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Because we're worth it.
There's beauty, stranger...in thy soft form;
Thy fine bright hair, not coarse like the hard athlete's,
Is mantling o'er thy cheek warm with desire...
Wooing Aphrodite with thy loveliness.
— Pentheus describes Dionysus, Bacchae
How do you make a Pretty Boy even prettier? Give him long (shoulder-length or longer), flowing tresses of glossy hair. Bonus points for wearing it loose, no matter how impractical this may be.
A lot of these fall under Viewer Gender Confusion, because Long Hair Is Feminine (if the confusion occurs in-universe, it's an example of Dude Looks Like a Lady). Related to Rapunzel Hair.
Examples
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Anime and Manga
Very common in Bishōnen series, including many of the below.
- InuYasha: Sesshoumaru, so much. Naraku, maybe, when he's not shown as an Eldritch Abomination Gonk. There's also Bankotsu, Kouga and the eponymous Inuyasha himself.
- Fushigi Yuugi has Hotohori, Nuriko, Tomo (without the makeup), Tatara, Tenkou, and Renhou's demon form. Its prequel series Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden adds Uruki, Hikitsu, and Hagus to that list.
- Yu Yu Hakusho: Kurama (in both Youko and human form), Karasu, Itsuki, and Shishiwakamaru. Sakyou, meanwhile, has more of a mullet.
- Saint Seiya: Shiryu, Shun and Hyoga (and countless secondary characters, most notably Shaka and Mu).
- BL manga Challengers and The Tyrant Falls In Love have this with Hot Scientist Souichi, whenever Slipknot Ponytail is in effect.
- Saint Beast: Quite a few: Shin, Luca, and Lucifer for sure, Gai possibly. Rey is by far the worst offender.
- Naruto: Haku, Neji, Dan, Deidara, Itachi, and Kabuto all have hair that goes past their shoulders, and are all quite pretty. Especially Haku.
- Saiunkoku Monogatari: Half the cast, starting with Shi Ryuuki and Shi Seiran, and also especially including Ko Kijin and Sa Sakujun.
- Bleach: Byakuya, Ukitake, Szayel, Rose, Ilforte and Haschwalth.
- D.N.Angel: Krad; his blonde ponytail is easily longer than he is-this is noticeable when he flies and his hair has to catch up with him.
- Sailor Moon: Fisheye, Nephrite, Zoisite and Kunzite. Also, Ali (his alien form) in the anime only Doom Tree arc. And Fiore (his alien form) in the Sailor Moon R movie. And Artemis (his human form) in the manga.
- Basilisk: Gennosuke and Yashamaru. Also Hyouma, who's prettier than both of them.
- Gorgeous Carat: Florian, although Azura has longer hair and also applies (he just happens to be the resident Big Bad).
- 5* Kiri from Wild Rose and Olgrius and Shui from Wild Wind, as per Author Appeal.
- Magical X Miracle: Half the male cast (Glenn, Yue, Francis, Ardi, the king), and even of those male characters who aren't, most still have at least shoulder-length Go Nagai Sideburns.
- Tomoe from Kamisama Kiss normally has a short pageboy hair cut but we see in flashbacks he used to wear his hair long and twice in the story he reverts to a longer hair style.
- Griffith from Berserk has waist-length white waves that the fandom has affectionately dubbed "cloud hair".
- Angel Crush : Michael Finch AKA Michael the Archangel has long flowing golden blond locks of hair that sparkle. All the time. Even at night.
Comics
- Not that there's anything "Pretty Boy" about him, since he's a big muscular dude, but The Mighty Thor deserves a mention for his long blonde hair. He ain't called Goldilocks for nothin', true believers!
Film
- The Lord of the Rings: Legolas in the film adaptation is a live-action example of this trope.
- Most (if not all) elves are this.
- And in new pictures, so's Aidan Turner as a DWARF. Seriously
 .
- Actually, the hobbits seem to be the only people in Middle-Earth who don't go in for this trope. (The orcs and similar tend not to have much hair). The human men have shorter styles, but it's still fairly long.
- In Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, the character Golden Boy might count, being the (boy?)friend of Wez and having, by comparison, a rather handsome face and long, flowing, blonde hair.
