I Have to Wash My Hair/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A lame excuse to get out of a date.

  • Played Straight: Alice is asked out by Bob, but she doesn't want to hurt his feelings. So she claims she has to wash her hair.
  • Exaggerated: Alice claims she's doing an entire makeover that evening.
  • Inverted: Alice tells Bob she's not interested in him (depending on her character and/or her mood, she may do this gently or harshly.)
    • Alternatively, Alice comes up with an excuse, but it's a legitimate excuse.
    • Bob's the one making excuses.
  • Subverted: Alice gives an excuse that's plausible, such as a family obligation.
    • Alternatively, Alice seems to be making an excuse at the time but it's later revealed that she really does have to wash her hair.
  • Double Subverted: But then is seen out and about later with her friends or with a guy she's actually interested in.
  • Deconstructed: Bob believes that is just a lie and forces her to give in...
  • Reconstructed: ...but Bob realizes she is not his type.
  • Parodied: Alice really does have to spend ridiculous amounts of time washing her Rapunzel Hair, and Bob thinks she's lying.
  • Lampshaded: "I'd love to, but I Have to Wash My Hair."
  • Averted: Alice doesn't make up excuses.
    • Alice isn't asked out by Bob.
  • Enforced: Part and parcel with a Love Triangle or Love Dodecahedron
  • Invoked: Alice is asked out by Bob, a notorious Abhorrent Admirer Casanova Wannabe.
  • Defied: See "Inverted" and "Subverted"
    • Alternatively, Bob calls her out for making silly excuses.
  • Discussed:
  • Conversed:
  • Played For Laughs: Almost always is.
  • Played For Drama: See "Enforced"
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