Important Haircut: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

When a character cuts off his or her hair, it often symbolizes a rite of passage or bout of character growth. A princess striking out on an adventure, or a new recruit at boot camp, for instance. Hair is something that takes time and effort to grow, so parting with it voluntarily can be a powerful act.

 

 

In many religions (Western Christianity, Ancient Egyptian religion, and others) priests and/or monks cut/shave their hair. The cutting of one's own hair is also a part of Buddhist mythology, specifically something done by Siddhartha himself early on in his path to enlightenment, so anime examples might draw from this as an allusion. There are also some cultures, including Native American and many Asians, where a person would cut his or her hair as an act of grief, disgrace, or even rebellion. Furthermore, prisoners and psychiatric patients commonly have their heads shaved, often to prevent the spread of lice, but sometimes also [[Traumatic Haircut|as a demeaning measure]].

 

{{examples}}

* In ''[[Sket Dance]]'', both Himeko and Switch in their respective Backstories, each for his/her own reasons. Tsubaki also makes such a decision when appearing as a minor character in Bossun's backstory.

* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'': Usagi's hair grows exponentially when she is revealed as the princess in the manga. It is eventually cut back to normal length. In the anime, she almost gets a sorrow haircut upon Minako's suggestion when Mamoru is taken hostage, but the [[Monster of the Week]] apparently makes her forget that she was in the beauty shop for a new 'do.

** There was a similar event with Chiyo-chan, where she wears her pigtails down, but is otherwise the same.

* Ninamori from ''[[FLCL]]'' cuts her hair at the end of the 3rd episode.

* Another male example: Ginta shaves his head to apologize to Miki after he accidentally breaks her heart in ''[[Marmalade Boy]]''. Meiko also suggested Miki cut her hair before they saw that Ginta had, but Miki laughed it off; back then, her hair was much too short already.

** Echoing the above incident, when Yuu leaves Miki (apparently for good, {{spoiler|after finding out he may be her half-brother}}), Miki's efforts to overcome it include cutting her long hair into a pageboy style and piercing her ears.

** When young, [[Ill Girl|Anju Kitahara]] had long hair, but when she returns to Yuu's life she's already cut it real short.

** Also spoofed: Miwa has shoulder-length hair which he wears loose, and once he tricks Meiko into believing he has cut it short by tying it in a ponytail.

* During the Chunin exam arc of ''[[Naruto]]'', Sakura Haruno is discovered by the three Sound Genin participating. Having her hair held by the kunoichi of the Sound Squad (Kin Tsuchi, whose hair is even longer than Sakura's, and who actually mocks her for paying so much attention to her beautiful hair), Sakura cuts her hair to free herself from Kin's grasp. It also symbolizes her wish to stop being a [[Faux Action Girl]] and become as strong as Naruto, Sasuke and Rock Lee, who have always been there to protect her.

** Oddly enough, in one flashback after the timeskip that shows Sakura training with {{spoiler|Tsunade}}, her hair has grown back to its pre-Chunin Exam length, but it's short once again in Part II.

** Later in the Chuunin exams, during Sakura's fight with Ino, Sakura mocks Ino by saying she's the one putting too much emphasis on her looks now. Ino gets pissed off and cuts off her hair with a kunai right there... and actually uses the discarded strands as a tie rope to keep Sakura in place and use the ''Shintenshin no Jutsu/Mind switch Jutsu'' on her.

* On ''[[Vandread]]'', the stuck-up ship's navigator Bart develops a rapport with [[Littlest Cancer Patient]] Shirley on one of the planets they visit. The people there make dolls {{spoiler|to leave as proof they existed, due to their [[Human Resources|bodies being harvested by Earth after death]]}}, and she is working on a doll of Bart when she dies, leaving it bald but otherwise complete. Bart shaves his own head to match, [[Character Development|and from there on is slightly less of a jerk]].

* In the second episode of ''[[Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge]]'', Nakahara Sunako cuts off the bangs that obscured her face and blocked her view of "the bright creatures" in a dramatic scene. She then almost immediately suffers from [[The Nose Bleed]], now that she can see the tenants.

* Sara of ''[[Soukou no Strain]]'' cuts her hair going into her new identity as she chases her brother.

* In ''[[Otaku no Musume-san]]'', Haruka cuts off her [[Peek-a-Bangs]] to emphasise to her elder sister how serious she is about following her own path.

* In the same vein as the previous two examples, Shiki's hair in [[Kara no Kyoukai:]] grew long in the gap between the [[Anachronic Order|second and fourth movies]], and she cuts it herself during her first post-coma fight.

* In ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', Yusuke goes back and forth between hair styles, though this is typically more about whether his particular style fits his given outfit; the slicked back hair with the green uniform is indicative of his "return to normalcy" delinquent status, whereas other hair styles go with other outfits. It also indicates his mood. Messy is relaxed, and if it starts off slicked back but becomes messy, you're in trouble.

* Kenji Harima of ''[[School Rumble]]'' gets several haircuts as the series progresses - from a mustache and goatee to bearded to clean-shaven and partially bald. All of it done for [[Cannot Spit It Out|Tenma]].

* ''[[The Prince of Tennis]]'' definitely loves to play around with the trope, whether using full haircuts or mere hairstyle changes:

** Atobe himself (the series' most popular rival]]) arrogantly vows to shave his head if he loses his match against Echizen Ryoma... which of course he does, because Ryoma is the main character and Atobe had promised to shave his head ''in public'', with lots of witnesses. Since Atobe is unconscious by the end, Ryoma shaves his head for him. This devolves into a joke, as a lot of things do in Prince of Tennis, when several chapters later, Atobe shows up with his hair intact (although muttering about his beautiful hair) and no explanation for it has been given, which has caused [[Epileptic Trees|the fans to heavily speculate about it]].

