History Main / HairTodayGoneTomorrow

* In ''WesternAnimation/EightCrazyNights'', Whitey, who is currently bald, goes into a flashback in the 70s, where we see that he had a [[FunnyAfro ridiculous-looking afro.]]

** Short-haired Dr. Cox is shown in a flashback (or rather, one of JD's {{Imagine Spot}}s) as having a blond Mohawk in TheEighties, and an attitude to match:
-->''Shut up jackass, I rock!''

* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' had a {{flashback}} to the time when Leonard and Sheldon first became roommates in 2002. Leonard had long, wavy locks, Raj had a mullet, and Howard had a [[FunnyAfro Jewish Afro]]. A brief cut to Penny at the same time had her with borderline EightiesHair. Sheldon was the only one who had the same hairstyle as in the present, and even THAT was part of the joke.

* On ''Series/{{Friends}}'', this happens with a lot of the flashbacks throughout the series. In "The One with the Prom Video", for example, Rachel and Monica both have EightiesHair, and Ross has what appears to be a perm and a mustache. In "The One With The Thanksgiving Flashbacks", Ross and Chandler are shown to have Music/AFlockOfSeagulls haircuts. In another episode that flashed back to 1992, Chandler is shown with a beard.

* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'':
** Ted has relatively short SpikyHair in the present. In his flashbacks to being a teenager and college student, he has a curly afro.
** Inverted with Lily, who had short hair in college, but has consistently had long hair in the present.
** Played reverse with Marshall, who has hair in the present, but flash-forwards show that he'll lose his hair in the future.

* In ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheMiracleMask'', flashbacks show that the super-gentlemanly and businesslike professor, of all people, had a giant FunnyAfro in his school days. It's downplayed though, as ''Lost/Unwound Future'' reveals that he still has a respectable amount of hair in the present.

** While Dr. Hibbert still has hair in the present, flashbacks of him show him wearing a [[IWasQuiteAFashionVictim ridiculous hairstyle emblematic of the time period]].

Opposite of RapidHairGrowth. Can overlap with, but is not to be confused with FunnyFlashbackHaircut where a haircut in a flashback can take all sorts of shapes or [[HairstyleInertia not change at all]] as a joke. Compare NeverTrustAHairTonic, for when bald characters try (and fail) to recapture their once-glorious hair. Contrast PrematurelyBald, which is a common {{subversion}} of this trope -- you'd expect the character to have had hair when he was younger, but he didn't.

Opposite of RapidHairGrowth. Can overlap with, bit is not to be confused with FunnyFlashbackHaircut where a haircut in a flashback can take all sorts of shapes or [[HairstyleInertia not change at all]] as a joke. Compare NeverTrustAHairTonic, for when bald characters try (and fail) to recapture their once-glorious hair. Contrast PrematurelyBald, which is a common {{subversion}} of this trope -- you'd expect the character to have had hair when he was younger, but he didn't.

Opposite of RapidHairGrowth. Not to be confused with FunnyFlashbackHaircut where a haircut in a flashback can take all sorts of shapes or [[HairstyleInertia not change at all]] as a joke. Compare NeverTrustAHairTonic, for when bald characters try (and fail) to recapture their once-glorious hair. Contrast PrematurelyBald, which is a common {{subversion}} of this trope -- you'd expect the character to have had hair when he was younger, but he didn't.

Opposite of RapidHairGrowth. Compare NeverTrustAHairTonic, for when bald characters try (and fail) to recapture their once-glorious hair. Contrast PrematurelyBald, which is a common {{subversion}} of this trope -- you'd expect the character to have had hair when he was younger, but he didn't.

* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' had a {{flashback}} to the time when Leonard and Sheldon first became roommates in 2002. Leonard had long, wavy locks, Raj had a mullet, and Howard had a [[FunnyAfro Jewish Afro]]. A brief cut to Penny at the same time had her with borderline EightiesHair. Sheldon was the only one who remained almost the same, and even THAT was part of the joke.

