All The Tropes

Important Haircut: Difference between revisions

Page Discussion

Important Haircut (view source)

Revision as of 04:17, 8 April 2014

1,117 bytes removed ,  10 years ago
m
Mass update links
VisualWikitext
m (Mass update links)
m (Mass update links)
Line 1:
{{trope}}
[[File:mulan4.jpg|link=Mulan (Disney)|frame|<small>[[Took a Level In Badass|And then she grew a backbone.]]</small> ]]
 
 
{{quote|''Now our last prince must cut his hair, never to return? Sometimes it seems like the gods are laughing at us.''|'''Emishi monk''', ''[[Princess Mononoke (Anime)|Princess Mononoke]]''}}
 
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.
Line 23:
== Anime & Manga ==
* 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.
* Akane Tendo in an early episode of ''[[Ranma One Half|Ranma 1/2]]''. Notable in that [[Traumatic Haircut|she didn't actually have a choice]] [[Close-Call Haircut|in the matter]], but then decides to ask Kasumi to get it more or less cleaned up, ''not'' growing it back. That's because she grew it long originally to attract [[Precocious Crush|her first crush]], Dr. Tofu, but by that time she gets over her love for him.
** 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 (Animeanime)|Noir]]'' has a peculiar "half-bang" style. {{spoiler|Lady Silvana is to blame}}
* In a later episode of ''[[Azumanga Daioh (Manga)|Azumanga Daioh]]'', Tomo gets a new, shorter haircut. She still acts the same, but feels it reflects the new Tomo.
** Meanwhile, Chiyo kind of wondered if it meant Tomo had been dumped, and felt like she had reverted to being like a 1st year (despite Tomo having had longer hair back then).
** 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.
* In ''[[Maria-samaMariasama ga Miteru]]'', Sei (the original ''Rosa Gigantea'') has not just one but ''two'' Important Haircuts.
** In the same series, [[Shaggy Dog Story|a whole episode is dedicated to minor character Mifuyu]], who cuts her hair after realizing that she will never gain Sachiko's favor.
* Another male example: Ginta shaves his head to apologize to Miki after he accidentally breaks her heart in ''[[Marmalade Boy (Manga)|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.
** Spoofed again when Tsutomu, as the series's [[Butt Monkey]] and [[Ted Baxter]], has to shave his head after losing a bet to Ginta.
* During the Chunin exam arc of ''[[Naruto (Manga)|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.
Line 49:
* 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.
* There's an interesting contrast in ''[[Kimi ga Nozomu Eien]]'' -- Mitsuki cuts her long hair short to make a break with the past; meanwhile, Haruka's short hair grows long during the three years she's in a coma.
* In the same vein as the previous two examples, Shiki's hair in [[Kara noKarano 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.
** To be fair, this falls more in [[Expository Hairstyle Change]] or [[Slipknot Ponytail]], since it's the same length but different styles. {{spoiler|At least, up until it goes white, waist-length, and spiky when his demon ancestor takes over his body for a couple of episodes. It goes back to black when Yusuke regains control of his body.}} It's back to normal the next episode, though Yusuke does mention the haircut courtesy of Kurama, so it's not a [[Reset Button]].
** Likewise, Keiko starts out with ponytails, then loses them in favor of shorter hair after they get singed in a fire, but has extremely long hair again at the end of the series.
* Variation: in ''[[Bleach (Manga)|Bleach]]'', {{spoiler|Sosuke Aizen}} does an Important Hairstyle Change when he reveals himself as a [[Big Bad]].
** Inversion: [[The Medic|Orihime]] [[Barrier Warrior|Inoue]] used to have short hair [[Traumatic Haircut|after a group of junior high bullies cut it forcibly]], but when [[Bokukko|Tatsuki Arisawa]] swore to protect her, she grew it back long and claimed she'd never cut it back short since it was now a symbol of their friendship.
** Also, the Vizard changed their hairstyles after leaving Soul Society.
Line 59:
* 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:
** [[Badass Normal|Shishido Ryoh]] is kicked off the Hyoutei tennis club after [[Pride Before a Fall|an embarrassing]] [[Break the Haughty|defeat]], and then sets out to get back on the team through [[Training From Hell|ridiculously harsh training]]; finally, he cuts off his long hair in front of the team's manager, Tarou Sakaki, as a symbol of having become a different person (Atobe Keigo, the captain of the team, says "This guy hasn't lost" after the haircut [[[[Jerk Withwith a Heart of Gold]] as a way of endorsing him).
** 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]].
*** This was played differently and somewhat more like an [[Important Haircut]] in the OAV's: Atobe is actually conscious and sub-regular Haginosuke Taki asks Ryoma to cut ''his'' hair instead. Ryoma seems to consider the offer but Atobe rejects it, swipes the razor from Ryoma's hands and cuts his own hair right there. {{spoiler|In the last OAV series, Atobe * does* really use a wig.}}
Line 69:
** 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.
* Videl in ''[[DragonballDragon Ball]]'' receives an important haircut which lasts throughout virtually all the Buu Saga when Gohan asks her to do it, and his flimsy reason being it will get in the way when she fights. Yeah, right! He just prefer girls with shorter hair. Nonetheless, she did it anyway, despite initially being very angry at his silly reason, which indicated she liked him, despite looking observably annoyed.
** 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 (Manga)|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.
* ''[[Now and Then Here Andand There]] '' provides a rather tragic example of this trope. After being repeatedly raped and assaulted at Hellywood, Sara manages to kill one of the rapists and escape into the desert where she proceeds to cut her hair short (despite the fact that she's American and shouldn't appreciate the symbolism).
