Important Haircut: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

However, an important haircut can also be positive, such as changing one's style after a breakup.

 

 

See also [[Beard of Sorrow]], [[Dye or Die]], [[Expository Hairstyles]], and [[Fan Service Pack]].

* 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 (Manga)|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.

** In the Anime and Manga it was Ryoga who accidentally chopped Akane's hair when she was caught in the crossfire between him and Ranma's fight, in the live action special it was one of the gang members who did it with a sickle.

* We see in a [[Flash Back]] why Mireille of ''[[Noir (Anime)|Noir]]'' has a peculiar "half-bang" style. {{spoiler|Lady Silvana is to blame}}

** In the manga, Nausicaa receives the haircut (and a scale mail) when leaving for war. Also in manga, Kushana cuts her considerably long braid {{spoiler|to honor the death of a considerable part of her men in an Ohmu attack engineered by the Dorok.}}

* In ''[[Princess Mononoke (Anime)|Princess Mononoke]]'', the prince cuts his hair before having to leave his village (due to a curse) to seek his destiny, it was a proof of his determination on no returning.

* The second ED of ''[[Gundam|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.

** Louise Halevy got one when {{spoiler|she [[Took a Level In Badass|evolved]] from [[Bratty Teenage Daughter]] to sociopathic [[Dark Action Girl]]. Once the series is over, though, she lets it grow again,}}

* ''[[Kaitou Saint Tail]]'' kept her long, red hair down as Meimi, but kept her hair in a pigtail as Saint Tail. At the end of the manga series, after she'd quit being Saint Tail, she cut her hair short.

* In ''[[Fruits Basket]]'', both Rin and Akito get important haircuts. {{spoiler|Rin has her long hair hacked off by Akito when she's locked up. In this case, the [[Traumatic Haircut]] is symbolic for both of them. Akito is enraged and hates long, black hair because it reminds her of her mother, Ren (A [[Complete Monster]] [[Smug Snake]] who abuses her daughter constantly, and in fact is the one who manipulated Rin to act against Akito which is what got her caught in the first place); Rin, meanwhile, wears her hair short for the rest of the series and it symbolizes how [[Character Development|she is calmer and eases up on her determination to break the curse]] (which was pretty much driving her to an early grave, due to her being an [[Ill Girl]]). Akito gets an inverse at the end, when she grows her hair out to symbolize how she's free to live her life as a woman, rather than forced to hide her identity and pretend to be a man.}}

* Bleed Kaga from ''[[Future GPX Cyber Formula (Anime)|Future GPX Cyber Formula]]'' cuts his long braided tail in the final episode of ''SIN'' and dyes his hair black, a symbol of wanting to settle the score with Hayato.

* ''[[Pandora Hearts]]'': {{spoiler|Leo}} gets one in Retrace 61.

* During ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]: [[The Movie|Conqueror of Shamballa]]'', Alphonse grew his hair out like Edward. It's symbolic, as he wants to be like Ed; he even wore the same clothing as him. Near the end he cuts his hair, to the same style as before he lost his body.

* 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.

* Richie's [[Important Haircut]] in ''[[The Royal Tenenbaums]]'' coincides with an important suicide attempt. He spends most of the movie as a has-been tennis player, and like his siblings wears pretty much the same same hairstyle and clothes as he did when he was young, so the new, shaven style is a sign of his moving on.

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

* In [[Willow]], Willow's wife Kaia lops off her braid and gives it to him as a keepsake near the start of the movie.

* In the film of ''[[Stardust (Film)|Stardust]]'', Tristan gets a haircut from Captain Shakespeare, symbolising his change from village shop-boy to romantic adventurer. Oddly, this involves him having ''longer hair'', to Tristan's visible surprise.

* In the second season of ''[[Star Trek Voyager (TV)|Star Trek Voyager]],'' Captain Janeway ditched her librarian bun. This was less about symbolism and transition, and more about looking less ridiculous.

** 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.

* ''[[Glee]]'': Puck has to shave his mohawk in one episode and becomes a lot less cool.

** Also, in the Season 2, Quinn is moping over {{spoiler|her latest Finn breakup}}, so Santana and Britney order a haircut to cheer her up.

* In the season 4 ''[[Judging Amy]]'' episode "Requiem", Maxine cuts her long hair following the death of her fiance.

* In ''[[Veronica Mars]]'', flashbacks show Veronica with long, blonde hair. When the show begins, after Veronica is raped and her best friend is murdered, she wears her hair short.

* Women in the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints are taught to prize their long hair (along with always obeying their husbands and never trying to "control" them with complaints and jealousy over the other wives) so one of the first things female escapees do after leaving is get a sylishly short haircut.

* Unfortunately tightly tied to [[Traumatic Haircut]] in the case of some (usually female) sexual assault survivors. In some places, if a woman walks into a hairstylist's or a barber's visibly distressed, asking for her long hair to be cut markedly shorter, they just ''won't cut her hair''. They often offer to call a therapist or try to calm her down and find out what's wrong, in case it's a reaction to abuse or sexual assault.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Hair Tropes]]

[[Category:Important Haircut]]