[[quoteright:200:[[Series/XenaWarriorPrincess http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gabrielle_1773.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:200:[[{{Fanservice}} Who needs long hair]] [[{{Stripperific}} to be feminine?]]]]

Because LongHairIsFeminine, when a girl has short hair it tends to mean she's decidedly ''less'' feminine than the average girl, perhaps even a {{Tomboy}} or ActionGirl. This choice of having short hair usually indicates a girl has a more masculine personality, is tough and aggressive, or is lacking in vanity, perhaps being business-like and brainy. Girls may cut their hair short because they don't want to put up with the maintenance that longer hair requires. Other times it's short so no one can easily grab it in a fight, which BraidsOfAction are sometimes prone to be.

The contrast of a short haired girl with a long haired one can sometimes be used to portray a TomboyAndGirlyGirl. If taken to extremes, a girl with Boyish Short Hair could be a ButchLesbian, many of whom have this as an indicator. May be the result of an ImportantHairCut, with the new short hair being an indicator that the girl is ready to take action. Also sometimes necessary for a girl to go undercover as a SweetPollyOliver.

When an IronLady or other woman in power wears short hair, it's usually not this but instead PowerHair, which says ''feminine but no-nonsense''.

Compare TomboyishPonytail and LongHairedPrettyBoy, the direct opposite of this trope. Contrast LongHairIsFeminine. A subtrope of ExpositoryHairstyles.

%%Note: When adding a example, please explain how it fits. Don't add {{Zero Context Example}}s or just say the girl has short hair: this trope requires both short hair and ''lack of femininity'' in some way.%%
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!Examples

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[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Kino in ''LightNovel/KinosJourney'' has boyishly short hair. She is a {{Bokukko}} variant of TomBoy and often uses masculine pronouns to refer to herself.
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
** Resident {{tomboy}}, turned karate instructor, (post time skip) Tatsuki Arisawa has short, dark, spiky hair and has a TomboyAndGirlyGirl friendship with Orihime. Soi Fon, who is a {{tsundere}} and {{ninja}} also has short spiky hair. The two bear more than a passing resemblance to each other and have similar personalities.
** Similarly, Rukia Kuchiki isn't exactly a tomboy, but she has short hair [[spoiler: which has gotten even shorter after the TimeSkip]] and a very straightforward attitude.
** Jackie Tristan, too. [[spoiler: Specially when younger.]]
* ''PrincessMononoke'' has [[NubileSavage San]], whose appearance is justified since she was literally [[RaisedByWolves raised by wolves.]]
* Casca from ''{{Berserk}}'' had short hair back when she was a tomboyish and extremely capable ActionGirl. After the Eclipse, she [[GoMadFromTheRevelation was driven insane]] and now has long MessyHair due to her status as TheOphelia.
* Irma, of ''QueensBlade'', would be this, plus, a WhiteHairedPrettyGirl if she weren't so tomboyish and set to {{tsun|dere}}-tsun all the time. But considering her upbringing in an assassin's guild, and having been betrayed by her SexyMentor/love interest, who abandoned her, leaving her hurt and bitter over it.... [[http://manga.animea.net/bleach-chapter-159-page-16.html Wait, does this remind you of anything?]]
* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' has Kagura, a tomboyish superstar athelete and UnknownRival to [[HugeSchoolgirl Sakaki]], whose a naturally gifted ShrinkingViolet. Bonus points for having HotbloodedSideburns! Her coach, Minamo Kurosawa also has short hair, is a strong all-around athlete, and tomboy tendencies.
* ''Anime/RODTheTV''
** Anita King combines BoyishShortHair with {{tomboy}}ish behavior and [[{{Odango}} Chinese-style hair buns]]. She's also an ArtificialHuman and strong enough to hold her own in a fight with adult men several times her size.
** And then there's Maggie Mui, who, while not as much a tomboy as Anita, could [[{{Bifauxnen}} actually pass for a guy.]]
* Inverted in ''Manga/StrawberryShakeSweet'', short-haired, boyish-looking Ran is the [[TomboyAndGirlyGirl Girly Girl]] to Julia's TomBoy.
* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'',
** Zoey easily the most tomboyish of any of Dawn's female rivals and has short, spiky and fiery red hair.
** As well as Misty, mixed with a TomboyishPonytail. Being a [[FieryRedHead fiery redhead]] tomboy who [[OneOfTheBoys hangs out with guys]].
* ''[[LightNovel/DirtyPair Dirty Pair Flash]]'': [[http://www.animepaper.net/art/34360/takahiro-kimura-29 Kei]] makes up the tomboy half of the LovelyAngels. Though she and Yuri are among the 3WA's top trouble consultants, she's better known for her hair trigger temper and her itchy trigger finger. Which often spells disaster since she packs a friggin' hand canon! She's also a {{Ladette}}.
* Mariya from ''VisualNovel/OtomeWaBokuNiKoishiteru'': Every character, including the male lead, is TheOjou. Mariya is less ladylike than the rest of the cast, including the male lead, and she drops her facade only when she's alone with him. While still feminine (a true tomboy would be very out of place at a high-class all-girls school) she occupies the {{tomboy}} role.
* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': Kallen is a MsFanservice version of this. She is the Black Knights AcePilot and Lelouch's bodyguard. Her short hair indicates that she is not to be trifled with.
* PrincessNine: At least four, and possibly five or six, of the girls have Boyishly Short Hair. This is a show about girls playing baseball on even terms with boys so tomboys are to be expected.
* ''Manga/SailorMoon''
** Haruka Tenou/Sailor Uranus is a short-haired {{Bokukko}}, [[TomboyAndGirlyGirl in explicit contrast]] to her lover, long-haired and feminine Michiru Kaiou/Sailor Neptune. She often wears masculine clothes in real life -- not because she's specifically crossdressing, but just because she likes them. (Though it should be mentioned that this happens more in the anime than the manga).
** Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury is also known for her short hair (although it's worn in a bit more feminine style) which is used to highlight her intelligence. When a possible future version of her was shown with long hair the fandom had a collective fit.
* Toyed with in the case of Ukraine from ''Manga/AxisPowersHetalia'', who has extremely short hair and dresses like a boy, but is more of a NiceGirl in personality.
** Played straighter with Belgium, who's quite straightforward and has wavy hair that reaches to her neck.
* ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikerS'':
** Subaru Nakajima, tomboyish GenkiGirl CuteBruiser martial artist who fights by punching enemies [[SuperStrength really, really hard]].
** Minor character Alto Krauetta, resident mechanic and helicopter pilot who actually went through a portion of her childhood thinking she was a boy since she was raised in a mostly male environment.
* Nozomi, from ''Manga/CentaurNoNayami''. Her boyish appearance is frequently commented, due to her hair and figure.
* Haruhi Fujioka of ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'' sports one of these. The fact that it allows her to [[SweetPollyOliver pass for a guy]] helps to kick off the plot.
* Allenby from ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'' has very short blue hair and a boisterous, fun-loving and fight-loving attitude. Ironically, her Gundam has a very girly aesthetic with very long blond "hair," which actually serves as radiator fins for her [[TheBerserker Berserk Mode]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film - Animated]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}'', Ellie has short, messy hair as a kid and she also used to be a {{Tomboy}}.
* TheSquadette Sergeant Calhoun from ''Disney/WreckItRalph.''
* IntrepidReporter Roxanne Ritchi from ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}.'' Combined with BrainyBrunette.
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[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]
* In ''SomeKindOfWonderful'', tomboyish teen Watts only wears masculine clothes and has a short haircut.
* Tomboy Scout Finch has short hair in the film version of ''Film/ToKillAMockingbird'' (in the book, her hair length is not mentioned).
* The main character in ''Train'' is shown to have cut her hair short in the end, after [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge killing]] all the villains. It also probably symbolizes how she's serious about being on the wrestling team now, since witnessing your teammates being horribly tortured to death will apparently do that.
* In ''Film/{{Tomboy}}'', Laure's haircut is sufficiently boyish that no one sees any reason to doubt her when she introduces herself as "Mikael".
