History Main / ElderlyBlueHairedLady

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Blue Diamond is one of the oldest Gems in existence, and naturally has blue hair.

* By the end of ''Auntie Mame'', the titular character's hair "which had all gone to gray, was rinsed to a delicate periwinkle blue". Her great-nephew notices this:

* While getting registered for school in ''In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson'', [[AnImmigrantsTale Shirley Temple Wong]] encounters one of these. She doesn't bat an eye, since she's already noticed that "hair comes in [[BlondeBrunetteRedhead all colors]] in America."

Grey hair has often been considered a sign of respectable old age. Unfortunately, not everyone becomes a SilverVixen with age: those with one or two [=MC1R=] variant alleles will instead find that their hair turns an ugly dirty yellow. Older women in the 1970s and earlier who wanted to be gracefully grey would therefore get their stylists to treat their yellowing hair with a blue rinse, which, with luck, would tone down the yellow and leave a silver grey. It didn't always work - not everyone's hair absorbs the same amount of dye - [[MyHairCameOutGreen and many older women walked around with distressingly blue hair]]. This led to this trope and also to the phrase "the blue rinse set", used in the 70s and 80s to describe older women in general (and still used in [[UsefulNotes/BritishPoliticalSystem British politics]] to describe old Tory women who don't think women should participate in politics and make sure that happens by [[{{Hypocrite}} taking control of local branches of the Conservative Party]]).

[[quoteright:330:[[Series/AreYouBeingServed https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Mrs_Slocombe_7290.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:330:[[KaleidoscopeHair One of her MANY hair colors.]]]]

* In ''Film/FieldersChoice'', Zach refers to an old woman he crashes into at Philip's office as "the old lady with the blue hair." The woman snaps, "This is distinguished silver, young man!"

* Aunt Beatrice from ''Literature/The39Clues''.

* "The Hot Chestnut Horse" by Patricia H . Kibbe in volume 7 of ''Cricket'' magazine has a girl try to add a little bluing to her white horse for a show, and ending up with a blue horse. She then tries to cover it up with a chestnut-colored temp dye. HilarityEnsues when it rains...
* This is a cliche of the witches in Paige's coven in ''[[Literature/TheOtherworld Dime Store Magic]]''. She laments that for all too many of them, it's entirely true.

* Dorothy from ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'' isn't quite blue-haired, but she's close.

* Conversed in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' when Willow describes her future self as "old and blue-haired".
* In ''Series/FullHouse'' Joey is trying to hunt down a woman he met. One phone number leads him to an 80+ year old woman of the same name who [[ParrotExposition apparently has]] blue hair.
-->'''Joey:''' Are you single?
* ''Creator/DameEdnaEverage'' always has exaggerated pink or purple hair in her various TV appearances.

* GenderFlipped in ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty,'' where Rick has pale blue hair. It seems to be natural, as his younger clone had it too.

* The violent old lady in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}'' movies is codenamed "Bluehair" by the penguins.

* Gwen from ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' has [[NonconformistDyedHair blue streaks in her hair]], and [[AllThereInTheManualbone of her official bios]] states that she uses her grandmother’s hair dye, implying her grandmother is an example of this trope.

* Lazy Susan in ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls''.

* Agnes Skinner, Seymour's "[[MyBelovedSmother beloved smother]]—I mean, mother" from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. A FlashBack shows she used to have light brown hair. Jacqueline Bouvier, Marge Simpson's mother, also has faintly blue hair, although in her case, it's just a faded version of her hair color from when she was younger.

* Agnes Skinner, Seymour's "[[MyBelovedSmother beloved smother]]—I mean, mother" from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. A FlashBack shows she used to have light brown hair. Jacqueline Bouvier, Marge Simpson's mother, also has faintly blue hair, although in her case, it's just a faded version of her hair color from when she was younger. And of course, Marge Simpson herself, whose blue (actually gray) hair is the result of going to a parlor who uses a dye that causes memory loss so she doesn't remember going there all the time.