** Kabaji, Atobe's long time friend, also cuts his hair short after Atobe's loss. He cuts it even ''shorter'', practically in a buzzcut.

** In his Kyushuu days, Fudomine captain Kippei Tachibana used to dye his long hair blond, which earned him the nickname of "The Lion". After he seriously [[Eye Scream|injures]] his best friend and rival Chitose, however, among his penances for such a deed Tachibana cuts his long hair and dyes it back to its natural black. For the Nationals, he keeps his hair short, but actually dyes it back to blond.

** When he was Inui Sadaharu's doubles partner, Yanagi Renji from Rikkaidai had chin-length hair in a pageboy style. Four years later, when they meet again, he has cut it much shorter. It's hinted he did so after the end of his first year in Rikkai: a picture taken when he, Yukimura and Sanada were titulars in their first year shows Yanagi with long hair. And if you take a close look at the picture, you'll notice that the actual Rikkai subcaptain Sanada has his hair longer and more messy than he does in the present, and that Yukimura used to have two long bangs while keeping the rest of his hair fairly short.

** In the anime, Yanagi's teammate Jackal Kuwahara shaves his head as a tribute to a good friend.

** And don't forget the Kisarazu twins using different hairstyles (long for Ryou, short for Atsushi) to distinguish each other. {{spoiler|Atsushi's manager Mizuki cut Atsushi's hair short [[Twin Switch|after mistaking Atsushi]] for Ryou and taking him along for the ride by mistake.}}

* Fay in ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]'' somewhat subverts this by letting his hair grow ''out'' and into a ponytail to emphasize that he's taken a darker turn and developing cracks in his [[Stepford Smiler]] persona.

** Krillin ''grew'' out his hair, from no longer having to live the life of a (somewhat) celibate Shaolin monk to a family man with [[Ugly Guy, Hot Wife|a smoking hot wife,]] and a cute daughter. Interestingly, Krillin's appearance, even changes to it, receives [[Lampshade Hanging]] even going as far as for one character to [[No Fourth Wall|break the fourth wall,]] [[Double Standard|more so than anyone else.]] [[Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance|Even when there's a clown, a triclops, a green pointy-eared man with bulging muscles (Yes, even more than Piccolo), and a pink genie on the same team roster.]]

* Aika in ''[[Aria]]'' ends up burning her hair at a cookout in one episode after she intentionally grew it out long to be similar to Alicia, whom she idolizes. After this, she switches to shorter hairstyle, and several episodes are spent on her getting used to it. It's not until Al, her crush, compliments on her that she feels satisfied. Her hair stays this way into the next season.

* The moment that Knives in ''[[Trigun]]'' cuts his own hair begins his descent into madness. Vash, on the other hand, has two important haircuts, the second of which settles his commitment to abide by Rem's advice.

* In ''[[Slam Dunk]]'', the main character Hanamichi Sakuragi shaves his head as self-punishment after being the cause of the Shohoku team's loss against Kainan. And before him, Hisashi Mitsui cuts his own hair to symbolize his redemption. Later, Haruko Akagi also cuts her hair short after realizing that her crush towards Rukawa is a hopleless one..

* She didn't do it to herself, but Sheeta in [[Laputa: Castle in the Sky|''Laputa: Castle In The Sky'']] experiences an Important Haircut by [[Close-Call Haircut|getting her braids shot off]], symbolic of her maturing and loss of innocence through the traumatic experiences of the movie. Note that the change in hairstyle happens in the same scene where [[Plucky Girl|she finds the strength to stop running and take control of the situation]].

* The second ED of ''[[Gundam|Mobile Suit]] [[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'' prominently features Lockon cutting Setsuna's hair, which seems to be a deliberately symbolic invocation of a particular scene where Lockon shot through some locks of Setsuna's hair.

*** Likewise, [[Lady of War]] Cecily Fairchild ([[Mobile Suit Gundam F91]]) cut her [[Princess Curls]] much shorter and did not grow it back until later on.

* In ''[[Eyeshield 21]]'', Sakuraba gets a crew-cut after quitting Jerry/Jari Productions to focus on his football life with the Ojo White Knights. He also grows a noticeable mustache and goatee.

** And Yukimitsu Manabu starts combing his hair forward at the start of the Kanto tournament, before the first game he would actually play in.

** In flashbacks we are shown that Hiruma started dyeing his hair shortly after discovering American Football. One character has speculated that this is to further enhance his demonic appearance so as to intimidate <s>his opponents</s> everybody.

* Prior to setting out for the climactic battle of ''[[Weiss Kreuz]] [[Oddly-Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo|Gluhen]]'', Aya uses his own katana to cut off the waist-length braid he'd grown between series.

** The epilogue of the original series shows that Sakura, who had previously [[Expository Hairstyle Change|grown her hair out]] in the hopes that it would appeal to Aya, has gone back to her previous bob cut.

** In Mrs. Makino's defense, all she did was even out the hair that hadn't been [[Traumatic Haircut|cut]]. It's not her fault it made poor Tsukushi look like Kintaro.

* While not cutting it herself, Layla Hamilton fits this trope in the ''[[Kaleido Star]]'' [[OVA]], "Legend of Phoenix ~Layla Hamilton Monogatari". After a journey to find herself, Layla goes from her [[Defrosting Ice Queen]] persona to a person who won't hide her feelings anymore. Then, she asks [[Genki Girl|Sora Naegino]] to cut her long blond hair for her.