* 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..
* In ''[[Dirty Pair (Light Novel)|Dirty Pair]]'' (Flash Series), Lady Flair gets her long hair shot off as she makes her heel-face turn.
* In ''[[Elfen Lied]]'', Nyu cuts off her long hair to impersonate Kouta's younger sister Kanae {{spoiler|to signify Lucy's guilt over killing her}}.
* In ''DNA ^2'', Ami's best friend Kotomi Takanashi keeps at first her hair in pigtails. Later, she cuts it into a pageboy style.
* ''[[Nausicaa of the Valley of Thethe Wind]]'''s title character.
** 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.
* She didn't do it to herself, but Sheeta in [[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.
** 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,}}
*** Likewise, [[Lady of War]] Cecily Fairchild ([[GundamMobile FSuit Gundam 91F91]]) 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.
** Mamori, Musashi, and (briefly) Ishimaru also change hairstyles before the Kanto tournament -- this is less likely an [[Important Haircut]] than a group meme among the team <s>or the artist getting tired of drawing the same hairstyles all the time</s>.
* 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.
* ''[[Last Exile]]'' {{spoiler|Slightly twisted for Sophia's hair-down-to-there upon taking the Imperial Throne. Dio's braid is unwrapped, and his bangs re-brushed to show off his Mark of the Covenant, after being brainwashed for the Rite and turned into a remorseless killing machine.}}
* Yumi in the [[Fafner in Thethe Azure Dead Aggressor (Anime)|Fafner]] special ''Right of Left'' cuts her hair short once she becomes a Fafner pilot.
* In the manga ''[[Get BackersGetBackers]]'', {{spoiler|Kazuki}} chopped off his [[Rapunzel Hair]] {{spoiler|to express his determination to rescue Fuuga and 'get back his lost time'. The scene took up one full page, so that ought to classify it an important haircut.}}
* In the manga ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'', Chrono's braid is cut off during a duel with {{spoiler|Remington. This symbolizes Chrono learning to control his temper, which serves to be a key in later battle.}}
** Also, a flashback shows that Chrono used to have long, flowing hair in his true form when he was a Sinner, but had most of it burned away during the battle that gave him the title "Slayer of a Hundred."
Line 104:
* 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 ''[[Skip Beat (Manga)|Skip Beat]]!'', after discovering she has been deceived and used as an step by the person she loved the most, Kyouko not only cuts short her hair, she also dyes it, as a symbol of her new attitude and personality.
* 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.
Line 110:
** According to author's notes, [[Gender Flip|Female!Japan]] used to have long hair in a [[Hime Cut]], but once she broke off her 200-years long isolation, she cut it shorter to prove that she could now interact with the rest of the world.
* The lead character of ''[[Kaze Hikaru]]'' has already cut her hair at the beginning of the series [[Sweet Polly Oliver|to join the Shinengumi]], but Okita Souji remarks on the depth of her sacrifice.
* In the ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya (Light Novel)|Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' series, Haruhi cuts her hair short in the first episode. Before cutting her hair, she was indifferent to all classmates, changing her hairstyle every day or the week, increasing the number of ribbons each day. When Kyon questions this, the usually aloof Haruhi has a short debate with him, ending with Kyon implying that he finds it unnecessary. The next day Haruhi shows up with her hair cut (to everyone's, especially Kyon's surprise). This event marks the beginning of her opening up to Kyon and creating the SOS Brigade, which is crucial to the series.
** In the Disappearance arc, {{spoiler|the alternate-timeline Haruhi still has long hair and is still snarky and antisocial. This shows how much of an impact Kyon had on Haruhi in the old timeline.}}
* In the manga ''Hanazakari no Kimitachi e'', known as ''[[Hana Kimi]]'' for short, Mizuki cuts her hair in the first few pages because she wants to disguise herself as a boy. This is to sneak into an all-boys' school as a student so she can get close to a student athlete she admires. The gender-reversal is so key to the plot that the reader does not actually get to see Mizuki with long hair. When she is depicted cutting it, her head is not shown until after she has cut it short. later, Mizuki is shown in a flashback taking place before she cut her hair, but some clever art tricks are used so that the sight of her with long hair is again denied.
* Haru from ''[[XamdXam'd: Lost Memories]]'' cuts her hair short after officially enrolling in the army.
** And male lead Akiyuki's grows out after he gains complete control of his powers.
* Gets a [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshade hung on it]] in the dub of the OVA of ''Master of Mosquiton'' when Inaho cuts off her ponytail to signify her search for the [[MacGuffin|O-Parts]] and Mosquiton, the [[Genre Savvy]] vampire, complains about her doing "the hair-cutting thing."
Line 123:
* There is a sort of inverted example in ''[[Shuffle]]'' Asa Shigure's short hair grows longer when she {{spoiler|uses magic to save Rin's life after he attempts suicide... to force her use said magic and stop bottling it inside her body}}. This change signifies that [[Character Development|Asa has finally come to terms]] with her heritage as {{spoiler|a half-demon and the daughter of the first being experimented on by the gods and the demons}}.
* 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.
* ''[[Naru TaruNarutaru]]'' 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.
* Somewhat subverted in [[Boys Love]] manga ''Doushitemo Furetakunai'' in which Shima cuts his hair shorter to signify that he renounces any hope of keeping up his relationship with Togawa only to have Togawa calling him out on it so that he ends up going back on his resolution. Shima at one point reflects that girls tend to cut their hair when they're dumped thus acknowledging the validity of this trope.
