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Something tells me that he isn't supportive of the system...

There are certain hairstyles that are strongly associated with delinquent rebels or punk behaviour — mohawks, pompadours, certain spiky styles, shaggy long hair for The Rock Star in a Heavy Metal or grunge band and a completely shaven head. Usually, this is accompanied by hair dyed unusual colors, in itself often considered a sign of delinquency — in the West, this means colours such as blue, pink, green, and similar shades that don't usually appear in nature. In other cultures, where hair shades are typically more similar from person to person, this can include hair tinted or lightened to red or blonde as well.

In Japanese and other Asian works, this may have something to do with repression of individualism in Asian schools — most evidently in Japan. Of course, this can lead to unfortunate misunderstandings with people who naturally have lighter hair colors. In Western cultures, unusual hair colors are less strongly associated with delinquency than they were in the past, though they are still more commonly worn by teenagers and young adults than by middle-aged or older people. However, the stigma with certain hairstyles remains, so you would probably still be hesitant about bringing home a punk with a blue mohawk to your parents.

Outside of contemporary times, dyeing hair was still significant, but for different reasons. Less than a century ago, dyeing hair at all was considered a sign of badness because it was dishonest. This is why evil blondes in period fiction are often dyed. In Restoration England, natural blondes commonly dyed their hair darker because everyone would think they had dyed it blonde in the first place. (This was partly because of the dangers of earlier dyes: dyeing your hair risked your health for temporary good looks.)

As for shaved heads and shaved hairstyles in general, these are adopted by punks and delinquents of all stripes in part as a form of intimidation. In addition, since having hair is considered the norm in most societies (especially for younger people, hence why Prematurely Bald is almost always linked to Baldness Angst), shaving one's head bald can be seen as a rejection of mainstream standards of beauty and conduct. This is especially the case for women because of the gendered expectations for women to have hair, particularly long hair, as a signifier of their femininity.

For cases of hair dye by itself marking someone as nonconformist (as opposed to a lawmaking troublemaker), see Nonconformist Dyed Hair. A common attribute of The Quincy Punk, subtrope of Face of a Thug when it's natural. If the hair keeps being re-dyed, it overlaps with Kaleidoscope Hair. Compare Makeup Is Evil. See also '50s Hair and '60s Hair, relating to pompadours.