** Additionally, Farnese, {{spoiler|when she joined Guts on his journey, cut her own hair short as a sign of humility and apology for everything she did to him and Casca.}}

* In ''[[Eureka Seven]]'', Eureka gets several hairstyle changes reflecting... other changes about her. Her hair is cut in the episode Acperience 2, and grows back in Acperience 3.

** Talho also trims her normally unkempt hair as part of her complete outer (and inner) makeover in episode 30.

* In ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'', [[The Stoic|Sousuke]] allows [[Tsundere|Kaname]] to cut his hair. Although his look doesn't change appreciably as a result, the scene serves as an indication of just how much he trusts her: Sousuke is a [[Child Soldiers|Child Soldier]] with [[No Social Skills]] conditioned to assume that anyone is a potential enemy and to never leave himself vulnerable, and the fact that he can allow Kaname to handle a pair of scissors around his head and behind his back with no more than a calm "Please don't cut off my ears," - and in fact not only allows her to cut his hair but actually ''falls asleep'' while she's doing it - is [[Character Development|very important]]. This is probably the closest and most intimate they ever got to each other; when she was cutting near his forehead, Sousuke was blushing like hell and breathed suspiciously quickly for obvious reasons - he was either embarrased, aroused or both. Looks like no amount of conditioning can defeat pheromones from a similarly aged girl when you are 16...

* Liechtenstein in ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' already has short hair in her introduction, but the dialogue with her older brother Switzerland points out that she has ''just'' cut it, since it's the first time he has seen her like that. When asked why, she tells him it's both because she's more comfy with shorter hair and because she wants to look and be more like her very tough older brother. This is [[Adaptation Expansion|slightly expanded]] in the anime: the episode featuring Liechtenstein and Switzerland opens with her sitting in front of her mirror and cutting her braids.

** Nuriko {{spoiler|cut his hair off when he found out he had feelings for Miaka}}

* In ''[[Gurren Lagann]]'', Nia's hair is cut by two bullets from Yoko's sniper rifle the episode after she decides to shun her previous life. Unlike many cases, this time the accidental cut doesn't give a clean cut at all, and she has Yoko clean it up, [[Character Development|showing that they finally trust each other]].

* Eunhyung from the [[Boys Love]] [[Manhwa]] ''[[Let Dai]]'' gets her hair cut boy-like short after being brutally gang raped. She also adopts a more masculine attitude that borders on tomboyish. Somewhat subverted in Naru whose hair style keeps changing all the time since he often uses wigs.

* ''[[Narutaru]]'' has a few examples of this: Akira cuts her beautiful long black hair after Komori comments on how nice it is. Shiina adopts a shorter haircut {{spoiler|after the death of Hiro-chan}} and she also cuts her father's hair.

* In the ''[[Sukeban Deka]]'' OAV, Saki rejects the advances of a classmate by saying that she hates guys with long hair. In response, the boy whips out a set of clippers and shaves himself bald right there in front of her. He doesn't graduate to love interest, but he does become one of Saki's allies.

* Perhaps in an inverted example, in Book Two of the manga ''[[Ooku]]'', Abbott Arikoto {{spoiler|grows his hair out when he breaks his vow of chastity}}

** The protagonist of ''Vitamin'' by the same mangaka cuts her hair in the last chapter, to show she's become more confident.

* Franky from ''[[One Piece]]'' cut his hair to a buzz cut after the [[Time Skip]], but can revert to his old style or change to a new one by pressing his nose for more than three seconds.

* Yozora of ''[[Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai]]'' sheers her long locks after an incident with a firework, and getting a bucket of dirty water dumped on her to put it out. The important part of this is {{spoiler|her short hair finally brings Kodaka around to realizing, she's his [[Forgotten Childhood Friend]], Sora.}}

* In ''[[Katanagatari]]'' Togame suffers this, at the hand of {{spoiler|Nanami}}.

 

== Comic Books ==

* The very opening scene of the pseudomanga ''Shutter-Box'' depicts the romantic lead cutting the blue dyed streak from his hair before going off to drown himself.

** In the beginning of ''[[Kingdom Come]]'', the isolated, retired Clark Kent has long hair, which he cuts when he decides to become Superman again. Rather a shame, since he looked surprisingly good with long hair.

* Nightwing grew a ponytail during ''[[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|New Titans]]'', and lost it by accident in an early issue of his solo series, giving him a distinctive look he maintained for some time.

** Referenced in ''[[Ultimate X-Men]]''. After Hank McCoy aka Beast was killed in a Sentinel attack {{spoiler|(don't worry, he got better)}} Storm, who had been his girlfriend at the time, smashed up her room, started dressing in black leather clothes, and gave herself a punk-rocker haircut.

* This trope, like nearly every other predominant comic book trope of the era, gets played with during [[Grant Morrison|Grant Morrison's]] run on ''[[Animal Man]]''. After {{spoiler|the murder of his wife and children}}, he heads off to get vengeance, but not before switching over to a leather costume and cutting his own hair with a trimmer. When Mirror Master sees him, though, he says it looks like he ran his head under a lawnmower.

* In the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' comic series, Princess Sally grows her hair after a year-long [[Time Skip]]. This is symbolic of the changes she'd gone through the year apart from Sonic, and coincided with a redesign for a lot of the other characters and her own apparent mental breakdown. Later on, while under a new writer, Sally decides to cut her hair again, going back to her old hair-do, to signify that she's got her head on straight again.

* [[Y: The Last Man]]. Agent 355 cuts Yorick's hair after the traumatic events in "Cycles".

