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3%% The examples have been alphabetized. Please put any new example in its proper place in the folder rather than at the end.
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6[[quoteright:220:[[WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tvt_x_men_animated_series_season_5_14_graduation_day_professor_x_xavier.jpg]]]]
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9PsychicPowers are a common occurrence throughout various media, fitting into many different genres. It gives a character awesome abilities, but seems to often come at a price: It would seem that much of this same media would infer that hair follicles inhibit the ability to properly access these powers, and so many psychics lack hair.[[note]]Ironically, hair functions as a sensory organ in real-life. There's also the new age belief that hair functions as an aural antenna. Fictional portrayals though, might suggest psychic powers work better with less distraction from physical stimuli.[[/note]]
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11Worth noting that bald telepaths are almost exclusively male, presumably because a bald woman is [[DoubleStandard generally considered unattractive]]. It also goes along that if a woman is psychic ''and'' bald, it's generally a sign that her powers are having [[BaldnessMeansSickness a terrible toll on her health]].
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13SubTrope of BaldMystic. May overlap with MyBrainIsBig, BaldOfEvil, and PrematurelyBald.
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16!!Examples:
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18[[foldercontrol]]
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20[[folder:Comic Books]]
21* In ''Comicbook/BuckGodotZapGunForHire'', [=PSmIth=] is a whole collective of bald psychics.
22* Creator/DCComics:
23** {{Franchise/Superman}}'s original concept was a villainous, bald telepath.
24** The Creator/TangentComics version of [[SpellMyNameWithAThe The]] Superman, inspred by the above, is bald and has mental powers including telekinesis.
25** The ComicBook/MartianManhunter typically takes a bald form in his semi-human appearance (he can give himself hair if he wants to) and is a telepath.
26** Henry King, Sr., the original Brainwave, was bald.
27* Abe Sapien from ''Comicbook/{{Hellboy}}'' is bald and a telepath (and half fish) due to an arcane experiment.
28* King Mob of ''ComicBook/TheInvisibles'', is a bald super spy with psychic powers.
29* Creator/MarvelComics:
30** ''ComicBook/XMen'': Professor X is the most powerful telepath in the Marvel Universe. In fact, a flashback depicts his hair falling out [[PrematurelyBald at a young age]] when his powers first activated.
31** ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': The Leader is telepathic and [[DependingOnTheArtist sometimes]] bald.
32** ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': Uatu and his entire species, the Watchers.
33** ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'': Moondragon is one of those rare bald female psychics.
34** Before Xavier ever existed and Marvel comics was just an anthology series, one issue dealt with a psychic man being recruited by a gathering of other mutant psychics who plan to covertly help the world. One of them was bald and seemed to be the leader (sound familiar?).
35%%* Mindsweeper from ''ComicBook/PrideHigh''.
36[[/folder]]
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38[[folder:Fan Works]]
39* Empath in ''Fanfic/EmpathTheLuckiestSmurf'', as all male Smurfs are bald.
40* Zigzagged on ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager''. Tech Lieutenant [=TuV'k=], their Tactical Psionics Officer, has a shaved head to fit the copper skullcap of an eloptic field amplifier, yet Captain Janeway and Nee'Lix both wear these skullcaps during a MindMeld without issue despite having lots of hair, implying it's just for convenience. When Janeway is about to be assimilated by the Psiborg Collective, the first thing they do is shave off her hair in readiness for a similar skullcap. Afterwards she grouchily wonders if she might start a trend of [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration bald spaceship captains]].
41[[/folder]]
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43[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
44%%* ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'' has a female version with The Ancient One.
45* Downplayed in ''Film/MinorityReport'' where the psychics used to foresee violent crimes have their hair cut short. This appears to be for pragmatic reasons, as long hair would make difficult to attach the nodes we see connected to their heads.
46* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'': Hank recommends to Charles that he shaves his head in ''Film/XMenFirstClass'' so that Cerebro will work more efficiently. It's strongly implied in the other films that Xavier is a more potent psychic when he's bald.
47[[/folder]]
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49[[folder:Literature]]
50* All wits in the ''Literature/MonsterBloodTattoo'' series. By becoming a wit, you gain telepathic powers, the ability to cause pain with your mind, and other untapped feats of mental strength. In exchange, you lose your hair.
51* The TropeMaker and probable TropeCodifier is the 1953 FixUpNovel ''Mutant'' by Creator/CLMoore and Creator/HenryKuttner, compiled five short stories about a race of post-nuclear mutated humans called "Baldies" who are telepathic and completely hairless.
52** There are many bald humans in the early stories of Philip K. Dick with psi powers, mutants. They usually wear wigs. (One boy gets in trouble with his parents for coming to school without his wig.)
53[[/folder]]
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55[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
56* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': Regular character Zhaan is a Delvian (SpaceElves) priest with psychic powers who has a completely bald head. Some Delvians seen in other episodes do have hair, so this isn't universal among the species.
57* ''Series/{{The OuterLimits|1963}}'' episode "The Sixth Finger". After being being subjected to a device that advances him along the evolutionary scale, a man develops a bald head and advanced psychic abilities, including telepathy and telekinesis.
58* ''Franchise/StarTrek''
59** The Talosians in the [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries original pilot]], "The Cage".