Examples

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    Anime & Manga 
  • Ace of the Diamond: Youichi Kuramochi, Seidou's 1st batter and shortstop, used to dye his hair blond when he was in junior high. By the beginning of the story, he's dropped it, though.
  • Angel Densetsu has a Deconstruction: genuine delinquent Takehisa has naturally light brown hair. He got a lot of flak for this, so he decided to go the whole nine yards. He dyed it blond and put it up in spikes to be even more delinquent-looking.
    • Then an In-Universe inversion occurs. Kitano has natural Delinquent Hair and tries his best to make it less noticeable. Then, of course, sensei Hishida tries to "fix" it and this trope is played straight.
    • Later, the trope is played for laughs with the Butt-Monkey Ogisu: all the other delinquents laugh at his bright red hair.
  • Pretty much the majority of the cast of Beelzebub has this going on. Makes sense, considering it's a series about an entire school of delinquents. Tojo and Kanzaki both have orange, spiky hair.
    • Oga inverts the trope by having brown hair while being one of the most powerful humans in the series. Furuichi also inverts it by having silver hair but could have gone to the non-delinquent Saint Ishiyama if not for hanging out with Oga all the time.
    • Himekawa has silver hair kept constantly in a pompadour. He even sleeps with it in the pompadour style. It's apparently hereditary, but we do see him with his hair down, turning him into a Bishounen.
  • In Bleach:
    • Averted in the case of Ichigo and Orihime who have been bullied (and in Orihime's case, had her hair hacked off) for their naturally (but very oddly) coloured hair but who do their best not to cause trouble (Ichigo is less successful at this).
    • Played for Laughs when the Soul Reapers show up at Ichigo's school, wearing school uniforms. Ikkaku has his pants rolled up, no socks, and a wooden sword. Renji wears his uniform relatively normal, but with his shirt unbuttoned a bit, revealing the tattoos on his chest, while also wearing a bandanna on his forehead. Onlooking students comment on Yumichika and Rangiku not looking very threatening, and Toshiro and Renji looking odd. Then they point out the scary bald guy. Ikkaku was not amused.
  • This trope was discussed in Episode 3/Chapter 8 of Blend-S. Sometime in the past, Maika told her mother she wanted to dye her hair blonde out of her Foreign Culture Fetish, but her mother thinks she was attempting to invoke this trope (or even becoming a Japanese Delinquent herself) out of Maika's frustration of her Face of a Thug.
  • Kouichi from Bunny Drop dated a red-haired delinquent girl, dying his hair red too during this rebellious phase. When he grew out of it, his hair went black again.
  • In Case Closed, a case is solved because of the differences between the styles of two writers. One was old-fashioned (lovers standing in the rain, separated by a pole was a common scene in his novels) and his delinquents almost always had bleached hair.
  • Sunohara in CLANNAD has the bleached blond variety (explicitly stated to be dyed). He stops bleaching it when he gets a job.
  • While she's not a delinquent, Eiko from the manga Cousin dyed her hair brown in early high school and started changing in personality.
  • Discussed in Cromartie High School. In an early chapter, Kamiyama takes advice from a book on how to be a delinquent and bleaches his hair. The subject also comes up a couple of other times with Hayashida's purple mohawk which turns out to be a wig that he takes off at home.
  • In Dragon Ball Z, after Goku and Gohan achieve Super Saiyan status, Chichi sees them for the first time and is dismayed that they've become delinquents. This happens again with Goten (only to be unfortunately translated as "monster" in the first Funimation Z dub) and even becomes a Running Gag in the biography mode in a video game.
  • Eyeshield 21 has a lot of this. Two of the Ha-Ha brothers and Hiruma are bleached blonde, Agon wears his hair in dreads, and Musashi isn't a delinquent but is supposed to look like one with his mohawk.
  • In Fist of the North Star, mohawks are the calling cards of villains whose fate is to be messily killed via martial art techniques that are capable of popping human beings like a zit.
  • In Fruits Basket, Hatsuharu got into trouble at school for white on top, black on bottom natural hair coloring, as people believed he dyed his hair. On a non-magically coloured note, Arisa Uotani also has lighter hair, of a blonde-brown shade, and was (and is still considered) a delinquent. Kyouko, Tohru's mother, also had dyed red hair and was considered a delinquent, too.
  • Ran, the main character of Gals!, continually gets flack from her teacher for having bleached blonde hair with a red streak. During one story arc, she dyes her hair orange, and a number of freshmen follow suit, much to the faculty's dismay. In an attempt to stem the tide of ko-gals, Naka-sen promises to cut her summer homework in half if she dyes her hair back. Instead of going back to her original black, however, Ran goes back to her usual blonde style.
  • Baptistin of Gankutsuou has red hair in a pompadour style.
  • Eikichi Onizuka of Great Teacher Onizuka had a blond pompadour when he was a teenage delinquent in GTO: The Early Years By the time he becomes a teacher he's got a more normal hairstyle, though it's still blond. Kunio Murai also dyes his hair blond, but he's not much of a delinquent.
  • Hungry Heart: Wild Striker: Since he decided to become a delinquent after he quit playing soccer, Kyosuke Kanou began dyeing his hair red-orange in an effort to distinguish himself from his brother Seisuke. Even after he returns to play soccer and starts forging himself his own merits, he keeps it.
  • Hunter × Hunter: Kuwabara's expy Knuckle also styles his hair in a pompadour and has a very similar personality.
  • Subverted in Hyakunichikan!! Small children like Chiho tend to think Hisaki Aoki is a delinquent because of his blond hair. He's actually a Nice Guy.
  • The same could be said of Josuke Higashikata from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure with his massive pomp, which other characters note as pretty outdated even for the time period (late 90s). He has it to honor the memory of a young man who helped his mother when Josuke was extremely ill. Despite his appearance, he isn't actually a delinquent, but insulting his hair is a massive Berserk Button for him, as Rohan learned the hard way. Josuke's other best friend, Okuyasu has a smaller pompadour and dyes the sides of his hair.
  • Sentarou from Kids on the Slope has brown hair (that curls when it's long) thanks to his mixed heritage. Though a nice boy, he's considered a delinquent because he skips school and gets into fights often.
  • Discussed in K-On! during its yearbook pictures episode; the girls' school requires students whose hair isn't black or dark brown to bring their baby pictures to prove that their hair color is natural, and anyone who fails to do so is forced to dye their hair before their picture are taken.
  • Kuroko's Basketball:
    • A flashback reveals that Hyuuga grew his hair long and dyed it blond (and growing a mustache) to become a delinquent, but the stick didn't last long and everyone else made fun of his look.
    • Haizaka changed his hair from his grey Shounen Hair to a black short cut with dreadlocks and a shaved motif on his head. He also acts like a delinquent.