Literature
- [[Literature/Frankenstein]] The creature was supposed to be this , but .....
- However, he still has pretty black locks.
- Pretty much all of Laurell K. Hamilton has male characters from the Anita Blake and the Merry Gentry series have ridiculously long hair and are ridiculously good-looking.
- Prince Roger McClintock takes on this partly in rebellion to the rest of his family, who compare him to his traitorous father without him knowing why (no one tells him, out of fear of the wrath of the Empress when the subject of the father comes up). His bodyguards realize, as the series continues, that their dismissal of him as a useless fop due to the appearance was a mistake.
- Fablehaven has Bracken, who is tall, willowy, youthful, and has long, soft silver-white hair.
- Irrylath of Meredith Ann Pierce’s Darkangel Trilogy, as both an (adult) human and as a darkangel.
- Plenty of men in A Brothers Price. Women keep their hair short and practical; men grow theirs out very long and usually keep it braided. Since men are so rare most women see very few, any man with all of his teeth and both eyes is going to be considered attractive... even so, Jerin is thought of as amazingly handsome.
- The protagonists Seregil and Alec in Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner novels. Actually pretty standard for the elf-like Aurënfaie race, although different clans favor different ways of styling it and most wear head wraps in distinctive patterns. Humans are more variable, as trends in hairstyles vary based on culture and what is in fashion. Long hair is often seen as a sign of cultural affinity with the Aurënfaie.
Live-Action TV
- The Groosalugg from Angel falls under this trope, until he and Cordelia go on vacation, and he cuts it short... And familiarily...◊
- In Criminal Minds, Reid* had longish hair in the earlier seasons but it was shoulder-length in season five. Later on in the season, Reid got a haircut. Crowning Moment of Funny when the team sees Reid's new hair.
Hotch: What? Did you join a boy band?
Music
- Anthony Keidis from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, although he's recently cut it short.
- Every Hair Metal band had to have at least one to be marketable. Some bands were entirely composed of them. Some examples are:
- Vocaloid2: Kamui Gakupo◊, whose voice is sampled from Gackt. Also, Kaito is sometimes depicted in fanart with a long mullet tied into a ponytail, especially when he's drawn in the same samurai-style as Gakupo.
- Len can also count, seeing as its long enough to put in a short ponytail, and there's plenty of fanart depicting him as a Pretty Boy.
- In the early '70s, Queen were all these. Brian has kept his '70s Hair forever.
- In The Eighties, there was Nelson.
- Another 80s example is Michael Hutchence of INXS. As his hair grew longer over the course of the decade, his prettiness grew as well.
- The Beatles
- Particularly John when he had shoulder length hair and cleanshaven. As seen in Let It Be.
- Michael Kiske during his time in Helloween, as seen here.
- Led Zeppelin: All of them.◊ That is all.
- Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam in the early years. Oh so much.
- Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, too.
- David Gilmour of Pink Floyd in the earlier stages of their career.
- Hanson in The Nineties.
- Every post-Aramary Sound Horizon album includes at least one Long-Haired Pretty Boy. It makes one wonder if it's all just an elaborate excuse for Revo to wear a◊ bunch◊ of◊ silly◊ wigs◊ on◊ stage.◊
- Antonio Pontarelli, a sadly underrated rock violinist and singer.
- Peter Gabriel in the early years of Genesis.
- All the guys of Black Veil Brides
- Varg Vikernes in his late teens.
Mythology
Theater
Video Games
- Golden Sun: Felix, Piers, and Alex. Alex returns in Dark Dawn under a Paper Thin Alias, flowing tresses intact.
- The Final Fantasy series' general design philosophy for male characters makes this trope present in abundance:
- Even since the beginning—Red Mage's and White Wizard's original sprites were long haired pretty boys (okay, we can't tell if they're pretty, precisely - or guys, for that matter - but it's Final Fantasy in the Yoshitaka Amano era. Odds are good that they are).
- Warrior of Light becomes one in Dissidia, which was based on Amano's art for the Warrior class.
- Final Fantasy II has The Emperor and his Rapunzel Hair. Firion counts as well, when he's given longer hair.