** Haircuts are very important in general in ''Scott Pilgrim''. Ramona changes her hair color and style constantly, and her not getting a haircut is a plot point. Scott is afraid to cut his hair because his last girlfriend broke up with him immediately after he got a haircut (for unrelated reasons), but finally Ramona cuts his hair for him, a major step toward him getting over Envy and moving on.

* In ''[[Transmetropolitan]]'', Spider Jerusalem loses all of his hair to a malfunctioning shower unit within hours of returning to The City, having come down from the mountains looking decidedly woolly.

** And then there's Shade himself, who gets a new haircut every time he {{spoiler|dies}}.

* [[Wonder Woman|Queen Hippolyta]] cuts her own hair in the ''Circle'' arc before going to beat up invading Nazis.

* In the original ''[[Nick Fury]]: Agent of SHIELD'', early in [[Jim Steranko]]'s classic period, the formerly scraggly Army Commando gets a thorough professional shave and hair to finally change his look into the clean shaven and sleek spy hero.

* When the Civil War finally begins, [[Nikolai Dante]] cuts his hair short (off-panel) to represent his acceptance of the Romanov name. During the Amerika storyline, he finds a poster of himself from his swashbuckling days, and the toll the years have taken on him become painfully apparent.

 

 

== Film ==

* In ''[[The Crying Game]]'', Fergus gives Dil a haircut so Dil will look like a man (and thus, to protect Dil from the people hunting Fergus down).

* In ''[[Mulan]]'', the [[Disney Animated Canon|Disney film]] (pictured above) and presumably the original Chinese legend, the title character cuts her hair off with a sword in a half-practical (making her upcoming [[Sweet Polly Oliver]] charade easier), half-symbolic (breaking off with her past) move.

* Example ''and'' subversion: In ''[[Shaolin Soccer]]'', the hero's main love-interest has ''two'' important haircuts - the first one failing badly, and the second one turning her into an unbeatable goalie.

* Parodied in ''[[Shoot'Em Up (film)|Shoot Em Up]]'', where the protagonist spots a mook with a ponytail, comments on how much he hates middle aged men with ponytails, then shoots it off of his head.

* Also parodied in ''[[Coming to America]]''; Prince Akeem goes into a barber shop and asks for a "real American haircut". The barber whacks off Akeem's ponytail with one snip of his scissors. "That'll be <s> ten bucks</s> eight dollars."

* Mickey Knox of ''[[Natural Born Killers]]'' shaves his head before his interview with Wayne Gayle.

* In ''[[The Tenth Kingdom]]'' the main character Virginia is placed under a curse that causes her hair to grow at an incredible rate. When using a magic axe to undo the curse, another character renders her hair even shorter than at the beginning of her adventure. After the haircut, Virginia seems to have lost some of her naivete and indecision.

* A rare example of one as a character introduction: In ''[[Seven Samurai]]'', we first see Kambei as he shaves his head to disguise himself as a priest and take care of a hostage situation. This event inspires some farmers to hire him to take care of some bandits.

** Which is in fact a total subversion: the scene is deliberately solemn and slow, ritualistic even... Something portentously portentous is happening. It turns out to be a mere disguise, in other words ''a cowardly ploy'' when compared to your usual Charge of the Light Brigade tactics common to samurai movies at the time - he just doesn't care about that, and ostensibly doesn't care about all the hair subtext and symbols either. Kambei (and most of the Seven) will keep on gunning down samurai tropes throughout the movie.

* [[Tom Cruise]] in ''[[Minority Report]].''

* ''Smoke Signals'' had Victor Joseph cut his hair with a folding knife when faced with the family mementos kept by his runaway father. He had previously told his [[Braids, Beads, and Buckskins|braided]] traveling companion that long, free-flowing hair is an Indian man's sign of pride.

* The opening credits for ''[[Full Metal Jacket]]'' consist of a montage of all the <s>maggots</s> new recruits getting shaved in preparation for basic training.

* The transformative moment in ''[[The Legend of Billie Jean]]'' is when Billie Jean hacks off her hair. She goes from a long blond beauty to an avenging rebel.

** More soberingly, Putter does the same thing out of defiance after her mother hits her.

* After being raped, [[Asia Argento]]'s character in ''The Stendhal Syndrome'' hacks off her hair. This also turns out to be an indication that {{spoiler|she's developed a serial-killing split personality}}.

* In ''Blow Dry'', Christine (Rachel Leigh Cook) cuts off her own hair so her scheming dad (Bill Nighy) can no longer use her as a hair model in the annual British Hairdressing Championship. This drives home the point that she refuses to help him win by cheating.

* ''[[Kingdom of Heaven]]'' specifically the [[Directors Cut]]. Sybillia, Queen of Jeruselum cuts her hair {{spoiler|when she renounces her throne after she mercy kills her son before he suffers and dies from leprosy like her brother.}}

* This happens in the sequel to ''[[The Boondock Saints]]''. Connor and Murphy MacManus have been in hiding in Ireland for years, growing hair and beards worthy of Christ himself. When they are called out of retirement, they immediately shave it all off, returning to their first-film appearance (with some [[Perma-Stubble]] for good measure.) Later, [[Lampshade Hanging|they wonder why they did it.]]

'''Connor''': Yeah that's right. I dunno, [[It Seemed Like a Good Idea At the Time|just seemed like the thing to do at the time]], though, didn't it? }}

* In ''[[Smoke Signals]]'', Victor mourns his father by cutting his hair.

* In ''Frida'', Salma Hayek's titular character gets drunk and cuts her hair in reaction to her marriage failing and then creates a well known painting of the event.