  • In Kyō, Koi o Hajimemasu, Tsubaki describes that her whole school looks like it's composed of delinquents. Kyota himself has long, unkempt bleached hair. It looks neater when Tsubaki cuts it, but it's still pretty delinquent-y. It actually contrasts his excellent grades.
  • Miki from Life (2002) is implied to have dyed her hair blonde. She is considered a delinquent, however, most of the rumors are false and she's quite nice.
  • Implied with Amano of Livingstone, who has blond hair that might be bleached and carries a can of spray paint everywhere which serves dual purposes of cleaning up corruption and letting him tag everything.
  • In Love Pistols, the Face of a Thug delinquent friend of Inukami has red hair and an outrageous pompadour. No info whether it's dyed or not.
  • Midori Days has a blond delinquent protagonist.
  • Nakanojo from Nichijou is a subversion; he has a blond mohawk, but the mohawk is actually his natural hairstyle and Nakanojo himself is a down-to-earth Nice Guy (though Weboshi mistakenly believes he's a delinquent and likes him because of it). His father also has a natural mohawk, but he grew it out long enough that gravity did its job and made it appear like normal hair.
  • Nana: Every male member of Nana O.'s band The Black Stones sports a hair style associated with punks because, well, they're a Punk Rock band. Nobu has dyed blonde short spiky hair, Shin's hair is spiky and dyed light blue, and Yasu is completely bald. A similar pattern can be seen with the members of Trapnest: Ren has short spiky black hair in a direct reference to Sid Vicious, drummer Naoki has spiky dyed blonde hair, and depending on the artist, Layla's hair is either light brown, blonde, or pink. Only Nana and Takumi avert this: Nana's short black hair helps her maintain the Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette look she intentionally cultivates and Takumi as the business face of the band, goes for the less wild but still a bit outside of the norm long jet black hair.
  • One Piece:
    • Kyoushirou has a long pompadour and is a yakuza boss. His hair is also blue, but that's not unusual for the residents of Wano Kuni. The pompadour is a wig, though, and it can be removed quite easily. Once Kyoushirou reveals himself to be Denjirou, he removes the wig permanently and reveals his identity as the last of the Akazaya Nine. The long pompadour also helps Denjirou/Kyoushirou to hide his angry face when bowing to Orochi.
    • In the past, Kin'emon dyed his hair blond when he was a rebellious delinquent. After becoming the vassal of the new daimyou Kozuki Oden, Kin'emon dyed his hair back to black to look professional. While Wano Kuni is essentially the One Piece equivalent of feudal-era Japan, this trope doesn't work well with him because most people in Wano have such colorful hair colors, and only a few prominent characters actually have black hair, so having blond hair wouldn't be out of the ordinary.
  • Momo Adachi, the main character of Peach Girl, is assumed to be a slutty kogal as she tans easily and her hair bleached due to her being on the school swim team and thus around chlorinated water a lot. She wishes she looked more like her friend Sae, who is petite, pale, and delicate (but a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing).
  • The Quintessential Quintuplets: Protagonist Fuutarou Uesugi used to have blond-dyed wild hair back in middle school, heavily contrasting with his current self sporting his natural dark blue (black in the manga and Season 2) hair. Nino, the second quintuplet, sees a photo of him looking like this and calls it "totally my type" not realizing who he is (he passes it off as being a cousin of his).
  • Rokudenashi Blues has the entire main cast as examples of this trope. It even becomes the focus of one chapter, where an Evil Teacher makes them change their hair back to normal.
  • Makoto Kino of Sailor Moon isn't actually a delinquent, but her tall height, strength, long-skirted school uniform, and naturally curly light brown hair all make her fellow students perceive her as this.
  • Ryunosuke Umemiya of Shaman King wears a massive pompadour, and leads a gang.
  • The protagonist of Shikii no Juunin dyes his hair green. He's a rebellious, matter-of-fact middle schooler who smokes and doesn't want to go to school. The above-mentioned Nitori is an Expy of him in design, though due to the different art styles, it isn't that apparent.
  • Hanamichi Sakuragi from Slam Dunk is an ex-school delinquent who has a bright red (dyed) pompadour. Out of his still-school gangster friends, one has a blond afro and two have smaller pompadours. When Sakuragi commits a HUGE mistake that costs Shohoku an important victory, he shaves his hair to buzzcut levels but keeps dying it red.
  • The title character of Space☆Dandy sports a Regent pompadour, which he's quite proud (and protective) of.
  • SPY×FAMILY: Yor panics when she sees Anya has forgotten her gym clothes for school. Because Anya goes to a school with very strict conduct rules, Yor imagines her being expelled and turning into a delinquent with a pompadour and sunglasses, riding away on a tricycle.
    Yor: Oh, no! Miss Anya, you mustn't! Loid will be so sad!
  • Talentless Nana has Tsunekichi Hatadaira. He was formerly a normal, hard-working student who just happened to have the superpower (or "Talent") of prophetic dreams until one night he had a vision of him flunking his entrance exam. He crammed all night to try to avoid this fate... then fell violently ill on test day, which led to him failing. Ever since then, he's been dying his normally dark-brown hair blonde and blowing it out in huge, dramatic spikes alongside being unkempt, lazy, and wearing jewelry.
  • Shūichi Nitori from Wandering Son gets mistaken for these once she dyes her hair from a dark brown to a bright red, after falling into a funk after being submitted into an all-boys high school. It only lasts one chapter.
  • In The Way of the Househusband, Masa has blond hair and often wears the Hawaiian shirts characteristic of yankii, though he's a bit older than most delinquents (and is actually a yakuza/ex-yakuza).
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! has both Honda and hired thug Suwatari (Kemo) who have railroad spike hair. Kind of subverted with Jounouchi; despite being a delinquent, his blond hair and messy pompadour-esque hairstyle seem to be natural.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL: The Gagaga archetype is based on Japanese delinquent, and this is lampshaded on Gagaga Girl's blond hair. Which is ironic, since most of the characters in the series have crazy hairstyles and hair colors. Even the person who calls out her blond hair has blue hair himself, but that's happening for the sake of parody.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V: Gongenzaka has his hair styled in a pompadour and gives the vibe of a Japanese delinquent, but he emphasises more on being manly than being rebellious. However, he deviates more and more from his family's traditional playstyle as the series progresses, improving as a duelist as a result.
  • YuYu Hakusho:
    • Kuwabara styles his hair in a pompadour and calls himself the "Sarayashiki Middle School's number-one delinquent". His hair also has a reddish tone, but nothing states that he bleached it.
    • A bit less obvious, but Yusuke also styles his hair in a very short pompadour. Also calls himself the "Sarayashiki Middle School's special number-one super-delinquent".

