.
    • There is also an episode where Lisa gets gum stuck in her hair and has to go to a barber to have it removed, resulting in a new style.
    • Lampshaded when Homer joins the Stonecutters.

Homer: I swear, that if I ever reveal the secrets of the Stonecutters, that my stomach shall become bloated, and my head plucked of all but three hairs...
Moe: Um, I think he should have to take a different oath.
Number One: Everybody takes the same oath!

    • Also, thanks to Negative Continuity, Homer has lost his hair in many different ways. One episode shows a young Homer losing hair as he brushes ("plenty more where that came from"), another shows him pulling out his hair after each time he learns Marge is pregnant (after the first two, he's down to 3 strands of hair, and he pulls one more upon hearing about Maggie). The first example came from the second season, while the second came from the sixth season.
  • Many of the male characters on Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy appear to have only a few strands of hair or fuzz — only Rolf has full, visible hair. When fan-artists draw the cast more attractively, they tend to make assumptions about hair color. The exception is Johnny, who is often referred to as being bald.
    • Johnny does appear to have hair, or fuzz on his head at least; he had a Funny Afro as a toddler. Fans tend to draw him with an afro or a fade. Also, it's been shown that the main gang does have hair. Ed usually appears to have a black buzz cut, but once he has his hair combed it, it turns out he's a red-head with medium length hair at best. Eddy arguably has been shown to have blue hair, though it could be wigs since we've never seen it change on-screen.
  • The titular character in the preschool cartoon series Caillou.
  • Doug.
  • Nightmare Ned has a few strands of hair that stick straight up.
  • Tommy Pickles from Rugrats.