Princess Curls

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
And she's supposed to be hiding her status.


An easy way to tell if a female character in Japanese media is of high social standing is to not look for a crown or an Ermine Cape, but to look at the front of her head. Specifically, look for two curled locks of hair draping the sides of her face. If she has these, she either is high class or acts like it.

Needless to say, this is pretty much mandatory for the Ojou. Some Elegant Gothic Lolitas also sport this hairstyle. It also often overlaps with Mega Twintails.

Also known as "drill hair", and derived from the ringlets hairstyle, popular in Roman times. For the distinctly Japanese princess' hairstyle—straight black with level bangs and ear locks—see Hime Cut.

Now despite the name, being an actual princess is not required for this. Princess Curls are usually a type of twintail, but unlike typical twintails, they do not indicate youthfulness.

Do not confuse them for the sideburns Orthodox Jewish men wear, called peyot (pronounced "pay-ott") (peyos, pronounced "pay-ohs," if you're Ashkenazi).

A Sister Trope to Mega Twintails.

Contrast Tomboyish Ponytail.

Examples of characters with Princess Curls include:

Anime and Manga

Film

Literature

Live-Action TV

New Media

  • Teto Kasane, the most notable/popular UTAUloid, has a hot pink "twin drill" hairstyle.

Video Games

  • Capcom seems to like this hairstyle, as at least seven characters from their collection of games sport them:
  • Rose Bernstein from The King of Fighters has these. No real social status, but she's the Rich Bitch daughter of Rugal Bernstein, so...
  • The eponymous character Midna has an unusual variant of this in her true form at the end of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, in that the two curls are tied together around her neck like some kind of brooch. The other eponymous character has a variation of them as well: they're not curled, per se, but there are two braids of hair tied up in lots of ribbon.
    • Princess Zelda herself usually has some variation on this, particularly in recent cartoonier games in which they're lightning-bolt-shaped. Naturally, this includes Tetra.
    • Rich Bitch Mila from The Wind Waker has these.
  • The Fairlions, otherwise known as Gothlolions of Super Robot Wars Original Generation 2 are Humongous Mecha with these. I mean, they were custom-built for an actual princess and her best friend, but come on. Oh, and the curls fire lasers.
  • Amy, Raphael's foster daughter from the Soul Calibur games, has these.
    • Ditto Ashlotte, robotic gothic lolita bonus character from Soul Calibur IV.
    • Abelia, a character in Soul Calibur III's Chronicles of the Sword mode, has these as well. She certainly fits the look.
    • The "Create a Fighter" mode in SCIII and SCIV offers this for female characters.
    • Viola from Soul Calibur V is also set to join the princess curls club.
  • Aerith Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII.
  • Oerba Dia Vanille of Final Fantasy XIII.
  • Petra Johanna Lagerkvist of Arcana Heart 2.
  • Luviagelita Edelfelt from Fate/hollow ataraxia, to the point that it applies to 95% of her hair.
  • The Archer class in many Nippon Ichi strategy games.
  • Susie Evans from Valkyria Chronicles.
  • Bianca in Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon
  • Rosalia in Angelique.
  • Misha in Katawa Shoujo. She doesn't have the attitude, though.
  • Maria Balthasar from Xenogears.
  • Surprisingly, almost none of the women in Gaia Online seem to sport Princess Curls, except maybe Ruby after the Art Shift. Gino Gambino, on the other hand...
  • In a flash back in Persona 3 FES's The Answer, Mitsuru has these.
  • Rui Yamase from Lux-Pain
  • Yuni from Dance Dance Revolution; they're every bit as rich and showy as Yuni herself.
  • Reika from Ouendan 2.
  • Subverted in Rule of Rose, where the only curly-haired girls are overweight Amanda and Meganekko Meg, both who are in less prestigious positions of the Aristocrat Club than the straight-haired Eleanor and Diana. Not to mention Wendy, the Rose Princess.
  • Black Sister/Uni from Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 has these when she transforms.

Web Comics

Western Animation

Real Life

  • In Europe many royalty used hot curlers to have ringlets. The men too, in the Stuart times.
  • It was a popular look in Lolita fashion during the eighties. It's fallen out of style since, but a lot of people still love it. It's really hard to do without a wig though. Rag curls can look like it, though.