    Comic Books 
  • Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld: On Earth, Amy dyed her hair blue, pink, and black, which made her classmates think she's a freak.
  • While not often seen, underneath his mask Bane sports a short mohawk.
  • Flashbacks to Kate Kane's "Lost Year" in Batwoman (Rebirth), show that she had a severe skater cut (think Cressida's hair in Mockingjay).
  • Daken, the villainous son of Wolverine wears his hair in a mohawk.
  • Candy X from Dolltopia has a spiky hairdo, but is not a delinquent herself.
  • Pizzazz from Jem and the Holograms (IDW) is the lead singer in a metal band named The Misfits. Her default hairstyle is a bright green mohawk with some small highlights in it. Downplayed because most of the characters have brightly colored hair, however, hers is green and in a mohawk so it still counts.
  • Kunskapens Korridorer:
    • Svenne has green spiky hair.
    • Bosse has bright red hair.
    • Mia sports a long "girlier" kind of mohawk.
  • Noah St. Germain, the guy at the top of the criminal world in Brownsville as seen in Morbius vol. 2, has a blue mohawk. This is an invoked trope; he used to look completely average but his criminal mastermind employers had him change his appearance, presumably to make him appear more intimidating.
  • Violet Paige, the foul-mouthed, antihero protagonist of Mother Panic, sports a shaggy bob haircut with purple highlights that wouldn't look out of place in a punk band.
  • Robin (1993): Recurring foe The General, keeps the sides of his head shaved to show off his tattoos and has dyed his hair blue in the past.
  • Tank Girl: The title character's haircut tend to change often, but it's always some version of this trope, with one of her most common being a mostly shaven head with a few randomly colored locks.
  • Watchmen: the in.universe new subculture of Knot Tops is named for their distinctive hairstyle of shaved sides and hair gathered into a bun on top of the head. It is associated with street thugs, but we also see it worn by people in other contexts, including a rich woman at a high-end restaurant.
  • Weapon Hex: Herbert Wyndham of all people has this, sporting a red mohawk.