- Final Fantasy IV has the ever-so-pretty Cecil (who is sometimes drawn with short hair, but rarely). In the sequel, his hair's yet longer...but still not as long as Kain, with his long, straight, lovely blond hair.
- Final Fantasy VI has Setzer, and Chivalrous Pervert Edgar.
- Final Fantasy VII: Veni, veni, venias! Ne me mori facias! Sephiroth! Let's not forget Vincent Valentine, though.
- Final Fantasy VIII has Irvine. Save a horse, ride a cowboy, indeed. Laguna too, when he was younger.
- Final Fantasy IX has Kuja, bishiest of all.
- Final Fantasy X has Seymour Guado (although how pretty he is may be subject to debate).
- Final Fantasy XII has Larsa and Vayne Solidor, and Al-Cid Margrace.
- Final Fantasy XIII nearly avoids the trope, but Cid and Rygdea keep the tradition alive.
- Chrono Trigger: The boss Flea. The chest padding in the game art doesn't help.
- Super Punch Out: Kabuki dancing boxer Heike Kagero (long purple hair, even).
- Kingdom Hearts: Xehanort, Xemnas, "Ansem", Saix, Marluxia, Riku (until he cut it off in 3D), Vexen... Yeah, Kingdom Hearts is the master of Long Haired hotties.
- Street Fighter: Vega.
- Ken too, especially in the Alpha series.
- Alex, also. 'Dat ponytail.
- Tales Of Symphonia: Zelos Wilder and Mithos Yggdrasill.
- Samurai Shodown: Ukyo Tachibana.
- Dynasty Warriors: Several examples, most notably Zhang He and Zhou Yu.
- There's also Zhao Yun, Zhuge Liang, Ling Tong and Jiang Wei.
- Samurai Warriors: we have Ishida Mitsunari, Akechi Mitsuhide and Sasaki Kojiro.
- Warriors Orochi: Taigong Wang, if he wore it loose that is.
- Okami: Waka How does he keep it under that hat?
- Sengoku Basara: Akechi Mitsuhide and Maeda Keiji. Sanada Yukimura is of the rat-tail variety, but qualifies when he lets it down.
- Infinite Space: A few male characters (including the main character), most notably Lord Roth, who has waist-length hair.
- Assassin's Creed II: Ezio. His hair is usually in a ponytail, but does reach his shoulders. And damn, is he a pretty boy.
- The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask: Kafei.
- World of Warcraft: Lots, most notably Arthas Menethil and Kael'thas Sunstrider.
- Tales Of Vesperia: Yuri Lowell, plus Duke.
- Star Ocean: Ioshua Jerand from the first game, and Dias Flac from The Second Story/Second Evolution. Meanwhile, Albel Nox from Till the End of Time has twin rattails that reach past his waist.
- .hack//G.U. games: Endrance, crossing into Dude Looks Like a Lady territory. Also, Kuhn.
- Tales Of The Abyss: Luke, before his haircut, his original Asch, and Jade. Also Van and Peony.
- Harvest Moon has been fond of this lately. Julius and Jin come to mind.
- King of Fighters: Duo Lon.
- Benimaru Nikaido has the long hair and the good looks, but his Shock and Awe powers make his hair *literally* stand up. He lets his hair down once or twice, though.
- Fatal Fury: Terry and Andy Bogard, very much so. Andy is more notorious since he lets his long hair loose while Terry ties it up in a ponytail instead.
- Mortal Kombat: Raiden doesn't initially come off as this, but take away his hat and cloak, and you're left with a rather pretty man with a glorious mane of white hair◊.
- Partially lampshaded in Mortal Kombat 9 where, upon learning they are fighting for the safety of Earth, Johnny Cage asks Raiden, "What should we do, besides standing around looking pretty?"
- The Fire Emblem series has had plenty of these, dating as far back as Navarre from the very first game. Perhaps the most famous examples are Lucius from Blazing Sword and Soren from Path of Radiance.
- Guilty Gear has quite a few, with Testament standing out in particular.
- Soul Series: Siegfried Schtauffen. He used to have short hair in Soul Blade, but it's grown out a lot in later games.
- Brain Dead 13: Computer technician and Red-Headed Idiot Hero Lance Galahad, oh so much.
Webcomics
Web Videos
Western Animation
Real Life
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