* A variation in ''Film/TheGodfather'' – the film takes place over about a decade, during which Tom Hagen gradually loses his hair. (This was done simply by having actor Robert Duvall wear smaller and smaller toupees.) The sequel ''The Godfather Part II'' has Tom completely bald on top in the present day, but includes a flashback scene where he has a full head of hair.

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* Flashbacks to Lex Luthor's youth in {{ComicBook/Superman}} show him with a full head of red hair. In the Post-Crisis reboot, he hadn't entirely lost it by the time Superman appears on the scene, but he's fighting rapid balding by wearing what remains of it surprisingly long for a man of his position and personality.
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-> ''"NNNNNNYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! M-M-My HAAAAAAAAAAIIIIRRR!! IT-IT-IT'S FLYYYYYIIIIIIIING OOOOOFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!! MY BEAUUUUUUUTIFUL HAIR!! NOOOOOOO!!! NOOOOOOOOOO! WAAAAAHAAAAWAAAAHAAAA NO-NO-NO-NO-No-No-no-no noooooooooooooooooooooo..."''
-->-- '''Winston Payne''', ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations''

* On a related note, Ben Sisko of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' shaved his head and grew a goatee between seasons. The Doylist reason for this was that Avery Brooks had been playing another role that called for him to do so in the interim and there wasn't time for it to grow back before shooting commenced, but audience reception to the new look was enthusiastically positive and it stuck for the rest of the series. In-universe it seems he just felt like a change.

Evidently this can be TruthInTelevision. Just because someone had thick hair when they were young does NOT mean they won't lose it all as they age. Since baldness is genetic, there is a wide amount of variation in how it happens to different people. [[note]]As a rule of thumb: a man should go bald in the same way and starting at the same age that his mother's father did (because oddly enough this is an trait on the X chromosome, so it's your mom's genes that decide it). It is also important to note that haircuts cost money. Men might take to shaving their hair because they simply don't have enough of it to justify the cost of the haircut. So just because a man is bald doesn't mean his scalp no longer grows hair at all. Also, depending on his cowlick pattern he may end up with patches of hair surrounded by bald areas. Since this can look rather silly, a lot of men will opt to just shave it all.[[/note]]

* Mortadelo from the Spanish comic ''Comicbook/MortadeloYFilemon'' had exceptionally great and long locks before losing all of it thank of a failed experiment by the comic's resident MadScientist, Profesor Bacterio.

* One issue of ''ComicStrip/TwistedToyfareTheatre'' takes place mostly in TheSeventies, and ''everybody'' has a afro. Comicbook/ThePunisher, Comicbook/{{Daredevil}}, Man-Thing, everybody. The biggest, most funktastic afro of all belonged to the otherwise famously bald [[ComicBook/XMen Chuck Xavier]], the best dancer in town.

** Monti has a full head of hair in the 1980s portions, but is balding in the 2006 ones.
** Laurie's teenage self had RapunzelHair, but in the present day it's just above her shoulders.

** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' first shows Meredith Quill as bald from chemotherapy as she's dying of cancer. The second film shows her from before she got sick, when she has long blonde hair.
** While the present-day films all depict ComicBook/NickFury with [[Creator/SamuelLJackson his actor]]'s BaldOfAwesome, ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'' is a [[TheNineties 90s]] PeriodPiece which features a younger Fury with a full head of hair.
* In ''Film/TheShapeOfWater'', one of Giles' great regrets is that he no longer has the hair he had in in his youth. He resorts to wearing a toupee when he wants to impress people, such as the diner owner. He is overjoyed when [[spoiler:the Asset uses his HealingTouch to cause his hair to regrow]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/EightCrazyNights'', Whitey, who is currently bald, goes into a flashback in the 70s, where we see that he had a [[FunnyAfro ridiculous looking afro.]]