* Both subverted and respected in the [[Boys Love]] manga ''[[Koi Ga Bokura O Yurusu Hani]]''. Yamazaki tries to change his hairdo to make it look less girlish in an attempt at revamping his image but it does not work. Miku gets a radical haircut once she finally decides {{spoiler|to accept the relationship between Eiji and Yamazaki, thus moving on from her emotional hang ups}}
* After {{spoiler|accidentally causing the ribbon to run out of time and getting Hime-chan [[Shapeshifter Mode Lock|stuck as Hibino Hikaru]]}}, Erika from ''[[Hime Chan-chan no Ribon|Hime-chan No Ribbon]]'' cuts off her gorgeous, [[Rapunzel Hair|extrememly long]] blonde hair so that she can [[Twin Switch|impersonate Hime-chan]] at home and school until they can find some way to {{spoiler|reverse the transformation}}. The next time we see her after she goes back home, her hair has grown out to shoulder-length.
* While only shown for a moment in a 'growing up' montage [[MAR|MAR's]] Ginta gets his hair cut at one point during his first trip into the Shuuren no Mon.
* In ''[[Captain Tsubasa]]'', Kumi Sugimoto cuts her [[Girlish Pigtails]] midway through the WYC arc, to offer it as a sacrifice to a Shinto goddess and bring good luck to the Japanese team.
Line 134:
* A [[Flash Back]] chapter of ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'' reveals that Momoka gave herself an Important Haircut when her [[Split Personality|dark side]] emerged for the first time upon seeing Tamama on the bad end of a [[Curb Stomp Battle]]. Coupled with [[Action Dress Rip]].
* ''[[Sakura Gari]]'': Masataka gives one to Souma to signify {{spoiler|his [[Missing Mom]] Abigail's definitive passing, and Lord Saiki's acceptance of such a fact}}.
* Subverted in ''[[Wandering Son]]'': When formerly depressed [[Transsexual|trans-girl]] Nitori cuts her hair short, everyone thinks she's decided to be a boy after all, when in fact she wanted a "pixie" haircut like the ''female'' model in a magazine (think Mia Farrow in ''[[RosemarysRosemary's Baby]]''). It's used as a plot point though, it shows how much she's growing out of her androgyny.
** Played straight in the same series with the resident trans-boy, Takatsuki. He cuts his hair early in the first volume, from a bob to a pixie. In middle school he grows it back into a [[Bob Haircut]] due to a female friend of his saying he looks better with it. After being told how it makes him look like a tomboy and he's "cute" with it, he cuts his hair. At the beginning of high school he begins letting his hair grow again though.
* In ''[[Heat Guy J]]'', Giovanni {{spoiler|has to go destroy J, even though he knows it will hurt someone to whom Giovanni and his best friend owe their lives}}. Before he does so, he tries to look like a different person by shaving his mullet into a mohawk and dyeing it blue. Meanwhile, his best friend looks on nervously, knowing that this isn't going to go well.
Line 140:
* 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.}}
* ''[[Fairy Tail]]'': A few instances, most notably when Fried Justine shaves off his [[Long-Haired Pretty Boy|waist-length hair]] after {{spoiler|Laxus is excommunicated from the guild}}. Lampshaded in Lucy's narration when she remarks that he "seems to have taken the old-fashioned position of 'contemplation = head-shaving'." Notably, he grows it back to its original length not much later (probably with the aid of, y'know, [[A Wizard Did It|magic]]), so it's possible it was either done for the sake of the joke, or else someone pointed out that he looks silly with a shaved head.
* 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.
* In ''[[Corsair (Light Novel)|Corsair]]'', Ayace cuts off [[Long-Haired Pretty Boy|Canale's]] hair instead of killing him as requested, leaving the severed hair at Canale's family mansion (now on fire) as symbol of his old life and encouraging him to move on and live.
* ''[[Pandora Hearts]]'': {{spoiler|Leo}} gets one in Retrace 61.
* During ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (Animeanime)|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}}
* Ayumu from ''[[Life (Mangamanga)|Life]]'' cut her hair when she began middle school, around the same time she became depressed and started to [[Self -Harm]] herself. She cut it shorter later in the story, when she became more happy with herself.
** 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.
** It doesn't really seem to be important so much as funny, however, as the hairstyles Franky's displayed so far include his original pompadour, his new buzz-cut, a mohawk, and bull horns.
* 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 (Literature)|Katanagatari]]'' Togame suffers this, at the hand of {{spoiler|Nanami}}.
 
 
Line 157:
* In the "Season of Mists" [[Story Arc]] of ''[[The Sandman (Comic Book)|The Sandman]]'', [[Satan|Lucifer]] -- depicted as looking like an ordinary if rather good-looking human apart from the great big wings growing from his back -- resigns from being Ruler of Hell and [[Lucifer (Comic Book)|goes off to live among the mortals]]; in a gesture combining practicality with the symbolism of the [[Important Haircut]], his last act as Ruler of Hell is to ask the Sandman -- his enemy on the best of days -- to cut his wings off. He doesn't bother with anaesthetic.
* 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.
* When [[Superman (Comic Book)|Superman]] came [[Back From the Dead]], he had shoulder-length hair (worn in a ponytail as Clark). During the preparations for his wedding, he had it cut to its previous length.
** 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.
Line 164:
* After an extended period offworld and [[Body Horror|near-transformation into a predatory alien]], Storm of the ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' steadily veered away from her serene [[Friend to All Living Things|nature-loving]] [[Technical Pacifist]] [[Team Mom]] persona to the point of stabbing a woman in the heart during a duel for rulership of the Morlocks. This culminated with her showing up to Wolverine's wedding in leather pants, a matching tube-top with vest, and a mohawk (her clothes and much of her [[Rapunzel Hair|hair]] were burned earlier that week, but less jarring salvage options were available even in Tokyo).