    Fan Works 
  • Evil Calvin, from Retro Chill, has a mohawk.
  • Laura from the So Bad, It's Good Homestuck fic Learning and Sburbing has a pink mohawk.
  • Most of the Sky Pirate crew of the Sirocco in the The Legend of Zelda fic Zelda and the Manacle of Cahla have this to go with their "antigovernment rebels" image. Captain Celsea has a hot pink faux hawk, while former crew member Kelvin has grown his out, leaving only the ends of his hair dyed blue.
  • Wendy in A Game of Castles has punkish har, with shaved sides and a tuft of pink Non-Mammalian Hair, to fit her attitude.
  • Oni Ga Shiku Series: Izuku in his hero suit slicks back his chin-length hair. Along with the rest of the ensemble, everyone is left thinking that he looks like he walked out of a "Yakuza Sunset" movie. Which is almost the case, considering how his style is influenced by actual yakuza.

    Films — Animation 
  • The eponymous character of Coraline has blue hair in a setting where everyone else has normally-colored hair, speculated to be an attempt to get her parents' attention.
  • Spider-Man: Spider-Verse:
    • In Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Gwen Stacy starts off with normal, feminine hair, but is forced to shave the right side after Miles Morales accidentally gets his hand stuck in her hair. He later tries to compliment the look, only for her to angrily tell him that he is not allowed to like it. She later says he's allowed to like it right before heading back to her universe.
    • After the Time Skip in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Gwen has retained the haircut, which may be a way of remembering Miles once she's back in her own universe. The non-shaved side of her hair grows to reach her shoulder and the ends are dyed pink.
  • Next Gen starts with young Mai reacting to a series of misfortunes by becoming angrier and more rebellious, including a scissor hack to transition to this trope.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • One of the revivifiable Mooks in The 6th Day has her hair dyed a different color every time she is brought back. She even complains about having to get it dyed (and getting her ears pierced) when revived.
  • In the Japanese film Akunin, the troubled, violent Shimizu has bleached blond hair, and when Mitsuyo says that she "never expected [she] would be going for a drive with a blond guy like [him]", "blond guy" seems almost like a euphemism for "bad boy".
  • Subverted in The Boy with Green Hair. Peter is looked on with suspicion by the rest of the town for his green hair, but he just woke up like that one morning.
  • In The Hobbit, Mohawks are worn by the thief Nori and Violent Glaswegian Dáin Ironfoot. In a flashback, the younger Dwalin also had this haircut.
  • The hackers who show up to Neo's door near the beginning of The Matrix all have strange hair colours. They're clearly delinquent-type characters.
  • Riot Girls: Scratch is a tough punk girl with a mohawk who gets into all sorts of fights. However, it's nearly always for survival, while the villains are the clean-cut jocks that her group fights.
  • Sky High (2005): Warren Peace has shoulder-length dark hair with red streaks to match his fire powers. He's introduced as the son of a notorious supervillain who was archenemy to Will Stronghold's father, giving the impresison he's going to be Will's antagonist. Instead, Warren turns out to be an Anti-Hero who pefers being The Aloner because people are so wary of his father.
  • They/Them (2022): Surly, rebellious butch bisexual Veronica has very short hair dyed partially red in a punk-like style. However, she's a good person who's understandably pissed at the conversion therapy camp leaders.
  • In the 2011 film Warrior: Mad Dog sports a colorful mohawk to let us know that he's a Jerkass. He even colors it camouflage for his fight with Tommy as a Take That! to all the servicemen in the audience.
  • In X-Men: Days of Future Past, it is shown that Toad sported a mohawk in his youth.
  • X-Men: Apocalypse has Storm with this haircut when she was a young thief in Cairo.

    Literature 
  • In L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables, Anne tries to dye her hair black with a peddler's dye. It turns her hair green instead, and she resolves to let the incident cure her vanity.
  • Durarara!!:
    • Shizuo dyed his hair blond to differentiate himself from his similar-looking (but diametrically opposite in personality) brother and kind of fits since he has an extreme Hair-Trigger Temper and works for loan sharks. It's revealed in a side story that bleaching his hair was Tom's idea: Tom figured that looking the part of a delinquent would deter other kids from picking fights with Shizuo. Shizuo opposed the idea at first (rage disorder aside, Shizuo's about as far away from the delinquent persona as one could get), but eventually changed his mind when he realized just how much Tom cared about his well-being.
    • Masaomi, an easygoing class clown type and former gang leader, dyed his hair blond which is ironic since his former gang is yellow.
    • Walker might fit too. He definitely satisfied the delinquent part of it, but since he might be biracial, his blond hair could be evidence of Phenotype Stereotype.
    • Miscellaneous thugs in the series, such as those in the Blue Squares, often have dyed hair.
  • Haganai
    • Kodaka Hasegawa, the protagonist, is wrongly assumed to be a delinquent by most of his peers due to his naturally blond hair; other people assume it's dyed (since in Japan, dying one's hair is typically looked down upon as delinquent behavior), but it's actually natural since his mother is British.
    • Also inverted with Kobato and Sena; while they are not exactly delinquents, they behave in ways that society would deem quite unfitting, yet despite their own natural blonde hair, neither is seen as a delinquent or such by others. It's generally accepted though that this is because Kodaka's hair looks dyed, while Kobata's and Sena's look much more natural.
  • Her Father's Daughter: Hair dye is a mark against Eileen's honesty:
    I never knew Eileen to be honest about anything in all her life unless the truth served her better than an evasion. Her hair was not honest color and it was not honest curl.
  • Spyder, one of the army recruits in M.Y.T.H. Inc in Action, dyes her hair in neon stripes. Of all the New Meat, she's the one with the biggest problem with authority.
  • Secret Agent Dingledorf and His Trusty Dog Splat has Dr. Rebellion from The Case of the Drooling Dinosaurs, who wears a mohawk. However, even a normal mohawk isn't enough to express his hatred for rules — he wears a sideways one.
  • Kitamura gives it a go in Toradora! to rebel against his parents. He dyes his hair blond, though his usual hair color appears as dark green (it was considered black In-Universe). However, one argument with his parents later and his hair is back to its original color.
  • At the beginning of The Twelve Kingdoms, Youko is criticized for her naturally red hair, and her mother tries to make her dye it a more unassuming shade so that people won't assume she's a delinquent.

