History Main / BaldHeadOfToughness

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/TheCorellianTrilogy'': The bald Admiral Ossilege is a capable (albeit sometimes abrasive) military leader who reacts fairly calmly to near-certain death after he's wounded in battle and remains at his post, continuing the battle, for some time afterward.
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* ''Literature/TheCorellianTrilogy'': The bald Admiral Ossilege is a capable (albeit sometimes abrasive) military leader who reacts fairly calmly to near-certain death after he's wounded in battle.

* ''Film/Solo1996''. Creator/MarioVanPeebles haves his head to play the title character, an android SuperSoldier. This is show not only his toughness but to [[Deceptively Human Robot give him a slightly uncanny appearance]]. The [[UpgradeVsPrototypeFight ostensibly superior Mark II android sent to kill Solo]] has hair.

* ''Manga/OnePunchMan'': The titular protagonist, Saitama, did originally have hair when he was an ordinary person. His baldness came as a consequence of gaining his CharlesAtlasSuperpower of SuperStrength and SuperToughness after doing simple exercises every day. Now he is so strong that he can wipe the floor with most opponents with, well, a single punch. That said, given this work is a parody of the superhero genre, when not in LetsGetDangerous mode, Saitama does express BaldnessAngst and his baldness is often PlayedForLaughs.

* In ''WebComic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', BaldBlackLeaderGuy and main melee combatant Roy is a BadassNormal who is unusually tough and strong even before obtaining the Belt of Giant Strength and gains SuperStrength when wearing it. He also shaves his head completely bald. In a prequel volume, it's shown that Roy started shaving his head in college, and his father lampshades the trope during a visit, specifically noting that the shaved head made Roy look tough.

*** Wen Hai Lee, the owner of Hogushi Kaikan, who acts as an acupuncturist and masseur. He was formerly a Pro Assassin, which helps his masseur and acupuncturist job considering that he knows pressure points (In the first fight with Majima, he threatens to break the cyclop's left arm with a thumb. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkXy8JvfxQA&t=50s Miss the QTE in time and you're treated to this...]]). He's also huge enough to be humorously titled by the game as '''[[TheBigGuy MASSIVE MAN]]'''. With the Parka, he also looks like ''VideoGame/Yakuza4'' & ''VideoGame/Yakuza5'' protag, [[TheBigGuy Taiga Saejima]], shaved head and all.

** Inverted with Knov, who goes PrematurelyBald after coming into contact with Shaiapouf's malevolent En. The immense fear being around the Chimera Ant Royal Guards turned Knov's jet black hair completely white as he [[HeroicBSOD broke down]], realizing he would likely die should he have to face any of them 1-on-1. Knov forces himself to complete his infiltration job for the mission, but is in such bad shape mentally by the end that the stress caused him to lose every hair on his head.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Munchkin}}'': The game gives you a +1 bonus to strength if you're bald, since your body isn't wasting energy on hair. Downplayed since, long hair also gives a bonus to strength too, since "[[Literature/SamsonAndDelilah it worked for Samson]]."

That said, there is also a distinct trend for tough female characters to be bald, especially within the action and science fiction genres. LongHairIsFeminine and WomenAreDelicate? No problem, just remove the hair and now you have a visual short-hand for tough as nails, emotionally hardened, and likely battle-weary female characters. Such characters are almost always {{Action Girl}}s and/or {{Tomboy}}s with the bald/shaved head functioning similarly to BoyishShortHair, BraidsOfAction, and TomboyishPonytail. In horror works, the FinalGirl may appear with a shaved head to symbolize her perseverance against the incredible odds.

There is also a gendered component to this trope due to LongHairIsFeminine. Since long hair is often associated with [[WomenAreDelicate femininity and physical weakness]], baldness can be seen as the logical antithesis of those tropes, like a more extreme version of RealMenHaveShortHair. Therefore, this trope tends to coincide with and reinforce MenAreTough. Thus, if a bald guy is part of a team and they aren't the leader, they are very likely to be TheBigGuy.