** The mohawk was meant as a joke by Paul Smith, the regular artist of the book at time. He did include some feminine hairstyles among the potential new looks.
** Referenced in ''[[Ultimate X Men|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 (Creator)|Grant Morrison's]] run on ''[[Animal Man (Comic Book)|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.
* Another Morrison example--in ''[[The Invisibles (Comic Book)|The Invisibles]]'', Jack Frost cuts his previously long hair into a shorter style upon finally accepting [[The Call]]. This is foreshadowed earlier in the series, when Boy tells him he should cut his hair as at its current length it would get into his eyes when he was fighting- the obvious symbolism of the haircut being that he is now ready to begin said fighting.
* In the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (Comic Bookcomics)|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|Y: The Last Man]]. Agent 355 cuts Yorick's hair after the traumatic events in "Cycles".
* The [[Silver Age]] origin of Lex Luthor is that he [[Face Heel Turn|turned evil]] after [[Superman|Superboy]] accidentally made his hair fall out. Really. (Oh, okay, there's some stuff about pride and betrayal and destroyed experiments, but the baldness is the important thing.)
* In ''[[Cross Gen|Meridian]]'', minor character Feabie cuts off her braid with a dagger to prove to her unrequited love Jad that she can be as serious and useful as his missing girlfriend Sephie (the protagonist). Metafictionally, this was meant to make them more distinct from each other, as both Sephie and Feabie had long blond hair.
Line 174:
* Lisa from [[Funky Winkerbean]] lost her hair ''twice'' in the strip's run. First, a building fell on her and her head had to be shaved for brain surgery. Then there was the cancer.
* [[Batman|Catwoman]] has a history of giving herself important haircuts. Most recently, she hacked off her hair in a public bathroom after giving up her daughter for adoption, trading longer mommy hair for her usual short action-ready style.
* Ramona Flowers has one in volume 5 of the ''[[Scott Pilgrim (Comic Book)|Scott Pilgrim]]'' series.
** 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.
Line 193:
* In the movie ''[[Sliding Doors]]'', the version of Helen that ''did'' find her boyfriend in bed with another woman had an Important Haircut, allowing the audience to easily distinguish Single, Empowered, Blonde Helen from Cheated-on, Dowdy, Brunette Helen.
* Evey Hammond is shaved bald in the ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' movie at a crucial moment in her character development. A band even named themselves "Natalie Portman's Shaved Head" after this scene. Yes, really.
* Parodied in ''[[Shoot 'Em Up (Filmfilm)|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."
* Used to effect at the end of ''[[Elizabeth]]'', as Elizabeth I of England declares herself the Virgin Queen.
* 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.
* The female protagonist of ''[[GIG.I. Jane]]'' shaves her head during her special operations training.
* 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.
Line 205:
* ''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.
* 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 (Filmfilm)|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.
* Reese Witherspoon's character Vanessa Julia Lutz gets an unwanted Important Haircut in ''[[Freeway]]''.
* Jim of ''[[Twenty Eight Days Later|28 Days Later]]'' shaved and cut his hair at Frank's place, just about when he stopped being the baby of the team and became competent and sure of himself.
* In ''[[Empire Records]]'', Deb comes to work on the day the movie is set, goes into the bathroom, and shaves her head.
* In ''[[Shanghai Noon]]'', the antagonist Lo Fong cuts off Chon Wang's braid, which is a very important status symbol to an Imperial Guard to the Emperor of China. Without this braid, he would not be allowed to return to China on punishment of death, and so because of this, his primary objective changes and he starts to embrace the "Western world".
** In the film ''[[The Last Emperor]]'', Pu Yi (the last imperial ruler of China) cuts his own braid off, but rather than it being a symbol for the loss of his power it's instead a sign of his resolve to break with the past and take an active role in ruling The Forbidden City (which, up until that point in his life, he had merely been a figurehead ruler for.)
* ''[[Sunshine (Filmfilm)|Sunshine]]'' (2007). After a fight with a fellow crewmember, engineer Mace shaves and cuts his hair short to show that he's going to focus on the mission from now on.
* In ''Hostage'', our hero played by Bruce Willis starts out as a stressed out big city hostage negotiator with a full, bushy beard and long, unkempt hair. In the second scene he is now a small town police chief who is a stickler about the dress and deportment of his officers; he is clean shave, head and face, having left the insanity of his former job behind.
* In ''[[The Chronicles of Riddick]]'' Vin Diesel begins as a furry man-on-the-run. While he jacks his pursuer's ship and finds the man he thinks hired them, it is just after shaving that he definitively switches from being the hunted to the hunter.
Line 218:
* In ''[[Mongol]]'', Jamukha shaves his head to mourn the killing of his brother by Temudgin's guards.
* In ''The Accused'' Jodie Foster does it after she's been raped.
* In ''[[Sleeping Withwith the Enemy]]'', Julia Robert's character cuts her hair as part of her transformation from battered, submissive wife to free woman.
* In ''Splendor in the Grass'', Deanie ([[Natalie Wood]]) cuts her hair, to get rid of her "nice girl" looks.
* 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.
Line 224:
** This occurs after she sees ''[[The Passion of Joan of Arc]]''; she is adopting the hairstyle of that movie's heroine.
** More soberingly, Putter does the same thing out of defiance after her mother hits her.
* The protagonist of ''[[Cthulhu (Filmfilm)|Cthulhu]]'' (2007), shortly after arriving back in his hometown, shaves his head similar to his estranged father. As this happens early in the movie I'm not sure exactly what it was supposed to symbolise, though it's apparently a case of [[Real Life Writes the Plot]] -- the actor had shaved his head for another role, yet was playing a college professor).