    Live-Action TV 
  • One Monster of the Week from Denkō Chōjin Gridman has this as a superpower, with anyone he hits with his beam gaining a delinquent’s haircut (and attitude).
  • Gaz's teenage daughter Destiny in The Full Monty (2023) buzzes off one side of her hair, wearing the rest long. The style is notorious enough that some call her "the one with the hair". As for the "delinquent part", she gets her best friend involved in cutting class and the accidental theft of a dog that won Britain's Got Talent. That is just the first episode.
  • Nicolas in High Seas is an ex-thief turned sailor with a pompadour and sideburns, associated with bad boys and rebels during the 50s.
  • Itaewon Class: As a teenager, Jang Geunwon has bleached blond hair, showing he doesn't play by the rules, consistent with his bullying playboy lifestyle. After the time skip, he ditches the hair dye for a conservative haircut, signifying his new commitment to business. Amusingly, when he finally goes to jail for his teenage crime of vehicular manslaughter, his hair is bleached blond again.
  • Lead character Gentaro from Kamen Rider Fourze puts his hair into a rather prominent pompadour (as can be seen in the opening credits) to complete his appearance, which is that of a stereotypical delinquent... from the 1980s. Despite appearances, he is a friendly, outgoing guy whose stated goal is to become friends with everyone in the school. Does occasionally get him in trouble with the school's would be disciplinarian Oosugi.
    • JK, from the same show, manages to escape any censuring of his died and heavily styled hair until an episode with a ridiculously overpowered Student Council, which forces both JK and Gentaro to actually wear uniforms and have toned-down haircuts.
  • Max Asher, from MythQuest, is an older, rather quiet, and reserved man. Evidently, he has this opinion of Spiky Hair. Shortly after his teenage friend Alex changes his hair to impress a girl, Max's first reaction is, "My God! What happened to you? You look like you've been in a fight."
  • In the Pie in the Sky episode "The Policeman's Daughter", the eponymous character goes through a rebellious phase that includes running away from home, taking up with undesirable people, and dying her hair pink.

    Manhwa 
  • In The Breaker, all the other (Korean) students are afraid of Jinie because of her red hair.

    Pinball 
  • Blue Beard from Banzai Run has a short-trimmed mohawk.

    Puppet Shows 
  • Pili Fantasy: War of Dragons: Chin Shao-yeh, along with wearing "cheap cosmetics". He later gets it cut off as part of his Humiliation Conga at the hands of the amnesiac Chi Lu-Jen.
    Pa Mien Lang Chi: "This music and the smell of cheap cosmetics, it must be Chin Shao-yeh!"

    Tabletop Games 
  • Psionics: The Next Stage in Human Evolution is very fond of this trope.
    • Several members of The Zodiac Order have this. Take a third of a shot every time you see an example in the book's artwork or short stories because taking a full shot will probably kill you.
    • Mama Bear has green hair.
    • Chris Riven had dreadlocks.
    • Leo has a mohawk.
  • A common trait of hive gangers in Warhammer 40,000.
  • Warhammer Fantasy:
    • Dwarf Slayers are known for their distinctive mohawks which add another foot to their height. They aren't viewed as actual delinquents by dwarf society but self-imposed outcasts: a Slayer is a dwarf who has committed some unforgivable (and oftentimes comparatively minor) sin, and takes the way of Death Equals Redemption by cutting his hair into a mohawk, grabbing a pair of axes and aggravating the biggest, ugliest monster in sight. Unfortunately, dwarves being stubborn little bastards, they come out on top more often than not, leading to them gaining ever more evocative epithets (Troll Slayer, Giant Slayer, Daemon Slayer, Dragon Slayer...) that are actually badges of shame to them: they already failed once, and now they keep failing to find honorable death.
    • Wulfrik the Wanderer, the most devoted follower of the Chaos Gods, has a huge mohawk and is as delinquent as they come, living only to find stronger opponents and prove that he can kill them in single combat.