* In ''[[The Long Kiss Goodnight]]'', Geena Davis's character has an Important Haircut (while also dying it blonde) after we've seen the Charly Baltimore personality completely take over (or appear to) and the Samantha Caine personality disappear (maybe).

 

== Literature ==

* Many religions have prohibitions or rules in regards to hair. In literature, the most famous example is probably the Biblical Samson, whose parents were visited by an angel who allowed his barren mother to become pregnant if she would abstain from unclean meat and alcohol and never cut the child's hair or shave him. This essentially constituted a pre-natal initiation into a Jewish ascetic cult, and this super out-of-proportion before-birth devotion granted Samson the mystical power of invincible strength, allowing him to become one of the judges who were leaders of Israel. The major part of his story is a negative Important Haircut that eventually results in his blindness and death, making even the inversion of this trope [[Older Than Feudalism]].

** Isaiah 15:

''Everyone's head is bald and every beard is cut off. ''

* In the ''[[Babysitters Club]]'' series, Mary Anne has one when her father stops being overprotective of her.

* In ''[[The Little Mermaid]]'' (the original story) the mermaid's sisters give the sea witch their hair in exchange for a knife that will grant the mermaid her tail back.

** Of course, it later turns out that the haircut wasn't his real reason for the trip.

* Happens to a few characters in the ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' series, where one section of the world puts a lot of stock in the length and style of women's hair. Two examples: In the first book, the hero gives Rachel (previously little more than a slave, with her hair deliberately chopped up) a haircut evening out her locks after she runs to freedom. In the second book, the Mother Confessor (who, as the de facto ruler of the land, has the longest hair around) has her hair chopped off before she's sentenced to be executed.

* Also, in ''[[Narnia|The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe]]'', part of the tragedy of Aslan's sacrifice was seeing him with his mane cut off. Without it his majesty disappeared and he looked like simply a large cat.

** ...which would seem to [[Unfortunate Implications|suggest]] that a ''female'' lion wouldn't have had much majesty to begin with.

* In ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'', Cao Cao chops off his hair to impress his men after transgressing against a rule that had execution (by decapitation) as its punishment. Calling it an attack on the head, his men were doubly careful to avoid breaking the rules when they saw that the highest ranks were still subject to punishment.

** Subverted by Zhao Fang. When Cao Xiu questions Zhao's motives for defecting, Zhao threatened suicide. After being stopped from killing himself, he cut off his hair as a pledge. Zhao's defection was fake, though, and Cao Xiu would end up severely defeated in battle.

* Subverted in ''[[Honor Harrington|In Enemy Hands]]''. Honor's brutal [[State Sec]] captors think giving her a clipper-cut is inflicting yet one more humiliation on a woman condemned to hang. Unfortunately for the 'black-legs', Honor deliberately wore her hair that short throughout most of her earlier career and only grew it out during her time in 'exile' on Grayson; she finds their resulting consternation a little funny, and is actually more worried that they're not feeding her enough.

* In ''[[The English Patient]]'', Hana cuts her hair after she starts working as an army nurse.

* In the short story ''[[The Gift of the Magi]]'', Della has her long, beautiful hair cut and sold to get enough money to buy a Christmas present for her husband.

* In the book ''Adorable Sunday,'' the title character Sunday [[Embarrassing First Name|poor kid]] cuts off her hair so her [[Stage Mom|mother]] will let her stop being a child model.

** Venus does something similar in ''Venus and the Comets.''

* In Holly Black's ''Valiant'' Val shaves her head on a train shortly after catching her boyfriend cheating on her with her mom.

* Niall in [[Wicked Lovely]], albeit in the backstory. He cut his hair really short after the whole 'getting raped and tortured by dark court fey' thing, for the three reasons of (according to [[Word of God]]): Irial liked his long hair, and Niall blamed Irial for everything to begin with; So as to not hide the scar on his face; and because long hair is a good 'handle' to hold someone down. When he became Dark King he let his hair grown again to signify getting over it.

* In the [[Jacqueline Wilson]] book ''Double Act'' Ruby cuts her hair (previously the same as her sister Garnet's) to show that she no longer wants to be a twin.

* In ''A Farewell to Arms,'' Catherine mentions wanting to cut her hair off after her fiance died. She decides to cut her hair shorter later in the book for no particular reason, though This Troper's English teacher suggested that this, taken with the above, was [[Foreshadowing]] {{spoiler|her own [[Death by Childbirth]]}}.

* In Kij Johnson's ''Fudoki'', the main character, a Heian court lady, regards it as a liberation from oppressive ceremony when she's finally elderly enough to retire to a monastery. Even though her attendants initially only cut off a symbolic few inches of hair (because it's servants who wear theirs shoulder-length), she feels relieved by the lightening of weight as well as the meaning of the haircut, and intends to chop it all off once she leaves.

* In the ''[[Pern]]'' novel ''Nerilka's Story'', Nerilka shears off the long hair that was her one vanity before leaving her life as a Lord Holder's daughter to work as an anonymous healer's assistant in the plague tents.

* In ''[[A Rose for Emily]]'', Emily cuts her hair after her [[Overprotective Dad]] dies.

* A young Vlad Dracula cuts off his long mane of hair after escaping life as a [[Child Soldiers|child soldier]] in ''[[Count and Countess]]''.

 

== Live Action TV ==

* A great deal of fuss was made when the title character of ''[[Felicity]]'' cropped her mane of curls between seasons.

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' played with this: after a dramatic sequence wherein Buffy gives herself an Important Haircut, we cut to her in a hair salon getting it repaired.

** Likewise Kes ditched her bobbed wig for long flowing locks, but that was probably to save Jennifer Lien from having to spend hours getting those pointy ears stuck on.