* 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.
Line 231:
* This happens in the sequel to ''[[The Boondock Saints]]''. Connor and Murphy [[Mac Manus]] 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.]]
{{quote| '''Murphy''': Two days ago we looked like Jesus Christ. [[What Were You Thinking?|What the fuck did we cut our hair for]]?<br />
'''Connor''': Yeah that's right. I dunno, [[It Seemed Like a Good Idea At Thethe Time|just seemed like the thing to do at the time]], though, didn't it? }}
* In ''[[Smoke Signals (Film)|Smoke Signals]]'', Victor mourns his father by cutting his hair.
* In the ''[[Star Wars]]'' universe, when a Padawan is made a full Jedi Knight, they have their braid is severed by Lightsaber in their knighting ceremony.
* In ''Heaven'', Cate Blanchett shaving her head symbolises her meeting her soul-mate. (Who happened to have the same name and a shaved head, too.)
** Elizabeth [[The Virgin Queen]].
* This happens in ''[[Tangled (Disney)|Tangled]]'' when {{spoiler|Flynn cuts Rapunzel's hair as she is about to heal him. He does this because cutting her hair causes it to lose its magic powers, thereby revoking Mother Gothel's immortality and having her go through [[Rapid Aging]] to the point of death}}.
** Of course, {{spoiler|Gothel's death was an unexpected side effect. By cutting Rapunzel's hair though, Flynn intended to free Rapunzel from a lifetime of captivity, even though he would die.}}
* In ''[[Roman Holiday]]'', [[Audrey Hepburn]]'s character Ann cuts off her long, princessy locks in favour of a fun, trendy style, representing her momentary attempt to fulfill her [[I Just Want to Be Normal|longing to be an ordinary girl.]]
* In ''[[The a A-Team (Filmfilm)|The a Team]]'', after breaking B.A. out of prison, the others give him a razor but he simply cuts his hair short rather than into his usual mohawk as he now rejects the violence it represented to him. Later, after he accepts that violence can be right and necessary, this shift is emphasized by the dramatic reveal of the mohawk's return.
* In ''The Candidate'', one of the first signs that Robert Redford's principled-liberal-insurgent title character is starting to get co-opted by the system is when he gets a haircut.
* 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.
Line 260:
** 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.
* In ''New Moon'', the second book in the ''[[Twilight (Literaturenovel)|Twilight]]'' series, Jacob and his friends get short haircuts after joining the reservation gang. Turns out {{spoiler|long hair makes shaggy werewolves}}.
* Two of the main characters in ''[[The Outsiders]]'' cut their hair off while on the run from the law. Important as their hair is the most obvious symbol of their Greaser status.
* In ''[[The Time Travelers Wife]]'', Henry has his shoulder-length hair cut off shortly before his wedding, to symbolize leaving behind his immature playboy lifestyle and becoming more like the responsible adult Clare fell in love with in the first place. Conveniently, this also means {{spoiler|his future self can convincingly stand in for him at the wedding ceremony itself (since cold feet and nerves in his present self end up triggering his time travel).}}
Line 270:
** 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.
* In Louisa May Alcott's ''[[Little Women]]'', Jo March cuts her long, beautiful auburn reddish hair and sells it to a wig maker to raise money for her mother's trip to where their father is in a Union Army hospital. It was her one real beauty and a great personal sacrifice to help her family; her sister Meg catches her crying later that night and Jo is embarrassed as she explains it's for her hair (she would cut it again and again if she couñd, but her tears are her last sign of vanity).
* Subverted in ''[[Honor Harrington (Literature)|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 [[Ben Elton]]'s novel ''Dead Famous'', Sally, a contestant on a ''[[Big Brother]]''-style game show, expresses a desire for an [[Important Haircut]] and cuts and dyes her hair while staying in the house. It turns out to be a ''very'' important haircut, because {{spoiler|the show's producer planned to murder one of the girls to boost ratings, and "pre-recorded" the scene for all five female contestants. Sally was the first target but was not killed because she no longer looked like the fake Sally on the videotape.}}
* 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 (Literature)|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.
* F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a short story called ''Bernice Bobs Her Hair''.
* 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.
Line 282:
* 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 ''[[Animorphs (Literature)|Animorphs]],'' Ax once mentions an Andalite custom where someone who has disgraced himself gets his fur cut short in a particular style. The idea is that one's honor slowly returns as the hair grows back. He gives this kind of haircut to Andalite!Tobias, but this is an [[Averted Trope|aversion]]--he just doesn't want it to be as obvious that the two of them are identical.
* 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 Byby 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 short story that is a prequel to [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s [[Heralds of Valdemar|VowsAndHonor]] duology, Tarma's hair is cut off by her Goddess to show that she has been accepted as Swordsworn.
* 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 (Literature)|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 (TV)|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.
** Subverted however in that the haircut doesn't signify any real change. Buffy cuts it after Spike compliments her hair -- Buffy recently had sex with him for the first time and is regretting her decision, but is back for round two before the episode is over.
* 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 seriously, Starbuck gives herself an [[Important Haircut]] in the third season of the new ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]'', and in a rare male example, Adama importantly shaves off his mustache.
Line 302:
** 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.
* In ''[[Breaking Bad]]'', Walt's decision to shave his head rather than deal with the hair loss from chemo coincides with a truly phenomenal [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]]: at the end of the episode in which he goes bald, he {{spoiler|uses a bag of crystal meth to gain entrance to the den of a druglord who had just hospitalized his partner... then ''blows up the room'' with what he reveals to be, in fact, fulminated mercury}}. [[Took a Level In Badass]], indeed.