60** ExpandedUniverse materials regarding the Deltans, (Ilia from ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' is one of them) has them as telepaths. Ilia shows such ability when she stops someone's pain by touching them. All Deltans are also bald.
61** Remans, from ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'', are telepathic and bald.
62* ''Series/StrangerThings'': Eleven was bald in the first season (and presumably all her life at the lab), but that was because it was kept buzzed by the GovernmentConspiracy that was experimenting on her. She grows her hair out in later seasons, and it doesn't interfere with her powers.
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65[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
66* ''TabletopGame/{{Champions}}'' adventure "V.O.I.C.E. of Doom". The villain Le Maistre is bald and has multiple psychic powers.
67* One of the possible side effects of psyker training in ''TabletopGame/DarkHeresy'' is described as "being exposed to the light of the Throne". It renders the psyker completely hairless over their entire body.
68* Sykers in ''TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}}: Hell on Earth'' are all bald. Something about their training regimen causes all the hair to fall out.
69* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition'':
70** Although the various illustrations in the sourcebooks show that psionic characters aren't necessarily bald, this is still quite common. The illustrations for the Telepath, Metamind (''Expanded Psionics Handbook''), Ardent, Divine Mind and Erudite (''Complete Psionics'') all have shaved heads.
71** The Synads are a race of humanoid aberrations with a threefold mind making them psionically gifted. They can easily pass for humans, but are described as "typically hairless".
72* Discussed and justified in ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Dungeon Fantasy''. Hair interferes with certain psionic headgear and makes it harder to spot the Skull Fungus that psions sometimes get.
73* ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'';
74** Psi-Stalkers are mutant humans who can sense supernatural creatures, as well as other psychic abilities. They are all white-skinned and hairless, even the women.
75** ''Rifts'' also has Psy-X Aliens, another mutant human (though this time the result of experimentation) with powerful psychic abilities, who look like Grey aliens, right down to the bald egg shaped heads.
76** Crazies (individuals with implanted brain-chips that give them a number of psychic powers and multiple other benefits in exchange for steadily-worsening insanity) are almost always shown as bald. In their case it's not made clear whether it's a consequence of the Mind Over Matter treatment, but since most have large metal bolts inserted into their skulls (originally this was just how M.O.M. worked; nowadays it's their trademark look), hair would be hard to maintain at best.
77* Visionary in ''TabletopGame/SentinelsOfTheMultiverse'' is bald and a powerful psychic. The powers are innate; the baldness is because she was subjected to experiments. Her alternate-timeline child self, the Dreamer, has black hair, which she keeps when she grows up into the superheroine Muse.
78* Pretty much all psykers in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000''. Librarians are also bald, but that's because they're Space Marines first.
79[[/folder]]
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81[[folder:Video Games]]
82* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'' and its expansion feature Yuri, whose similarity with Lenin includes the baldness. Of course, he uses MindControl. In-game, Yuri clones are a standard unit, who are of course also bald and psychic.
83* Mentor, in ''VideoGame/FreedomForce'', is both a psychic and bald. As he's something of a combination of Professor Xavier from ''ComicBook/XMen'' and the ComicBook/MartianManhunter, it should be no surprise.
84* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'': Jack, a career criminal and biotic powerhouse, sports a shaved head. She later admits that she originally picked up the hairstyle when she joined a cult, and liked it so much that her head remains shaved throughout the game even though she's no longer a cultist. She grows hair (quite a lot) for the third game.
85* ''VideoGame/PsiOpsTheMindgateConspiracy'', being a game about psychic powers, has a few characters like this, including [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100304201734/psiops/images/thumb/9/9d/Edgar_Barrett.jpg/250px-Edgar_Barrett.jpg Edgar Barret]] and the main character Nick Scryer who, while not bald, has a shaved head.
86* ''VideoGame/SecondSight'' features this in its protagonist, John Vattic: during the segments of the game set in the present, he sports a close-shaved head as a result of being imprisoned and tortured by the BigBad -- along with a wide range of impressive psychic powers. Subverted later in the game, when his past self develops psychic powers and retains a full head of hair.
87* Due to a bug, the first soldier that develops psi powers in ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'' was originally shown coming out of the Psionic Chamber with no hair, creating the implication that developing psi powers makes you go bald. This was later fixed.
88[[/folder]]
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90[[folder:Webcomics]]
91* In ''Webcomic/RustyAndCo'', Zar the Psion is a supporting character with a MessengerFromTheFuture role. He is gifted with PsychicPowers and has the typical bald head to go along.
92[[/folder]]
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94[[folder:Western Animation]]
95* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
96** Combustion Man can firebend with his mind alone (rather than needing to use his body). He's also bald.
97** Guru Pathik is bald, and shows psychic-like abilities such as reading people (and creatures') chi which lets him feel people's emotions, or even their locations through the connections they have with one another. Though his abilities are not strictly psychic, they are used in a manner fairly similar to that of an empath.
98** ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': Tenzin claims that the reason why the Air Nomads had their heads shaved was so that they could have a higher awareness of the air around them. This is later confirmed when Daw, one of the new airbenders, was able to feel a net coming out from behind him, allowing him to evade it in time.
99[[/folder]]

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