* Of all the {{Action Girl}}s among the [[GirlOfTheWeek Bond Girls]], only [[http://jamesbondmm.co.uk/bond-girls/carey-lowell Pam Bouvier]] from ''Film/LicenceToKill'' sports this, trimming it down from EightiesHair after an (offscreen) ExpositoryHairstyleChange.
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[[folder:Literature]]
* Heroine's Alanna and Keladry, both female knights, wear their hair short in the ''TortallUniverse'' books, being tomboys. Alanna went undercover as a SweetPollyOliver, but Keladry didn't, she just keeps it short because it's practical. Subverted by a later heroine, Beka, who despite being boyish and knowing that short hair is better in combat, keeps her long hair, but braids a strip of spikes into it so anyone who grabs it in a fight will get a nasty surprise.
* Most women above a certain age in ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' have short hair; the Whistlers in particular, whose grandmothers were soldiers, keep short military-cropped hair, and Eldest disapproves when Corelle starts growing hers out. In this world, it's [[LongHairedPrettyBoy the men]] who have long hair.
* [[ActionGirl Vin]] in ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'' starts out with this; it's quickly established that she wears her hair so short, and male clothing all the time, because she's very frightened of appearing feminine (and therefore, she thinks, weak) in front of other thieves and criminals. She grows it out a bit as she gets more comfortable with her femininity later in the series, but never so long that it would get in the way in a fight.
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[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* Gabrielle, Xena's sidekick on XenaWarriorPrincess provides the picture for this trope, and is also a perfect example, with her [[AdrenalineMakeover impromtu haircut]] being a symbolic conclusion to her ComingOfAgeStory, and of her maturing from being Xena's young sidekick and protegee, to a mature, independant, ''strong'' woman, and fighter, with skills on par with Xena's own.
* Marcy had a short haircut in a large part of ''MarriedWithChildren'', demonstrating her lack of femininity (she was [[LadyLooksLikeADude mistaken for a boy]] several times).
* Djaq from ''Series/RobinHood''. The first series involved her as a SweetPollyOliver with cropped hair; by the second series she was no longer hiding her gender, but kept the short hairdo.
* Captain/Major/Lieutenant Colonel/Colonel Samantha Carter of ''Series/StargateSG1'' is a good example. She's definitely brainy (an astrophysicist) and an ActionGirl (she didn't get all those ranks for nothing.) However, she doesn't have much of a stereotypically masculine personality (though she is a StrawFeminist for the first couple of episodes) and she is definitely portrayed as super hot, though not sexualized.
* Major/Lieutenant Colonel Sarah [=MacKenzie=], the SemperFi HelloAttorney in ''Series/{{JAG}}''.
* Starbuck, TheLadette and AcePilot from ''Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined''. She tends to reject many staples of femininity (for example she has little to no interest in having kids) in favor of trying to outdo the boys: fighting better, being tougher, drinking more, sleeping around more, etc. Notably, the only time when she in a position of helplessness for a prolonged period of time, (being a Cylon prisoner on New Caprica during the entire occupation) is also the only time that her hair grows out.
* Arya, the feisty tomboy from ''Series/GameOfThrones''. She loathes medieval female roles such as sewing, cooking, and dreaming of marrying a prince, and instead prefers beating her older brother at archery, learning how to fence, and so on. Cemented in season 2, when [[OddFriendship Tywin]] notes her unusual passion for history and [[ActionGirl warrior women]] from the past, and says that most girls prefer romantic tales about maidens with flowers in their hair and such. Arya's response? "Most girls are idiots."
** Ditto for Brienne.
* Tasha Yar, the first Security Officer in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' certainly had this trait and the attitude to match.
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[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'': In one scene , when Garnet/Dagger cuts off much of her hair it signifies her having TookALevelInBadass and also becoming a bit more boyish.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'': Ashe is less feminine than other princesses in the series and has shorter hair.
* Kairi in the original ''KingdomHearts''. Likewise Xion in ''KingdomHearts358DaysOver2''.
* When ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII: 3rd Strike'' originally debuted, gamers had a hard time telling whether Makoto was a boyish looking girl or a girly looking boy. At least, until they saw [[AbsoluteCleavage her dizzy animation.]]
* ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting''[='s=] [[http://fightersgeneration.com/characters2/king-c2.jpg King]] is a {{bifauxnen}} kickboxer, whose prowess nearly rivals that of dueterognist [[SharpDressedMan Robert]] [[CulturedBadass Garcia.]] She becomes a TeamMom in ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'', since she's usually in charge of the All Womens Team.
* Chie Satonaka from ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' has shorter hair than her friend Yukiko, and is into more "boyish" things like martial arts. This trope is later taken to its logical conclusion when [[spoiler: Naoto Shirogane is revealed to be a {{Bifauxnen}} SweetPollyOliver...with, naturally, boyishly short hair.]]
* ''[[VideoGame/BloodyRoar Bloody Roar: Primal Fury]]'': Jane Gado, bka [[http://www.fightersgeneration.com/characters2/shina-ex4.jpg 'Shina']], is a highly trained mercenary and the adopted daughter of [[RetiredBadass Alan Gado.]] She's known for her frankness and tenacity both on and off the field of combat. Her most striking feature is her spikey blonde hair, which resembles a lion's mane.
* ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soul Calibur II]]'': [[http://fenixware.net/fab/images/chars/game/cassandra-5.jpg Cassandra Alexandra]], is another example. Unlike her sister, Sophitia, she's brash and somewhat impulsive, but usually means well. In the fourth game, she's determined to destroy SoulEdge and free her sister once and for all. The length and style of her hair varies depending on the costume the player selects, but it's usually kept short.
* Mostly averted in FireEmblem, since many of the {{Action girl}}s there have long hair. Among the few ones with short hair ''and'' a tomboyish or straightforward attitude we have Lakche and Phee from ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral Seisen no Keifu]]'' (alongside their expies Radney and Femina); Tania, Machua, Princess Miranda and Mareeta from ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral Thracia 776]]''; Vaida from ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe Rekka no Ken]]''; arguably, Amelia from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones''; and Sully and Kjelle from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening''.
* Kumatora from ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'' has this. Likewise, she hates wearing dresses and other girly clothes, often uses less-than-elegant language, and is overall depicted as a tomboy. Interestingly enough though, her Boyish Short Hair is ''pink''.
* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' gives us [[VideoGame/BlazBlueContinuumShift Makoto Nanaya]] and [[Characters/BlazBlueChronoPhantasma Bullet]]. Both have short hair in a series ''rife'' with RapunzelHair, and both are fist-fighting {{Action Girl}}s.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* In Webcomic/SlimyThief one of the recurring characters is a [[http://slimythief.com/enter-the-amazon/ tall, muscular, amazonian warrior with short hair to boot]].
* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', Nanase [[ImportantHairCut cut her hair]] short as [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2009-03-28 an act of defiance]].
* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' Haley's hair is cut down to this style due to the petty cruelty of her spiteful rival, Crystal, who also sports such a cut. While Haley does become more action orientated around the same time, (she receives a major upgrade to her bow, making her even more TheArcher than she was before, gets a wicked melee weapon rather than being helpless in close quarters combat, concludes her rivalry with Crystal, etc.) she's also rather uncomfortable with the look and buys a new, [[ChainmailBikini somewhat skimpier set of armor]] to show off that despite the haircut, yes, she is a girl. And while the cut lasts awhile, (about 140 strips) she also takes advantage of the first chance she finds to magically grow her hair back out.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* [[DarkSkinnedBlond Pattie Mayonnaise]] fills this spot in {{Nickelodeon}}'s ''{{Doug}}''. She's best friends with Doug and Skeeter and often participates in sports. One episode even has her pull a SweetPollyOliver in order to try out for the school softball team, which didn't work out for her. [[StartMyOwn So she made her own team to challenge the school's!]]
* BrainyBrunette Velma Dinkely has short hair that reachs up to her chin in most continuities of [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo Scooby Doo]], excluding [[ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated Mystery Incorporated!]], which gives her [[GirlinessUpgrade slightly longer hair]].
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