An easy way to tell if a female character in Japanese media is of high social standing is to not look for a crown or an Ermine Cape, but to look at the front of her head. Specifically, look for two curled locks of hair draping the sides of her face. The rest of the hair may be straight, curly, or anything in-between, but she must have two curled locks from either the hair directly in front of or directly behind the ear, and falling in front of her shoulders rather than behind, if it is long enough. If she has these, she either is high class or acts like it.
Needless to say, this is pretty much mandatory for the Ojou. Some Elegant Gothic Lolitas also sport this hairstyle.
Also known as "drill hair", and derived from the Regal Ringlets hairstyle, popular in Roman times. For the distinctly Japanese princess' hairstyle — straight black with level bangs and ear locks — see Hime Cut.
Do not confuse them for the sideburns Orthodox Jewish men wear, called peyot (pronounced "pay-ott") (peyos, pronounced "pay-ohs," if you're Ashkenazi).
A Sub Trope of Regal Ringlets. Compare Mega Twintails, Quirky Curls. Contrast Tomboyish Sidetails, Tomboyish Ponytail.
Examples
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Anime and Manga
Pacifica Casull, the title character of Scrapped Princess (shown above). Regardless of whether she has her hair up or down, she always has two curled sidelocks.
Elgala◊ from the Excel Saga manga has two ringlets framing her face. When she first appears, she's actually dirt poor like the rest of the ACROSS girls, but she acts like a wealthy debutante nonetheless.
In the anime, there's a one-shot corporate heiress that also sports corkscrew curls.
B-Ko◊ from Project A-Ko is a member of a rich and influential family affecting typical Rich Bitch behaviour. She has most of her hair in large ringlets and two smaller ones in front of her ears.
Isuzu Emi◊ from Tenjou Tenge has five large ringlets. There are the three in the back and two that frame the sides of her face. She's part of a wealthy clan whose job it is to protect the Takayanagi family.
Rika Shiraki◊ from Bible Black is popular, from a wealthy family, and Student Council President. She sports long straight hair with two ringlets that rest in front of her shoulders.
Sherry Belmont◊ from Gash Bell is a young french woman from a wealthy family. She has blonde straight hair with two long ringlets at the side of her face.
Montmorency◊ in Zero No Tsukaima has long blonde hair styled in Victorian ringlets with two of them as sidelocks that fall in front of her shoulders. Like most of the main cast in the series she's a noble.
Ayumi Himekawa◊, Privileged Rival of the main character from Glass Mask, has hair styled in ringlets with two large ones framing her face. Not so much in the 2005 series: the curls are noticeably simplified, leaving her with simply wavy hair.
Kanaria◊, Hinaichigo◊, and Shinku◊ from Rozen Maiden all have variations on this style. Kanaria has two low ringleted ponytails that rest in front of her shoulders, Hinaichigo has ringleted sidelocks, and Shinku has long side locks ending in ringlets. The three and the rest of their sisters are lolita fashioneddolls brought to life.
Hermione◊ from Romeo X Juliet is a young noblewoman in an Arranged Marriage with Romeo. She usually has her ponytail in a ringlet as well but she always has two long ringlets in the front framing her face.
Kihel Heim◊ in Turn-A Gundam is from a rich family and is a Body Double for the Queen of the Moon, Dianna Soreil. She has long hair mainly styled in ringlets that fall past her waist. Two of which fall in front of her ears and shoulders.
Ryuuka Jihiyou◊, the next head of the fabulously wealthy and powerful Jihiyou family in Hanaukyo Maid Tai. In the original and reboot series, La Verite, her hair is styled in ringlets with the two smaller ones frame her face.
The bemonocled Caterina Sforza◊ in Trinity Blood is the Duchess of Milan and has long brown hair that consists mainly of ringlets. Two of them falling in front of her shoulders.
Saaya Yamabuki◊ of Shugo Chara!! sports side locks with ringlets at the end that rest on her shoulders, although she isn't a princess, she certainly acts like she's the best thing since sliced bread. She's actually less popular than the main character, Amu, although she acts like Amu is well below her.
Isabella◊ from Paradise Kiss sometimes sports ringlet sidelocks to go with her victorian lady look. She's described as being the epitome of high class and femininity.
Ichinensei ni Nacchattara: Miho◊, the elementary school Rich Bitch, has hair entirely in ringlets with two framing her face.
Ame-Warashi◊ from xxxHolic, a high ranking Gothic Lolita fashioned water spirit, has two ringlets framing her face and Mega Twintails
In Aim for the Ace!, Reika◊ has a long, wavy blonde ponytail and two curls framing her face that allude to her ojou upbringing.
Beatrice◊ from Umineko no Naku Koro ni sports an elegant blonde pair of thin curled sidelocks as part of her "lady of Rokkenjima" persona. Like just about all of cast she's part of The Beautiful Elite.
Princess Charlotte◊ from Berserk goes through a couple different hairstyles through out the series. One of which has two small curled sidelocks.
In Silver SpoonAyame Minamikujou's◊ hair is styled in long Victorian ringlets. The two in the front are behind her ears and fall in front of her shoulders. This Part of her acting like an Ojou, even though her family is totally normal. Aki wonders where she goes to get her hair done like that.
The eponymous character Midna has an unusual variant of this in her true form at the end of The Legend Of Zelda Twilight Princess, in that the two curls are tied together around her neck like some kind of brooch. The other eponymous character has a variation of them as well: they're not curled, per se, but there are two braids of hair tied up in lots of ribbon.
Princess Zelda herself usually has some variation on this, particularly in recent cartoonier games◊ in which they're lightning-bolt-shaped sidelocks. Naturally, this includes Tetra.
Viola◊ from Soul Calibur V who's also an Elegant Gothic Lolita has two ringlets that go down to the front of shoulders.
Several variants are available in the Creat-A-Character mode.
Susie Evans◊ from Valkyria Chronicles has two large ringlets that fall in the front of her shoulders. She's the daughter of a rich tycoon and only enlisted in the war to protect her family's honor.
Rosalia◊ in Angelique is from a noble family and the Privileged Rival of the main character. She sports two corkscrew curls framing the side of her face.
Reika Minazuki◊ from Ouendan 2 has straight hair with two ringlets in the front framing her face. Her profile mentions that she's from a traditional family and attended a super elite academy.
It was a popular look in Lolita fashion during the eighties. It's fallen out of style since, but a lot of people still love it. It's really hard to do without a wig though. Rag curls can look like it, though.