** Elaine dates a man who shaves his head, but discovers an old ID of his showing him with long, flowing locks. She's totally enamored with that hair, so she asks him to grow it back -- only for him to discover that it's not growing back evenly, and he's "going bald" (even though he's ''already'' bald). In keeping with this trope, he sinks into a depression at becoming a loser; he even goes to George for advice on what to do, and they both treat it as if going bald [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything is a fatal diagnosis]].

** Turk shaves his head in the present, but is shown with hair in flashbacks. It has degraded, though, as it grows back in awkward patches when he tries to grow it back. One silly flashback, though, shows that he lost his hair by tearing it out in frustration after JD's scatter-brain costs him a chance to see Michael Jordan play live.

* On ''Series/{{Friends}}'', this happens with a lot of the flashbacks throughout the series. In "The One with the Prom Video", for example, Rachel and Monica both have EightiesHair, and Ross has what appears to be a perm and a mustache. In "The One With The Thanksgiving Flashbacks", Ross and Chandler are shown to have Music/AFlockOfSeagulls haircuts. In another episode which flashed back to 1992, Chandler is shown with a beard.

** Played reverse with Marshall, who has hair in the present, but flash forwards show that he'll lose his hair in the future.
* ''Series/MacGyver1985'': In "Hell Week" a picture is shown of Mac as a physics grad student. He still had the mullet, but also had a nifty PornStache.
* ''Series/{{Reba}}'' has the title character having short hair in the early seasons, but most flashbacks showed her with lots of EightiesHair similar to the real life Reba [=McEntire=].
* ''Series/{{Titus}}'' has numerous flashbacks to the characters in high school, still played by the adult actors. Everyone had slightly different hair styles, but Titus had long EightiesHair contrasting his modern business cut. One episode had a news report of the cast being arrested, and the only photo they could find of Titus was of him in high school.

* ''Series/TrueDetective'': In season 1, Hart has a full head of hair in the 1990s flashbacks. In the present day, he sports a shaved head. Inverted by Cohle, who is clean shaven in the 1990s flashbacks, but has a PornStache in the present day.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}'', prices are paid for pacts with aspects from the human body, be they literal (loss of sight, voice, etc) or metaphorical (loss of 'time', or happiness). Verdelet is a man who made a pact with a petrified dragon on a whim, and lost his pretty boy hair in the deal. Comparatively speaking this is a fairly tame price with no real drawbacks considering a lot of pact prices are physically debilitating, but as they also tend to be ironic punishments, it can be inferred that Verdelet very much prized his hair.

* ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM'': When Sonic and Sally go back in time, the in-the-present nearly hairless henchman Snively is shown with a full head of hair that he's quite proud of. An encounter with Sonic's super speed causes him to lose it all.

** Greg Universe plays with this a bit; he's only gotten hairier as he's grown older, but he is now bald on top of his head (excluding the waist length hair he still has on the sides).

* In ''WesternAnimation/PepperAnn'', Jamie has a short bob, but is shown to have been a hippie with RapunzelHair when Pepper Ann was a toddler.

* In ''Series/BreakingBad'', [[Creator/BryanCranston Walter White]] shaved his head and adapted his iconic bald look after starting chemotherapy a few episodes into season 1. Thus, the trope is in effect for flashbacks of Walt working at Gray Matter in season 2, or Walt house-shopping with Skyler in season 3.

* In ''Videogame/Drakengard'', prices are paid for pacts with aspects from the human body, be they literal (loss of sight, voice, etc) or metaphorical (loss of 'time', or happiness). Verdelet is a man who made a pact with a petrified dragon on a whim, and lost his pretty boy hair in the deal. Comparatively speaking this is a fairly tame price with no real drawbacks considering a lot of pact prices are physically debilitating, but as they also tend to be ironic punishments, it can be inferred that Verdelet very much prized his hair.