* Agnes Skinner, Seymour's "[[MyBelovedSmother beloved smother]]—I mean, mother" from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. A FlashBack shows she used to have light brown hair. Jacqueline Bouvier, Marge Simpson's mother, also has faintly blue hair, although in her case, [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair it's just a faded version of her hair color from when she was younger]]. And of course, Marge Simpson herself, whose blue (actually gray) hair is the result of going to a parlor who uses a dye that causes memory loss so she doesn't remember going there all the time.

As an EvolvingTrope, considering that the elderly women nowadays spent their youth in the 1970s, especially those who were punk rockers, some daring elderly women are deliberately choosing to dye their hair blue, pink, or even more daring colors such as bright yellow, neon green, or fire engine red.

Not to be confused with the [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair intensely blue hair of some anime women]]. Or men.

* A story from a long-ago issue of ''Cricket'' magazine had a girl try to add a little bluing to her white horse for a show, and ending up with a blue horse. She then tries to cover it up with a chestnut-colored temp dye. HilarityEnsues when it rains...

* A story-- title frustratingly forgotten-- from a long-ago issue of ''Cricket'' magazine had a girl try to add a little bluing to her white horse for a show, and ending up with a blue horse. She then tries to cover it up with a chestnut-colored temp dye. HilarityEnsues when it rains...

* Phyllis Pearce in ''Series/CoronationStreet''.

* Referenced in "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" by Elmo & Patsy. In some recordings, at least.

As an EvolvingTrope, considering that the elderly women nowadays spent their youth in the 1970s, especially with women who were into the punk scene, some daring elderly women are deliberately choosing to dye their hair blue, pink, or even more daring colors such as the bright yellow, neon green, or fire engine red.

Grey hair has often been considered a sign of respectable old age. Unfortunately, not everyone becomes a SilverFox with age: those with one or two [=MC1R=] variant alleles will instead find that their hair turns an ugly dirty yellow. Older women in the 1970s and earlier who wanted to be gracefully grey would therefore get their stylists to treat their yellowing hair with a blue rinse, which, with luck, would tone down the yellow and leave a silver grey. It didn't always work - not everyone's hair absorbs the same amount of dye - [[MyHairCameOutGreen and many older women walked around with distressingly blue hair]]. This led to this trope and also to the phrase "the blue rinse set", used in the 70s and 80s to describe older women in general (and still used in [[UsefulNotes/BritishPoliticalSystem British politics]] to describe old Tory women who don't think women should participate in politics and make sure that happens by [[{{Hypocrite}} taking control of local branches of the Conservative Party]]).

* Referenced in Music/JoniMitchell's "Strange Boy" from her ''Music/{{Hejira}}'' album:

Nowadays, as an EvolvingTrope, considering that the elderly women spent their youth in the 1970s, especially with women who were into the punk scene, some daring elderly women are deliberately choosing to dye their hair blue, pink, or even more daring colors such as the bright yellow, neon green, or fire engine red.

Nowadays, as an EvolvingTrope some daring elderly women are deliberately choosing to dye their hair blue or even pink, considering that their youth was well-spent in the 1970s, especially with women who were into the punk scene.

* Agnes Skinner, Seymour's "[[MyBelovedSmother beloved smother]]—I mean, mother" from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. A FlashBack shows she used to have light brown hair. Jacqueline Bouvier, Marge Simpson's mother, also has faintly blue hair, although in her case, [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair it's just a faded version of her hair color from when she was younger]]. And of course, Marge Simpson herself, whose blue (actually gray) hair is the result of going to a parlor who uses a dye that causes memory loss so she doesn't remember going there all the time.

* GenderFlipped in ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty,'' where Rick has pale blue hair. It seems to be natural, as his younger clone had it too.

* Agnes Skinner, Seymour's "[[MyBelovedSmother beloved smother]]—I mean, mother" from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. A FlashBack shows she used to have light brown hair. Jacqueline Bouvier, Marge Simpson's mother, also has faintly blue hair, although in her case, [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair it's just a faded version of her hair color from when she was younger]].

* Agnes Skinner, Seymour's "[[MyBelovedSmother "beloved smother]]—I mean, mother" from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. A FlashBack shows she used to have light brown hair. Jacqueline Bouvier, Marge Simpson's mother, also has faintly blue hair, although in her case, [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair it's just a faded version of her hair color from when she was younger]].