** More recently, {{spoiler|Chief Tyrol's}} shaved head is used as a sign of his {{spoiler|gradual mental descent.}}

** Starbuck's haircut at the end of "Torn" was contrasted with Colonel Tigh's draining of a bottle of booze: Both had been valued crewmembers that had lately [[Heroic BSOD|turned unpleasant]], so Adama had to chew them out. Starbuck then puts on a clean uniform, cuts her hair, and goes to apologize to a family she had offended. Tigh just gets dirtier and drunker.

* Peter Petrelli, in ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', has his floppy fringe cut off while Sylar is attempting to remove his brain. This could well be in response to repeated requests (by not only other characters in the show, but also fans and the actor himself) for him to cut his hair.

** Elle later adds to this by giving him a more complete hair cut. Claude would be proud.

* Lorna Dickey in ''[[Waterloo Road]]'' gets hair extensions. And then kills herself.

* In the first episode of ''[[Scrubs]]'' season three, "My Own American Girl", Elliot decides she is sick of being a pushover and decides to reinvent herself by cutting her hair to shoulder length, using a lot more makeup and wearing sexier clothes. She tones down the look in later seasons however.

* ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'' actually used this trope as an essential part of its story in the fourth season. The season premiere had Xena seeing a vision from the future in which she and Gabrielle were crucified. Gabrielle had short hair in the vision, and sure enough, toward the end of the season Xena was forced to throw her chakram through Gabrielle's hair to beat the episode's villain. Both of them realized afterward that it now looked like it did in the vision, though that didn't stop Gabrielle from keeping it that way for the rest of the show's run.

* Lionel Luthor has his head shaved at the end of "Covenant", the season finale of the third season of ''[[Smallville]]'', while we're shown his son choking to death on poisoned wine and Chloe Sullivan being blown up. The dramatic effect was somewhat lessened the next season, when it turned out that they had both miraculously survived, and one of the attempted murders hadn't even been committed by Lionel.

* ''[[Boy Meets World]]'' actress Danielle Fishel wanted to get a haircut, but [[Executive Meddling|the higher-ups didn't want Topanga to lose her trademark locks]]. The only way they would allow it is if Topanga getting a haircut was made into a major story point, which became the second episode of the 4th season.

* Happens in ''[[24]]''. At the start of day 2, Jack, still mourning for his wife and dealing with the fact that his daughter hates him now, is seen with straggly hair a unkempt beard (''[[Perma-Stubble]]'' in the extreme?) After struggling with the decision, we see Jack in the bathroom, fresh from cutting his hair and shaving the beard. A soon as you see that you know some serious shit is about to go down. It's business time, dammit.

* In ''[[Grey's Anatomy]]'', George cut his hair after he was burned by Meredith. Everyone even commented on how weird and stupid it looked too, and the reply was "the man has issues."

** After Derek Shepherd's season 5 [[Heroic BSOD]], he comes back to the hospital to {{spoiler|remove Izzie's brain tumor}}, but the real sign that he's back is when, after the surgery and a talk with the chief, he shaves his beard, returning to his original McDreamy [[Perma-Stubble]] look.

* Used in the second season of ''[[The L Word]]'' when Shane gives the newly-out Jenny a short haircut.

* In ''[[NCIS]]'', Gibbs grows a neat, somewhat disturbing moustache after returning from his [[Ten-Minute Retirement]], then shaves it off when he returns to his old self.

* On the "Game Night" episode of ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'', Barney (in his hippie past) gets dumped and gives himself an important haircut and shave.

** Also, between Season 1 and Season 2, Lily leaves and comes back with her trademark red hair dyed black. This was a decision by the actress unrelated to the show, but the creators felt it fit the character, who had just undergone a breakup and other major life changes. The hair remained the same after she got back together with her ex, though.

* In ''[[Deadwood]]'', Mr. Wu cuts off his queue to show his commitment to America and his alliance with Al Swearengen. He later begins wearing western style clothes as well.

* [[The Colbert Report|Stephen Colbert]] had this done on him to prove he'd really gone through (a little) basic training to Commander General Odierno. When Colbert hesitated, ''President [[Barack Obama]] '''[[Crowning Moment of Funny|ordered]]''' Gen. Odierno'' to do it.

* On ''[[Iron Chef]]'', when Kandagawa challenged Sakai for the Millenium rematch battles, he espoused a new philosophy about Japanese cuisine changing (if not quite modernizing - he was a strict Japanese traditionalist chef in his earlier appearances) in order to survive in the 21st century. Embodying this change, he shaved his head to remind him of his new commitment. His perfect, sweep victory over Sakai was a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]].

{{quote|'''Kaga:''' [[Crowning Moment of Funny|May I touch it?]]}}

* In the Australian series ''[[McLeod's Daughters]]'', Becky cuts her hair using a shard of a broken mirror after taking a job at Drovers Run.

* Played with on ''[[Reba]]'' when Van goes through one to show he blends in with his football team... only to find out after the fact that his teammates tricked him.

* In Season 7 of [[The Amazing Race]], Joyce had to shave her head to win a Fast Forward (her husband Uchenna was already bald). That was the point at which they stopped being the boring couple in the background, and became threats to win the race.

* In almost every season of [[Stargate SG-1]] both Carter and Daniel sport new haircuts. Oddly enough [[Growing the Beard|Teal'C's beard]], and later hair, are the only appearance changes that get commented on and it is negligible that Carter and Daniel's haircuts actually altered their characters. O'Neill's hair just gets grayer.