* In ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (TV)|Star Trek Deep Space Nine]]'', at approximately the same time Ben Sisko was promoted from Commander to Captain, he shaves his head and grows a goatee. (Actor Avery Brooks was initially forbidden from appearing with a shaved head, which had been a trademark of his [http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0027068/ long-standing character in another series]. Eventually, it was evidently decided that the actor had transcended the earlier part.) Also, about the same time Kira Nerys is promoted from Major to Colonel, her hair goes from short and boyish to shoulder-length.
* 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 (TV)|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.
* Matt McNamera on ''[[Nip Tuck]]'' shaves his head as part of the coping process after finding out that his parents blackmailed his much-older [[Transsexual]] girlfriend into leaving town -- although ''before'' becoming a Neo-Nazi, oddly enough.
* ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess (TV)|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 (TV)|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.
** Lana Lang also chopped off some hair to try and [[Take a Level In Badass]] through training with her personal Yoda. Somewhat subverted unintentionally in that that didn't pan out.
* Played with in ''[[The Wire]]''. Drug dealer in training Namond Brice has a distinctive frizzy ponytail that his compatriots all urge him to cut, since it makes him easily identifiable. He finally braids it, only to realize shortly afterwards that the drug trade isn't for him and be adopted by a former cop. He's next seen months later, with the frizzy ponytail again.
** Preceded by De'Andre in ''The Corner'', except De'Andre actually cut his hair.
** Omar Little also shaves off his cornrows between seasons three and four: right after he {{spoiler|kills Stringer Bell}} and {{spoiler|puts an end to his quest to avenge Brandon}}.
* Marian cuts her hair at the beginning of series four of ''[[Maid Marian and Her Merry Men (TV)|Maid Marian and Her Merry Men]]'', in an attempt to look tougher. The DVD commentary states that the actress had cut her hair for a play in between seasons, and didn't have time to grow it again.
* Lori cuts Jessi's hair near the end of season 2 of ''[[Kyle XY]]'' when {{spoiler|Sarah, who has shorter hair, comes}} and she {{spoiler|leaves her "father".}} Lori even utters the line "Once we do this there's no turning back."
* ''[[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 ''[[Twenty Four|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|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.
* After the rather ''brutal'' second season opening of ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'', John cuts off his long mop of hair. That episode implies it's to show [[Took a Level In Badass|how many levels of badass he's taken]], and the next few episodes suggest that he's rebelling in the face of having watched his mother kill a man (the preceding episode made a point out of Sarah's unwillingness to kill humans), but a later episode reveals that {{spoiler|it's actually very justified, because it was ''John'' who had just killed a man for the first time, and self loathing is a normal reaction}}.
* In ''[[GreysGrey'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.
* In the Australian TV show ''Phoenix'' (1992-3) undercover cop Laz Carides is reluctant to give up his independence to become a member of the suit-and-tie-wearing Major Crimes squad. His eventual acceptance of his new role is shown when he cuts off his (much commented on) ponytail.
* Used in the second season of ''[[The L Word]]'' when Shane gives the newly-out Jenny a short haircut.
* In ''[[NCIS (TV)|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.
** Additionally, during the obligatory amnesia episode, Gibbs thinks he is still a Marine, and gives himself the appropriate crew cut.
* 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.
Line 334:
{{quote| '''Kaga:''' [[Crowning Moment of Funny|May I touch it?]]}}
* ''[[Towards the Republic]]'' dramatizes young Sun Yat-sen's rejection of the Qing Dynasty by depicting him cutting off his braid in public and throwing it away.
* In the Australian series ''[[McLeodsMcLeod'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.
* Brad from [[Home Improvement]] gets a ponytail as a self-expression, much to Tim's initial chagrin. Later on, [[Emo Teen]] Mark shaves his head after a break-up.
* 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.
* In the original version of ''[[Survivors (TV series)|Survivors]]'', Abby gives herself one of these at the end of the first episode.
* ''[[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.
Line 353:
* Sally Draper cuts her hair in season 4 of ''[[Mad Men]]'', it turns out creepily similar to her Betty's and emphasises the parallels of their characters.
* An episode of ''[[Chicago Hope]]'' featured a teenaged boy who had been raised as a girl. After making a pass at his (female) best friend he went home and chopped off his long hair to try and pass as a boy.
* Shane of ''[[The Walking Dead (TV series)|The Walking Dead]]'' gave himself one after shooting {{spoiler|Otis and using him as a meaty distraction.}}
* When ''[[La Femme Nikita]]'' unexpectedly got a fifth season, the star, Peta Wilson, had cut short her trademark blonde tresses, thinking the show had ended. The first episode of the season turns this into a symbolic moment in which she crops her [[Hair of Gold|Blonde Hair of Innocence]] (an obvious wig, unfortunately), as she doomedly returns to Section One.
 
 
== Music ==
* [[Metallica (Music)|Metallica]] experienced a backlash from their fans when they cut their hair prior to the release of 1996's ''Load'' (after a pyrotechnics accident forced James Hetfield to cut his, possibly out of solidarity). Guitarist Kirk Hammett has stated that "Metallica is all about music, not the length of our hair." During Alice in Chains' ''MTV Unplugged'' performance (which Metallica attended), bassist Mike Inez wrote on his bass guitar, "Friends Don't Let Friends Get Friends Haircuts..." However, the line was in fact just a ''[[Friends]]'' reference and the relation with Metallica's new haircuts was coincidental.