    Theatre 
  • In The Curious Savage, Ethel P. Savage invokes this by dying her hair blue as part of her becoming a Senior Delinquent (in her grown-up stepchildren's eyes).

    Video Games 
  • In The Elder Scrolls series, the ancient Chimeri/Dunmeri hero and Founder of the Kingdom, Lord Indoril Nerevar, is typically depicted with a tall mohawk. The sacred Indoril armor worn by the Ordinators in Morrowind is said to be in his image, with the helmet featuring his distinctive mohawk. Any "delinquency" is averted given his status as a legendary hero and saint in the Tribunal Temple.
  • Official art for The Great Giana Sisters shows "Punk Giana" as wearing a mohawk with green and red hair. The reboot toned her down by giving her a more typical (if messy) hairstyle and abandoning the green highlights.
  • As Guitar Hero's punk character, Johnny Napalm is an obvious example, having sported a spiked mohawk throughout most games in the series (green in the first two games, red in III). Alternate costumes usually give him straight mohawks, or make him a skinhead. The only other hairstyle he's had was a McSqueeb in Rocks the 80s (which also fits by way of its association to the skater subculture, as it was Tony Hawk's hairstyle in the '80s).
  • Haunting Starring Polterguy: Poltergeist Polterguy has a well-kept mohawk on his head. In the Gainax Ending you can see that he dyed it red.
  • The main characters of Kunio-kun franchise. Kunio/Alex has gangly brown hair and Riki/Ryan has a pompadour.
  • Life Is Strange: Chloe has blue hair to match her overall punk aesthetic, which is why Max doesn't recognize her at first. She's become a teen rebel since her father died. In flashbacks and alternate timelines, when she's not a rebel, her hair is her natural sandy brown.
  • Parodied in Logical Journey of the Zoombinis with the villainous Fleens. According to the manual, they were once just troublesome Zoombinis, but keeping up their delinquent hair mutated them into the punks they are now thanks to a batch of mousse going bad.
  • In the real world/Faraway Town, post-timeskip, in OMORI, Aubrey has pink dyed hair, has joined a gang of delinquents known as the Hooligans, and carries around a baseball bat with nails in it.
  • Persona 4 has Kanji Tatsumi, who, after years of feeling like an outcast, began dying his hair platinum blond and wearing dark clothes, causing many to think he's part of a gang, as his mother explains to the protagonist. In the epilogue of Persona 4 Golden, his hair is back to its original black color and he wears a simple white shirt, but in Persona 4: The Golden Animation he decides to dye it back to blond after being made fun of.
  • Persona 5: Japanese Delinquent Ryuji Sakamoto started dying his hair bleach-blond after a Career-Ending Injury ended with him being ostracized by his entire high school. His evolved Fighting Spirit, an Anthropomorphic Personification of his feelings, has spikey golden mohawk meant to look like the points of the sun.
  • Pokémon:
    • Team Skull, the villainous team of Pokémon Sun and Moon, are based on street punks. The male and female grunts have neon blue and hot pink hair respectively, and the admin Plumeria has a strange double-pigtails 'do where the front two are pink and the back two are yellow.
    • Team Yell from Pokémon Sword and Shield are based on the British punk counterculture. Male grunts have their hair shaved down to stubble save a mohawk while female grunts have their hair in a bob, both of which are dyed bright pink. Marnie also has pink highlights in her hair, while her brother Piers has parts of his hair dyed white, styled it to have spikes, and tied it in three ponytails with some bangs covering his right eye, as if to make himself resemble an Obstagoon.
    • Implied with Delinquent trainers. They have blonde hair but black roots, implying their hair is dyed, befitting of Japanese stereotypes involving delinquents bleaching their hair.
    • Scrafty from Pokémon Black and White has an orange crest on its head that resembles a mohawk, fitting its street punk aesthetic. Meanwhile, Simisage sports a giant bush on its head that resembles a pompadour.
    • Both forms of Toxtricity from Pokémon Sword and Shield sport electric frills that resemble mohawks, befitting of their punk rocker inspirations.
    • A handful of examples exist in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
      • All four forms of Squawkabilly have tufts of feathers on their heads that resemble pompadours fitting of their rockabilly inspirations.
      • Maschiff has a tuft of fur on its head that looks like a bright yellow mohawk.
      • Grafaiai has four tufts of fur on its head that look like spikey green hair sticking out from under a hoodie.
      • Fitting their status as actual delinquents, some of the Team Star Bosses also sport this look, either having wild and messy hair or having parts of their hair dyed.
  • Sharla from the Purple Moon games uses enough bleach and hairspray — along with purple makeup and leather jackets — to give this impression off. She cuts class and acts out because her father walked out on their poor family, which also prompted her makeover; when we see her in Secret Paths to the Sea, it's just after her father left, and she has long, plain red hair and dresses conservatively.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog: Sega of America edited Sonic's appearance on the game's box and in all promotional media to make him look more "punk"-like, shaping his quills to look like a mohawk and giving him a more smug expression. It should be noted that this more closely matches his appearance on the title screen, which is the same in both Japan and America, indicating that the design had already been changed in Japan. This look was also used in several adaptations, such as Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM), but was eventually phased out in exchange for his modern design.
  • Trick or Treat Beat!: Eddy has a red mohawk as a part of his Halloween costume.
  • Roughraff and Baddinyan from Yo-kai Watch are Japanese Delinquents with huge pompadours.