* In ''Series/BreakingBad'', [[Creator/BryanCranston Walter White]] shaved his head and adapted his iconic bald look a few episodes into season 1. Thus, the trope is in effect for flashbacks of Walt working at Gray Matter in season 2, or Walt house-shopping with Skyler in season 3.

* ‘’WesternAnimation/Bob’sBurgers’’: In “The Deepening”, a young Teddy is shown with shaggy blond surfer hair in a flashback to his time as an extra in a shark movie.

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[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' is known to play with its characters in this way. In one strip, showing the office in 1985, 1990, and 1995, Wally is shown progressively going from a full head of hair to bald (and he's shown to have had a FunnyAfro in TheSeventies). The PointyHairedBoss' hairstyle also changes when he's shown in the past, as a MythologyGag to [[ArtEvolution his previous character designs]]. Only Dilbert never changes.
* Walt from ''ComicStrip/{{Zits}}'' had bushy, curly hair as a teenager. Jeremy's dismissive attitude towards hair is a constant source of pain to him.
* ''{{ComicBook/Foxtrot}}'': Roger's baldness is a constant source of worry to him. In one arc, Peter shaved his head for a bet, so Roger hung around with him as the no longer-baldest member of the family. Paid back with interest at the end of the arc when Peter's hair starts coming back.
--> '''Peter:''' Isn't it great how hair just grows back?
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* In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'', we see balding prosecutor Winston Payne in flashback with a pompadour. We also see how he loses it: [[spoiler:he's so shocked at losing a case that his hair ''explodes''.]]

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Note that this CAN sometimes be TruthInTelevision. Just because someone had thick hair when they were young does NOT mean they won't lose it all as they age. Since baldness is genetic, there is a wide amount of variation in how it happens to different people. As a rule of thumb: a man should go bald in the same way and starting at the same age that his mother's father did (because oddly enough this is an trait on the X chromosome, so it's your mom's genes that decide it). It is also important to note that haircuts cost money. Men might take to shaving their hair because they simply don't have enough of it to justify the cost of the haircut. So just because a man is bald doesn't mean his scalp no longer grows hair at all. Also, depending on his cowlick pattern he may end up with patches of hair surrounded by bald areas. Since this can look rather silly, a lot of men will opt to just shave it all.

The trope thus serves a greater purpose than simply showing that the scene is set in the past. It shows how a person has changed -- either he's undergone an ImportantHaircut to pick up a BaldOfAwesome, or he's fallen from the heights of his youth to become a total loser. Maybe his old hairstyle reveals him to have been [[FormerTeenRebel quite different when he was younger]]. Or maybe he just had a [[IWasQuiteAFashionVictim particularly embarrassing or dated hairstyle]] in the past, showing his tendency to fall victim to fad fashions. This last variant allows the trope to be used for characters who aren't even bald in the "present".

Out-of-universe, it's also a lot easier and more convincing for a bald actor to wear a long-haired wig than to make a realistic-looking shorter haircut. It also makes it clearer that this is a younger version of the character played by the same actor, avoiding the hassle and expense of finding a TimeShiftedActor. But the strength of the trope allows it to be used even in animation.

* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' had a {{flashback}} to the time when Leonard and Sheldon first became roommates in 2002. Leonard had long, wavy locks, Raj had a mullet, and Howard had a [[FunnyAfro Jewish Afro]]. A brief cut to Penny at the same time had her with borderline EightiesHair. Sheldon was the only one who remained almost the same.

* One issue of ''ComicStrip/TwistedToyfareTheatre'' takes place mostly in TheSeventies, and ''everybody'' has a FunnyAfro. Comicbook/ThePunisher, Comicbook/{{Daredevil}}, Man-Thing, everybody. The biggest, most funktastic afro of all belonged to the otherwise famously bald [[ComicBook/XMen Chuck Xavier]], the best dancer in town.

* In ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheMiracleMask'', flashbacks show that the super-gentlemanly and businesslike professor, of all people, had a giant FunnyAfro in his school days.