 

== Video Games ==

* Posha Saint-Amour cuts her hair late in ''[[Kartia]]'' as a sign of leaving the Medium profession. She becomes a Shrine Warrior, boosting her stats quite a bit.

* Luke cuts his hair in ''[[Tales (series)|Tales of the Abyss]]'' when he decides that he wants to change himself for the better.

* A semi-hidden audio segment in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' shows Snake (who was shown up until this point as having long hair) asking Naomi for a pair of scissors so he can "clean himself up a little" - when pressed, he admits he doesn't want to be mistaken for the terrorist Liquid Snake, who has the same haircut, and the confession serves as his acceptance of the mission. By the time he's playable his hair is much shorter.

** A weird retroactive version of this trope occurs between ''[[Fire Emblem Elibe|Fire Emblem 6 and 7]]'' with Karel. In 6, he has short hair and deeply regrets the way he used to act. In the prequel, 7, he's a bloodthirsty maniac with hair down to his waist.

* ''[[Romancing SaGa 3]]'' Katrina Changes her hairstyle and loses her Noble's clothes after the Masquerade was stolen from her, you can revert her back to the way she was after getting the Masquerade back and {{spoiler|Defeating any of the Devil Lords except Byunei so you can gain access to Loanne Castle.}}

* Jeanne D'Arc in... well, ''[[Jeanne D'Arc]]'' when she decides to pursuit the Englishmen and join the army.

* In ''[[Suikoden V]]'', {{spoiler|Lady Sialeeds}} stops dyeing her hair after her [[Face Heel Turn]], allowing it to go back to its natural white.

 

 

* Almost done in ''[[Ace Attorney]]: Investigations'' with Lauren Paups. One of her 'upset' animations is pressing a pair of scissors to a lock of her hair, on the verge of cutting it. She never does, of course. But compare the short, choppy hair she has tied back with her long, curling locks in front, and you can imagine how often this has happened before.

* Similarly, in ''[[Kanon]]'', Ayu's hair has grown long {{spoiler|in a coma}}; {{spoiler|not long before she awakens, Yuuichi gives her her headband}} and Nayuki cuts her hair to look like the Ayu that the viewers know.

* In ''[[AIR]]'' Misuzu gets her long hair cut by Haruko, her aunt and adoptive mother. By mistake, Haruko cuts Misuzu's hair a lot shorter than intended, which gives Misuzu a much younger appearance and subtly hints the turn of events in the show.

* In [[Katawa Shoujo]], {{spoiler|Shiina Mikado aka Misha}} chops off her long hair in a very tomboyish cut. It's important because {{spoiler|this happens only in Shizune's route, and Misha cuts it over [[Love Hurts|her feelings of inadequacy and jealousy]] [[Matchmaker Crush|over Shizune and Hisao's relationship]] -- because [[Schoolgirl Lesbians|she loves Shizune]] and feels out of place now that Hisao is her boyfriend, despite Misha's own care for him.}}

 

== Webcomics ==

** Susan dyed her hair and had it cut after finding out about her father.

** And there's {{spoiler|Nanase, who cuts her hair really short. Not so much an important haircut as it is an important ''complete makeover''. Nanase gets another one when her magic is temporarily run out. Her hair goes completely black.}}

* Collin of ''[[Friendly Hostility]]'' has to dye the blue streak from his hair whenever he visits his hated parents. Not exactly a hair cut, per se, but it probably still fits.

* Done twice in [[Abstract Gender]]. First, right after the transformations, where Ryan cuts his hair shorter to feel more like himself. He then does this again after discovering he now likes guys and is worried about losing his identity.

** ''Inverted'' recently, with {{spoiler|the ever strange Miho}} growing about a foot and a half of hair in no more than a week. And her personality seems to have changed as well...

* ''[[Red String]]'' loves this trope.

** Miharu's characteristic blond hair is the result of one of these - her friend Reika had her hair lightened (though not bleached) at the same time, symbolizing the strengthening of their friendship and their new lives at a new school. Miharu got ''another'' one when she was expelled from that school and had to let her hair go black again, symbolizing the subsequent identity crisis she suffered through. Then she bleached it ''yet again'' over the summer, symbolizing trying to reclaim her identity. As the comic still hasn't moved past summer break, it's to be seen if she changes her hair again.

** {{spoiler|Hanae}} did this in Chapter 45. In this case, {{spoiler|she was trying to make a point to her mother that she was serious about her lesbianism.}}

* [http://www.shortpacked.com/d/20080711.html Newly confident Amber] in ''[[Shortpacked]]''. Also new glasses and a slightly different top.

* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' did two of these in one. After Zoe (in camel form) chewed off most of Gwynn's hair, Gwynn used magic to turn Zoe permanently bald. Zoe took to wearing a wig (longer than her previous hairdo), while Gwynn switched back and forth between her short hair and a wig that resembled her previous look. {{spoiler|They were eventually restored to their old hairstyles in the "Time for Hair-Raising" arc.}}

** Gwynn had short locks for a brief period when her hair was burned off during the "Dangerous Days Ahead" arc. She grew it back over time. Played for laughs when the long-moved out Zoe moved back in and, trying to find at least one normal event, asked Gwynn what happened to her hair.

* In ''[[Concession]]'', Artie (the [[White-Haired Pretty Boy]]) starts out refusing to tie his waist-length hair back on the grounds that it makes him look like a girl. When in a relationship with Kate, she braids it for him, and he keeps this style for a short time, then goes back to wearing his hair loose after he breaks up with Kate when she {{spoiler|reveals herself to be a pedophile and tries to get him to join in a NAMBLA meeting}}. After he {{spoiler|undergoes successful treatment for his cancer}}, he cuts it short and adds red streaks.

* ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'', Chapter 15 shows Red's first haircut, ever. (Owing to her [[The Fair Folk|fairy]] heritage, she didn't even know that hair ''could'' be cut.) She's convinced that it's not just symbolic, but that her old long hair that won't [[Anime Hair|stick up]] is actually the [[Incredibly Lame Pun|root]] of all her problems.

** Also happens at least twice to Kat. First, towards the end of Chapter 29, when Kat finally makes her peace with what she learned about {{spoiler|Jeanne and Diego}} and trims her [[Beard of Sorrow|locks of sorrow]]; Second, in Chapter 32 when she returns from summer holidays with a new style - and a chip on her shoulder after {{spoiler|Annie ran away to the Gilletie Forest without telling her}}.

* Felix in ''[[Queen of Wands]]'' usually sports long, bright blue hair; he cuts it and gets rid of the dye when {{spoiler|the baby comes}}.

* [[Derelict (webcomic)|Derelict]] [http://derelictcomic.com/?strip_id=33 here]

* [[Roza]] [http://www.junglestudio.com/roza/index.php?date=2007-05-09 The horse's tail]

* Inverted in [[Drowtales]] - when Vaelia is no longer a slave and becomes Ariel's servant and guardian, she gets hair extensions. This is justified because short hair on women is a telltale sigh of slavery, even without a slave collar. Long hair on a human in Drow world would cause anyone to have a double-take.

* The Weaponmaster in [[The War of Winds]] does this to himself because he expects to die in the next battle. The act is a warrior tradition from his homeland acting as a symbol of his slavery to fate.

 

== Web Original ==

* On ''[[Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl]]'', J does this in the first episode after her boyfriend breaks up with her, only for him to take her back but break up with her again because he can't deal with her short hair (it makes him feel like "less of a man").

 

** Katara's Fire Nation disguise includes a topknot. She looks like an exotic dancer. Most Avatar costume changes are treated like 'duh, we needed new clothes, we are wearing them,' in a distinct aversion of [[Only One Outfit]] ''despite the fact'' that in the setting the characters usually do have access to about one outfit at a time, but this gets a little highlighting since it involves wearing the colors of the enemy.

** {{spoiler|Azula's}} haircut is the sign that {{spoiler|she is coming unhinged due to paranoia and mistrust.}}

* The completion of Anakin's training as a Padawan and his becoming a Jedi is signified in ''[[Star Wars: Clone Wars]]'' when Yoda slices off Anakin's braid with a light saber in a Jedi Knighting ceremony. Later Anakin has it sent to Padme, who keeps it in a small jewelry box.

* After ''[[Kim Possible]]'' forced Ron Stoppable to cut his hair, his personality took a 180. He became secure in himself, dressed more slick than he ever did and got to be popular with the attractive girls. But he became such a jerk that even his loyal naked mole rat didn't want to spend time with him, so he had his hair combed wrong, making the attractive girls overlooking him again.

* At the end of the ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' episode "Birthmark", Raven cuts her hair, which had grown out like her father's (fittingly, this happens after Raven's father tells her via a vision that she will help him bring about [[The End of the World as We Know It]]), back to its normal length. The haircut seems to symbolize her taking back control of her life, reclaiming her humanity. The same haircut presumably happens in "The End, Part 3". Her hair grew out again when she regained her power (which she used to defeat her father for good), but when we see her again back in Titans tower, her hair is back to normal length again. However, we never actually see her cut her hair in this episode.

* While it was more of a shaved bald than cut, ''[[Total Drama Island]]'' 's Heather was both eliminated from the first season due to it and went through her [[Villain Decay]] in the second because of it.

* ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'': To demonstrate that she's [[Hidden Depths|not just shallowly obsessed with her own appearance]], [[Spoiled Sweet|Rarity]] chops off her own tail-hair to give to someone else as a gift.

* After Thugnificent of ''[[The Boondocks]]'' {{spoiler|loses all his wealth}} he chops off the two huge Mickey Mouse afro balls on the side of his head.

** Putin: No Hair.

* Joan of Arc cut her hair to a man's length to show her commitment to the cause (and make it easier for men to take her seriously); it was something the clergy at her trial made a big deal about. When she was convicted, her head was shaved completely, giving us a twofer.

** Same went for the Japanese and their top-knots.

** Legend goes, when a general staged a coup and tried to restore the Qing dynasty in 1917, many Peckingese put on fake braids just in case the Emperor was not happy about their "treason". The attempt failed, so the next morning the city streets appeared covered of fake braids.

** Getting a haircut after a break-up seems to be a very common occurrence.

* Inverted by [[Jon and Kate Plus Eight|Kate Gosselyn]], who got hair extensions following her divorce from Jon.

* In Brazil, it's a tradition to shave a man's hair after he's approved in a College admission test.

* Black women who are transitioning from relaxed hair to natural styles have to cut the permed hair. This is referred to as the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hldCaYFlcks Big Chop]

* Some cancer patients choose to symbolically shave their head even after their chemotherapy is done, or alternatively, keep it short if it had been longer before.

** Friends and family of female cancer patients can shave their hair in support.

* Clair of Assisi managed to convince her family that she had really decided to be a nun when she took off her veil and showed that she had cut her (beautiful!) hair short.

* French Revolutionaries cut their hair short to show opposition to the long haired wig wearing aristocracy. Many pro-French members of the Society of United Irishmen copied the hairstyle for moral support, and were nicknamed 'Croppies' after their hairstyle.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Native American Mythology]]

[[Category:Hair Tropes]]