Letting Her Hair Down: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|''Do not then winde up that light

 

Often, when a female character is particularly serious or uptight, her hair will be serious and uptight too -- [[Prim and Proper Bun|pulled back in a tight bun, or something of that sort]]. When said woman gets a love interest and starts to loosen up a little (as such characters almost inevitably do), she will start wearing her hair down, or at least in a looser style.

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

 

* In the first ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' anime, First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, normally seen with an efficient, no-nonsense bun, finally takes her hair down in the very last episode to visit wounded comrade [[Unresolved Sexual Tension|Roy Mustang]].

** In the manga, she takes her hair down when she gets a day off.

* No-nonsense Dr. Chiba in ''[[Paprika]]'' wears her hair in a neat bun; we only see it down when she's asleep or {{spoiler|in the process of transforming into her free-spirited dream avatar Paprika.}}

* In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's]]'', Aki reverses this: when she lets her hair down, it's a ''bad'' sign. The band holding her hair up is designed to hold her psychic powers in check. When it comes off and her hair is let down, run.

** Lenalee has done this several times, too, before she gets an [[Important Haircut]].

* ''[[After War Gundam X|Gundam X]]'''s Tiffa Addil has a ponytailed [[Hime Cut]], but {{spoiler|when [[Barrier Maiden]] Lucille Lilliant [[Grand Theft Me|"borrows" her body]] to ask for help from Jamil, Tiffa's adoptive father as well as her former pupil}}, she lets it loose.

* Nightfall from ''[[Elf Quest]]'' can't be described as uptight by any stretch, but she does keep her long brown hair under a headscarf except in her most intimate moments.

 

 

== Film ==

* In ''[[Loaded Weapon 1]]'', Destiny Demeanor is introduced wearing glasses and her hair up in a bun. When she lets her hair down, she is replaced with an obviously different actress. Colt's reaction? "You should always wear your hair down."

* Lee the masochistic heroine of ''[[Secretary]]'' mostly wears her hair braided across her head to begin with. As she enters a, well, ''unconventional'' romance with her boss, she starts to wear it down, especially at moments when she clearly feels most confident. She reverts to updos somewhat as the relationship founders, but her reunion with her lover culminates in a scene in which he tenderly and sensually ''washes'' her hair, which is of course down for the purpose.

* Done by serious librarian Evy in ''[[The Mummy Trilogy|The Mummy]]''. She is played by Rachel Weisz, so also a [[Hot Librarian]].

* Played in reverse in ''[[Pleasantville]]'': Jennifer starts out with her hair down, but becomes ''more'' serious as the movie goes on, and pulls her hair back at about the same time as she discovers literature.

* Twice inverted in [[Tangled]], since it was after a long time with Flynn that she put her hair up, and let it back down {{spoiler|after returning to Mother Gothel}}.

* Other Disney examples include:

** [[Cinderella (Disney film)|Cinderella]], when the effects of the [[Fairy Godmother]]'s magic spell start to wear off.

** ''[[101 Dalmatians|One Hundred and One Dalmatians]]'', when Anita falls into the pond.

== Literature ==

* Hester Prynne lets her hair down during her secret forest rendezvous with Rev. Dimmesdale in ''[[The Scarlet Letter]]''.

* In ''[[A Tree Grows in Brooklyn]]'', Francie's mother won't let her get a fashionable bob because a woman should have long hair as her "secret" beauty that only her lover/husband (well, presumably Katie means husband) gets to see when she unpins it at the end of the day.

* In ''[[The Worst Witch]]'' books, it's tradition that at the Halloween celebrations all the teachers and pupils wear their hair down. Miss Hardbroom is described to have shining black tresses tumbling down to her waist and Mildred remarks that she doesn't look half as frightening with her hair down.

* Subverted in an episode of ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'' where during GOB's seduction attempt, secretary Kitty undoes her bun and removes her glasses to reveal horribly frizzy hair and severely crossed eyes.

* ''[[Degrassi]]'' character Holly J starts out with her hair in a tight ponytail at all times, letting her hair down once in a failed seduction technique on resident hottie Blue. As she becomes more comfortable with people, and stops being the [[Alpha Bitch]], she slowly moves to less uptight hairstyles. Season 9 she wears a series of cute functional hairbands, finally in Season 10 she moved to her hair being unadorned unless for practical reasons for whatever activity is going on. Other characters have done the switch to hair down for [[Beautiful All Along]] reasons.

* When [[Elvira, Mistress of the Dark]] lets her [[Beehive Hairdo]] down, she ''really'' lets it down! You wouldn't expect such a small beehive to have so much hair in it.

* Inverted on ''[[NCIS]]''. When we meet Ziva, she's a wild, seductive, crazy, Israeli, ninja assassin. Her hair is also absolutely wild. As she becomes more friendly, open, and relaxed, her hair is also tamed somewhat. She's no less badass with her hair in a ponytail, but a little less . . . crazy.

* ''[[Modern Family]]'' Alex does this in the Season 3 episode, "After The Fire" to appear sexy to a group of nerds giving Luke and Manny a hard time and make them stop.

* One community-theatre production of ''[[Ragtime]]'' had Mother wearing her hair up in a very staid sort of style in Act I, then wearing it loose in Act II after moving to Atlantic City (and meeting Tateh, whom she falls in love with {{spoiler|and eventually marries [[Death of the Hypotenuse|after her husband dies]]}}).

 

* [[Fiery Redhead]] Aika from ''[[Skies of Arcadia]]'' normally wears her hair in two noticeably stiff braids. She lets it down whenever she's sleeping or grooming, and it looks much softer and prettier.

 

* In one ''[[Least I Could Do]]'' storyline, Rayne pursues a woman simply because she wears glasses and he wants to complete a mental "Sex Bingo" card. Issa demonstrates how pathetic Rayne is by getting the woman to [http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20040122 do this], completely infatuating him. After beating up his friend Mick to try and impress her, Mick is upset...[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20040130 until she does it again].

* In ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'', after Annie messed with Jack's half-recovered brain and he in return messed with her, she let the hair down and took a deep breath before saying she's sorry. Combining it with a subtle case of [[Puppy Dog Eyes]] made the apology absolutely irresistible.

 

== Web Original ==