** Speaking of Alice in Chains, singer Layne Staley cut his signature dreadlocks around the time he started using heroin.
* Garbage singer Shirley Manson cut her trademark red hair short and dyed it blonde after splitting from her husband in 2001.
Line 386:
 
== Theatre ==
* In [[Alcestis (Theatre)|Alcestis]], Admetus orders all in Thessaly to cut their hair in mourning for Alcestis.
 
 
== Video Games ==
* Princess Cecilia from ''[[Wild Arms 1 (Video Game)|Wild ARMs]]'' cuts her hair to show her dedication to the party.
* 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.
* In ''[[Final Fantasy IX (Video Game)|Final Fantasy IX]]'', [[White Magician Girl|Princess Garnet]] goes into a period of mourning after her coronation as Queen of Alexandria is interrupted by an invasive attack by the [[Big Bad]] -- a piece of unfinished business she left hanging when she went home to assume the throne. Eventually, she learns to put the incident, and her [[It's All My Fault|sense of shame over it]], behind her. As an expression of her newfound devotion to give her all to finding and stopping the [[Big Bad]], for her people and for every kingdom in the world, she borrows one of [[The Hero|Zidane]]'s daggers -- which have a previously established significance in her sense of identity - and uses it to give herself an [[Important Haircut]].
** In a slight twist, her hair has grown back to its original length by the end of the game, although the symbolic weight of the [[Important Haircut]] doesn't seem to be diminished by it.
* Luke cuts his hair in ''[[Tales Series(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.
* Used in ''[[Fire Emblem]]: [[Fire Emblem Tellius (Video Game)|Radiant Dawn]]'' but with a twist: Lucia getting a [[Traumatic Haircut]] marks a significant turning point for Elincia.
** 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 Sa gaSaGa 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.}}
* A not-just-symbolic example: in the ''[[Starcraft]]'' universe, the the Dark Templar officially and literally cut themselves off from the Protoss race by cutting off their "nerve-appendages": thick, hair-like fibers at the back of their heads that connect the Protoss to a sort of communal mind-link.
* Jeanne D'Arc in... well, ''[[Jeanne D Arc]]'' when she decides to pursuit the Englishmen and join the army.
Line 405:
* The [[King of All Cosmos]] suffers one in his youth, as depicted in his flashbacks in ''[[Katamari Damacy|We Love Katamari]]''.
* Referenced in ''[[Dragon Age]]'', when {{spoiler|Marjolaine comments that Leliana cut her hair "like a boy" after escaping from Orlais}}
* After getting into a car accident with {{spoiler|Miki Hoshii}} in "[[The Idolmaster (Videovideo Gamegame)|THE iDOLM@STER]]", she vows not to take things lightly ever again and then she asks the player if he likes short-haired girls. The next week she comes in with short, un-dyed hair. Her personality also changes, making her more strong-willed and hard-working. She also seems to be madly in love with the producer, calling him "Honey."
* In ''[[Punch Out]] Wii'', before your second match with Von Kaiser, he is shown getting a military cut, simbolizing he's not letting his emotional trauma hinder him for the next match.
* ''[[Resident Evil Outbreak]]'' does this with Yoko. In the intro she rushes into the bathroom to cut her hair, because Umbrella assassins were after her. However this would also tie into her Eastern character, abandoning her life working on bioweapons and trying to put it behind her.
* [[Max Payne (Video Gameseries)|Max Payne]] shaves his head in the third game, after growing a [[Beard of Sorrow]] and putting on some weight.
 
 
Line 414:
* 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 (Visual Novel)|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.
* ''[[Clannad (Visual Novel)|Clannad]]'', in the Kyou OVA/Kyou route of the game, when Tomoya calls Ryou out to {{spoiler|break up with her and apologize for falling for her sister}}, instead Kyou comes in Ryou's place, but her hair was already cut short, thus making her fool Tomoya until she utters his name.
* In [[Katawa Shoujo (Visual Novel)|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 ==
* Used multiple times in ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|El Goonish Shive]]''.
** Ellen cuts her hair shorter just as she is starting to find her place in the world.
** Susan dyed her hair and had it cut after finding out about her father.
Line 426:
* 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.
* Marten of ''[[Questionable Content]]'' seems to always get a haircut just before something interesting happens between him and Faye.
* Done twice in [[Abstract Gender (Webcomic)|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.
* Also in [[Questionable Content]], Dora decides to grow her dyed-black hair out shortly before a [[Time Skip]]; presumably, in the skipped time, {{spoiler|Faye and Sven both grow accustomed to their friends-with-benefits relationship}}, which makes it all the more painful for both of them when {{spoiler|he has a one-night stand with someone else}}.
* The [[Robot Girl|'dating sim accessory']] Ping in ''[[Megatokyo]]'' has her previously longer-than-waistlength ponytails [http://www.megatokyo.com/strip/577 trimmed by a plasma cannon shot];later on,at the beginning of the next chapter,we see her behaving like a 'real', [http://www.megatokyo.com/strip/661 possessive] girl. The ''next'' two chapters top this with her gaining an Important [http://www.megatokyo.com/strip/782 Hair Colour], Height Change, [http://www.megatokyo.com/strip/882 Breast Expansion] ''and'' [http://www.megatokyo.com/strip/881 Personality Switch] in order to make her more attractive to her 'owner', Piro.
Line 435:
** {{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.}}
* Shelly in ''[[Wapsi Square]]'' [http://wapsisquare.com/comic/03312004/ cuts her hair] while dealing with some emotional issues. [http://wapsisquare.com/comic/06022004/ Semi-lampshaded] a little later.