There is also a gendered component to this trope due to LongHairIsFeminine and WomenAreDelicate. Since long hair is often associated with femininity and physical weakness, baldness can be seen as the logical antithesis of those tropes, like a more extreme version of RealMenHaveShortHair. Therefore, this trope tends to coincide with and reinforce MenAreTough. Thus, if a bald guy is part of a team and they aren't the leader, they are very likely to be TheBigGuy.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Overlapping with DelinquentHair, this is deliberately invoked by UsefulNotes/{{Skinheads}}, who adopted a shaved head aesthetic to reflect the alienation from society they felt by rejecting modern (at the time) beauty standards and as a reflection of the tougher, grittier working-class lifestyle they wanted to protect from the UK austerity policies that directly eroded it. Later subgroups and factions, like the racist, White supremacist faction most widely known in the US, have leaned more towards a completely bald aesthetic, as opposed to the more traditional, closely cropped look the group originated.
* Female bodybuilder Virginia Sanchez Macias sports a clean shaven head, and wears wigs while modeling or in competition. Seeing as she's one of the most muscular women on the planet, it's probably to save more time for the gym.
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* ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'': Bane is a completely bald hulking mass of a dude who is the only one in the trilogy to best Batman in hand-to-hand combat by simply being stronger than him, culminating with Bane [[spoiler:breaking Batman's back]]. This is in contrast to the [[Film/TheDarkKnight previous film]]'s primary antagonist, The Joker, who tormented Batman psychologically.

* ''Film/DawnOfTheDead2004'': A police officer and former Marine, bald and black Kenneth Hall serves as the group's TheBigGuy, blasting through the hordes of zombies with his preferred weapon of a [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter shotgun]]

* ''VideoGame/Persona5'': [[spoiler:Shido's shadow]] Samael's design invokes this as it's essentially him (who already sports a BaldOfEvil, just ripped out of his mind, now a hulking mass of a man. Futaba lampshades this by saying that [[spoiler:Shido's]] muscles aren't just for show. As the pen-ultimate boss of the original game, he's one of the toughest, consisting of five different phases, the first of which is [[NoSell impervious]] to physical and gun attacks and the second is [[NoSell impervious]] to magic attacks. After this, he transforms and though this form is no longer impervious to specific attacks, it also lacks any weaknesses and his physical ability Tyrant's Fist can one shot most characters, in addition to him using the strongest magic attacks in the game.

%% See Analysis/BaldHeadOfToughness before posting to make sure that:
%% 1) you aren't writing a zero context example;
%% 2) you aren't adding an example that is better placed in BaldOfAwesome.

There is also a gendered component to this trope due to LongHairIsFeminine and WomenAreDelicate. Since long hair is often associated with femininity and physical weakness, baldness can be seen as the logical antithesis of those tropes, like a more extreme version of RealMenHaveShortHair. Therefore, this trope tends to coincide with and reinforce MenAreTough. Thus, if a bald guy is part of a team and they aren't the [[BaldOfAwesome leader]], they are very likely to be TheBigGuy.

A [[TropesInAggregate Trope In Aggregate]]. A SubTrope of BaldOfAwesome and SisterTrope to BaldBlackLeaderGuy. Related to DelinquentHair, as many of those in counterculture movements have adopted head-shaving and general baldness as part of their aesthetics as a form of intimidation and rejection of mainstream standards of beauty and conduct. Compare ManlyFacialHair. Contrast BaldnessAngst and BaldnessMeansSickness. See also PrematurelyBald, which may lead into this trope, but is often accompanied with BaldnessAngst due to social stigmas. Not to be confused with HardHead, which may be used to help portray this trope.

-->-- ''Anime/DragonBall''

** ''VideoGame/Yakuza5'': Taiga Saejima has a buzz cut in ''VideoGame/Yakuza5'' and through ''VideoGame/YakuzaLikeADragon'', after returning from prison. Out of all of the protagonists in the series, he is the strongest in terms of raw physical strength, having developed his CharlesAtlasSuperpower of immense strength and durability in jail. Notably, he is the only protagonist besides Kiryu able to pick up motorcycles and in one cut scene, stops a moving car ''with his bare hands'' before moving out of the way. In ''VideoGame/Yakuza4'', he also once fought Kiryu outside of Morning Glory Orphanage, and he actually managed to give The Dragon Of Dojima a run for his money (this was in Yakuza 4, and in ''VideoGame/YakuzaLikeADragon'' when Kiryu was much, much older, Ichiban was the one struggling), something that's incredibly rare considering that anyone who could at least walk off with their life let alone actually give Kiryu trouble is considered a beast. The two clashed once more in ''VideoGame/Yakuza5'' on a helipad but it's up to the player on who falls. Like with Futoshi Shimano, Taiga also has a Tiger Irezumi.