    Visual Novels 
  • When the protagonist of Double Homework switches summer school programs, one of his new classmates has a punk haircut.
  • Maruhashi from Spirit Hunter: NG is a former biker gang leader and current lackey to the Yakuza, and has a distinctive red mohawk.

    Webcomics 

    Western Animation 
  • Derek in Bobby's World has a rat tail style hairdo that matches his Jerkass personality.
  • Tambry from Gravity Falls has pink and purple hair. It's been like this since she was in Kindergarten.
  • It is apparently atural, however Pizzazz's bright green hair in Jem pins her as more malicious than the pink and purple-haired protagonists. Sixth Ranger Jetta has a white streak in her hair. Both women are a part of a band called The Misfits and are constantly trying to outshine The Holograms.
  • The Loud House:
    • In "Dance Dance Resolution", Tabby has spiky hair with a purple streak which goes upwards.
    • In "Legends", Stan and Steak Stankco both have mohawks.
    • In "Appetite for Destruction", Lynn Sr. has two Imagine Spots of Lily as a rebellious teenager, and she has the right side of her hair shaved off. Hilariously, in his Imagine Spot of her as a well-behaved teenager, she still has the delinquent hairstyle.
  • The My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode "It Isn't the Mane Thing About You" has Rarity lose most of her mane because she accidentally uses Zecora's magical remover potion. Once she accepts that she can't grow back her ruined mane quickly, Rarity opts to turn it into a multicolored punk mohawk. Downplayed as it's portrayed as a great fashion choice and inspires a manestyle trend long after her own mane has grown back.
  • Star vs. the Forces of Evil:
    • In "Mr. Candle Cares", in an effort to rebel against her future as queen, Star gives herself a punk makeover, which includes shaving half her hair, dying it purple, and styling it so some of it obscures the left side of her face. It’s back to normal by the next episode.
  • Steven Universe:
    • Lars is a pessimistic, grouchy teenager who has a mohawk, albeit a loose, curly one.
    • The mystery girl from "Last One Out Of Beach City" has bright pink hair, a punk aesthetic, and inspires Pearl's efforts to cut loose and be more rebellious. She also rather eerily resembles a punk human version of Rose Quartz.
      Pearl: I just didn't realize humans could come with pink hair...
      Steven: They don't. You've gotta go to the store and get this... goo? It smells really bad and it turns your hair whatever color you want.
      Pearl: Why would she do that?
  • Though naturally multi-colored hair is common for the Catfolk of ThunderCats (2011), Wilykit, a young Little Miss Con Artist and Artful Dodger, sports a purple streak.
  • Total Drama's Duncan (the page image) sports a green mohawk.

    Real Life 
  • According to this article, Japanese students with tinted or long hair have been known to have had their hair shorn on the spot by teachers, and one middle school in the city of Kitakyushu once took aside the kids with tinted hair and had staff in a designated area spray it back to black. This was broadcast on a news program.
    • Happened to Yoshiki Hayashi during his high school years. It seemed his teacher really didn't like blonde, spiky hair.
    • Since so many Japanese have straight, black hair, in the very rare instance of someone being born with brown hair they get treated as though they were delinquents and are forced to dye their hair black.
  • In US and UK schools dyeing hair "unnatural colors" (which often includes brighter red shades) is prohibited in dress codes, probably because of this trope, as are "extreme" hairstyles.
  • An urban legend exists about a punk rocker girl who was taken to the emergency room of a hospital for appendicitis. When they sedated her and disrobed her on the operating table, they found she had dyed her pubic hair green, and above it was tattooed the words, "Keep off the grass." She later woke up to find it shaved off and a note written on her bandages: "Sorry, had to mow the lawn."
  • In a case that's counterculture but not exactly outlaw, Sinéad O'Connor kept her head shaved as an assertion against traditional views of women. She once tried to grow it back, but returned to bald once she was mistaken for Enya.


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