* [http://www.shortpacked.com/d/20080711.html Newly confident Amber] in ''[[Shortpacked (Webcomic)|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.}}
** Oasis also gave herself one of these in order to make herself look more like Zoe, though in the same arc a lot of it was burned off as well. Her previous [[Anime Hair]] was restored when she came [[Back From the Dead]] (again).
Line 443:
* Played straight in ''[[Penny and Aggie]]'' when Sarah got an extreme haircut to symbolize coming out of the closet.
* The lead character and author mouthpiece in ''Atheist Eve'' started out with a short bob, but was suddenly drawn with long hair in a strip focusing on evolution. It's been that way ever since.
* Lampshaded in [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0647.html this] ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|Order of the Stick]]'', and then again [http://www.GiantITP.com/comics/oots0752.html here].
{{quote| '''Elan''': You know, I had just assumed that your short hair was somehow symbolic of your character growth.<br />
'''Haley''': Me too! I guess it was just a crappy haircut.<br />
Line 449:
** Done a bit more seriously with Vaarsuvius, who [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0667.html starts wearing hir hair in a ponytail] and acting considerably more patient and humble after...well, going crazy for a little bit.
* A minor variation in [[Everyday Heroes]]. Jane, during her career as a villain, had a long black wig as part of her costume. It was [http://www.webcomicsnation.com/eddurd/everydayheroes/series.php?view=single&ID=144918 yanked off] in the middle of the fight during her [[Heel Face Turn]], and she's been an [[Hair Colors|ordinary brunette]] ever since.
* ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|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}}.
* Alex from ''[[Khaos Komix]]'' got a [http://www.khaoskomix.com/cgi-bin/comic.cgi?chp=6&page=31 haircut from his sister], as a part of tryting to transform himself more attractive. Earlier, Maria started her change into Tom by [http://shorthaircutsv.com Short Haircuts]
* Felix in ''[[Queen of Wands (Webcomic)|Queen of Wands]]'' usually sports long, bright blue hair; he cuts it and gets rid of the dye when {{spoiler|the baby comes}}.
* Nimmel from ''[[Dominic Deegan]]'' gives himself one in [http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2010-03-19 this strip].
* [[Derelict (Webcomicwebcomic)|Derelict]] [http://derelictcomic.com/?strip_id=33 here]
* [[Roza]] [http://www.junglestudio.com/roza/index.php?date=2007-05-09 The horse's tail]
* [[Strays]] [http://www.straysonline.com/comic/169.htm Holland subjects Meela to one]
* Inverted in [[Drow TalesDrowtales]] - 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.
* [http://hairstyles2012x.com Hairstyles 2012]
Line 468:
 
== Western Animation ==
* After his own sister Azula attempts to drag him home in chains, Prince Zuko and his Uncle Iroh of ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' cut off their ceremonial top-knots in a dramatic scene, both as a symbol of serious exile from their own Nation and as a practical measure to pass in the Earth Kingdom. Later episodes show them growing out their hair gradually and consistently. Their heads had previously been shaved, except for those queues (top-knots). The former is probably a reference to the queues worn by Chinese men during the Qing dynasty to symbolize their loyalty to the Emperor (see Real Life below), while the shaggy mop Zuko wound up with by the end of the second season reflected [[Turn of the Millennium]] styles for teenage boys throughout the developed world, giving Zuko an air of [[Real Life|familiarity]] as well as emphasizing his youth, concealing the more jagged areas of his burn scar, and giving his face a much softer look to it, as his [[Backstory]] was filled out and he became a [[Anti-Villain|more sympathetic character]].
** Zuko also gets an Important Hairstyle Change for the first part of season three; somehow the mop he was wearing in Ba Sing Se is long enough to tie up smoothly, and [[Overlord, Jr.|Prince Zuko]] goes around with a proper grown-up topknot for the first time in his life.
** He is crowned at the end with the spikey flame hair ornament his father used to wear! (The Fire Nation 'crown' is actually ''stuck into your topknot'', so not having one when technically in line for the throne is definitely a big deal.)
Line 476:
** Zuko actually had another important haircut, just after he was banished (with his Uncle Iroh). Beforehand, he had [http://piandao.org/screencaps/ep12/ep12-530.png a full head of hair,] but just a week later, he was [http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100705165233/avatar/images/9/9e/Zuko_Iroh_WAT.png mostly bald.] It's never explained if this haircut was a symbolic haircut of disgrace forced on him when he was banished, something he did to himself for his own reasons, or simply a way to keep his hair out of his face while his burn healed. After all [http://www.healthytextures.com/articles/20100412 badly burned hair] would have to be removed and anything hot enough to cause 2nd degree burns would definately scorch your hair.
* In the transition from ''[[Justice League]]'' to ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'', [[Green Lantern]] John Stewart, like Sisko before him, shaves ''his'' head and grows a goatee. Whether this is a deliberate reference to Sisko is unknown. Unusually for a male character, Stewart's [[Important Haircut]] immediately follows his traumatic break up with Shayera.
* 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.
** Also, in the time travel movie ''A Sitch in Time'', the older present Ron advised the past young Ron that he should keep the haircut.
Line 482:
** To round it all off, when he ''finally'' gets in the photo at the last second, '''he doesn't even smile.'''
* A ''[[Rugrats]]'' episode was about Chucky's first haircut.
* At the end of the ''[[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|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 Asas 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 (Animation)|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.
** Sierra's hair was blasted off in an explosion just as she was finally undergoing enough [[Character Development]] to be [[Rescued From the Scrappy Heap]].
* ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|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.
 
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/881946"