** ''VideoGame/Yakuza5'': Taiga Saejima has a buzz cut in ''VideoGame/Yakuza5'' and through ''VideoGame/YakuzaLikeADragon'', after returning from prison. Out of all of the protagonists in the series, he is the strongest in terms of raw physical strength, having developed his CharlesAtlasSuperpower of immense strength and durability in jail. Notably, he is the only protagonist besides Kiryu able to pick up motorcycles and in one cut scene, stops a moving car ''with his bare hands'' before moving out of the way. In ''VideoGame/Yakuza4'', he also once fought Kiryu outside of Morning Glory Orphanage, and he actually managed to give The Dragon Of Dojima a run for his money. The two clashed once more in ''VideoGame/Yakuza5'' on a helipad but it's up to the player on who falls. Like with Futoshi Shimano, Taiga also has a Tiger Irezumi.

--->'''Weenie 1:''' Couldn't get in, huh? What you need is a tough hair-do. No one gets in to the Double S without a tough hair-do.\\
'''Weenie 2:''' I disagree, I saw a guy going in there, and he was bald.\\
'''Weenie 1:''' I saw that guy. He wasn't bald, he had a shaved head. ''Shaved.'' That's a hair-do. Case closed.

** ''VideoGame/Yakuza5'': Taiga Saejima has a buzz cut in ''VideoGame/Yakuza5'' and through ''VideoGame/YakuzaLikeADragon'', after returning from prison. Out of all of the protagonists in the series, he is the strongest in terms of raw physical strength, having developed his CharlesAtlasSuperpower of immense strength and durability in jail. Notably, he is the only protagonist besides Kiryu able to pick up motorcycles and in one cut scene, stops a moving car ''with his bare hands'' before moving out of the way. He also once fought Kiryu outside of Morning Glory Orphanage, and he actually managed to give The Dragon Of Dojima a run for his money. The two clashed once more in ''VideoGame/Yakuza5'' but it's up to the player on who falls. Like with Futoshi Shimano, Taiga also has a Tiger Irezumi.

** ''VideoGame/Yakuza0'': Wen Hai Lee, the owner of Hogushi Kaikan, who acts as an acupuncturist and masseur. He was formerly a Pro Assassin, which helps his masseur and acupuncturist job considering that he knows pressure points (In the first fight with Majima, he threatens to break the cyclop's left arm with a thumb. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkXy8JvfxQA&t=50s Miss the QTE in time and you're treated to this...]]). He's also huge enough to be humorously titled by the game as '''[[TheBigGuy MASSIVE MAN]]'''. With the Parka, he also looks like ''VideoGame/Yakuza4'' & ''VideoGame/Yakuza5'' protag, [[TheBigGuy Taiga Saejima]], shaved head and all.

** ''VideoGame/Yakuza5'': Taiga Saejima has a buzz cut in ''VideoGame/Yakuza5'' and through ''VideoGame/YakuzaLikeADragon'', after returning from prison. Out of all of the protagonists in the series, he is the strongest in terms of raw physical strength, having developed his ''CharlesAtlasSuperpower'' of immense strength and durability in jail. Notably, he is the only protagonist besides Kiryu able to pick up motorcycles and in one cut scene, stops a moving car ''with his bare hands'' before moving out of the way. He also once fought Kiryu outside of Morning Glory Orphanage, and he actually managed to give The Dragon Of Dojima a run for his money. The two clashed once more in ''VideoGame/Yakuza5'' but it's up to the player on who falls. Like with Futoshi Shimano, Taiga also has a Tiger Irezumi.