History Main / MagicHair

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Several characters can grow and use their hair for combat purposes such as becoming a human SpikeShooter, becoming a human version of TheSpiny to deter attackers or even sharp razors to enhance a RollingAttack akin to VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'': Rapunzel's hair has [[HealingHands healing powers]], acts as a FantasticLightSource, ''and'' serves as a FountainOfYouth.

* ''Fanfic/CodexEquus'': This is often a hallmark of divinity, especially for [[WingedUnicorn alicorns]], who are [[DeityOfHumanOrigin mortal ponies that managed to Ascend]]. As they grow older, alicorns eventually develop so much innate magic that it starts leaking into their manes and tails, which [[SupernaturalFloatingHair makes them constantly ripple]] and changes so they develop the properties of (or are related to) what each individualaAlicorn embodies. {{Elemental|Embodiment}} deities have [[ElementalHairComposition hair]] that takes on the properties of the element they embody. However, because deities are MadeOfMagic, their emotional and mental states can affect their overall appearance, even their hair -- dull and unmoving hair is often a sign of psychological instability.

* ''Literature/TheBible'': Samson was granted supernatural strength by God in order to combat his enemies and perform heroic feats, including wrestling and killing a lion with his bare hands, slaying an entire Philistine army with only a [[BadWithTheBone jawbone of a donkey]], etc. There was a catch though: he couldn't drink any kind of alcohol and he couldn't shave his hair -- if he did that, he would lose his super strength. Unfortunately, he told this to his lover Delilah, who then cut his hair and sold him to the Philistines, who stabbed out his eyes with their swords. After being blinded, Samson was brought to Gaza, imprisoned, and put to work grinding grain. Later, the Philistines leaders and common people gathered in the temple of their god Dagon, for having delivered Samson into their hands. They summon Samson in order to ridicule him, but once inside the temple, Samson asks a guard one question: can he lean on the central pillars? Soon enough the gathered Philistines realized something -- hair is known for [[OhCrap growing]] [[TakingYouWithMe back]]...

* ''Fanfic/CodexEquus'': This is often a hallmark of divinity, especially for [[WingedUnicorn alicorns]], who are [[DeityOfHumanOrigin mortal ponies that managed to Ascend]]. As they grow older, alicorns eventually develop so much innate magic that it starts leaking into their manes and tails, which [[SupernaturalFloatingHair makes them constantly ripple]] and changes so they develop the properties of (or are related to) what each individualaAlicorn embodies. {{Elemental|Embodiment}} deities have [[ElementalHairComposition hair]] that takes on the properties of the element they embody.

* In ''Literature/TheFolkKeeper'', Corinna's hair is silver and grows two inches each day, requiring her to constantly cut it. [[spoiler:When she stops cutting it, she learns that it also grants her the ability to sense her surroundings and the Power of the Last Word]].
* In ''Franchise/HarryPotter'', demiguises are ape-like magical creatures able to turn invisible; their long, silky hair can be woven into an invisibility cloak. Furthermore, unicorn, veela, and thestral hair can be used as the core of a wand.
* Truska, the ''[[Literature/TheSagaOfDarrenShan Cirque du Freak's]]'' obligatory BeardedLady, can grow hair and suck it back into her body. In the [[Literature/TheSagaOfLartenCrepsley prequels]], it is revealed that she is [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent some sort of sea creature that grows hair around their legs to make tails]]. She also fights using her hair at times.
* ''Literature/ChaosGods'': Ki can use strands of her hair to cast spells. She wears her hair in two pigtails of varying length, so that she can quickly pluck short or long hairs depending on the amount of power required.

[[caption-width-right:300:[-So we know the magic in [[RapunzelHair Rapunzel's hair]]. It covers HealingHands and FountainOfYouth, as well as a FantasticLightSource.-] ]]

See also PrehensileHair and some forms of KaleidoscopeHair.

* From ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'', there was Yura of the Hair, who collected the stuff and then used it as RazorFloss.
* [[LoveMakesYouCrazy Yukako]] [[ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend Yamagishi]] from ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'' has the stand "Love Deluxe", which gives her full control over her hair even if she cuts it off. However, if she overexerts herself, her hair turns white and she is rendered powerless.
* Several characters in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' can grow and use their hair for combat purposes such as becoming a human SpikeShooter, becoming a human version of TheSpiny to deter attackers or even sharp razors to enhance a RollingAttack akin to VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog.

* In the English FairyTale "Literature/TheBuriedMoon", the moon spirit's blonde hair is equated with rays of moonlight, and [[FantasticLightSource illuminates the way for a lost traveler.]]

* Rapunzel from ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'', whose hair has [[HealingHands healing powers]], acts as a FantasticLightSource, ''and'' serves as a FountainOfYouth.
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Trolls}}'' are not only able to control the shape of their hair the way humans control their arms or legs but they can extend or retract them almost instantaneously and change the colors.

* The Monkey King Sun Wukong from ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest''. Every strand of his hair had magical properties, able to transform into virtually any object he desired, ranging from weapons to animals to a full-body, perfect replica of himself.
* Susan Sto Helit of ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' has hair that rearranges its style of its own accord depending on Susan's mood. It's one of the special things she has due to her being Death's adoptive granddaughter.
* In ''Literature/{{Warbreaker}}'', the hallmark of the royal family of Idris is hair that changes color in reponse to the person's emotions (or voluntarily, with practice), and can also be grown out at will. [[spoiler: It's hinted in the novel, and confirmed by WordOfGod, that this is a subconscious manifestation of the royal family's VoluntaryShapeshifting powers, and they might be able to take it further with practice]].

* ''Literature/TheBible'': Samson was granted supernatural strength by God in order to combat his enemies and perform heroic feats, including wrestling and killing a lion with his bare hands, slaying an entire Philistine army with only a [[BadWithTheBone jawbone of a donkey]], etc. There was a catch though: he couldn't drink any kind of alcohol and he couldn't shave his hair -- if he did that, he would lose his super strength. Unfortunately, he told this to his lover Delilah, who then cut his hair and sold him to the Philistines, who stabbed out his eyes with their swords. After being blinded, Samson was brought to Gaza, imprisoned, and put to work grinding grain. Later, the Philistines leaders and common people gathered in the temple of their god Dagon, for having delivered Samson into their hands. They summon Samson in order to ridicule him, but once inside the temple, Samson asks a guard one question: can he lean on the central pillars? Soon enough the gathered Philistines realized something -- hair is known for [[OhCrap growing]] [[TakingYouWithMe back]]...

* ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'': Subverted. It appears that the title character is using her hair to make giant fists, giant feet, and giant ''dragons'', but reading Antonio Redgrave's notes reveals that witches need a medium in order to summon these things. In theory they could use anything, but hair is the most readily available. It's not that the hair is magic, more like magic things are happening to the hair. In [[VideoGame/Bayonetta2 the sequel]], you can tell [[OhCrap shit is going south]] when Gomorrah breaks out of Bayonetta's hair and goes on a rampage.

* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' has this. "So wait. ''Officially'', hair ''does'' spontaneously change color?" It's a [[http://egscomics.com/?date=2009-11-19 possible side effect]] of magical burnout.

** Lawrence Spectrum and his father Christopher Spectrum are ghosts that possess a "flame-like" hairstyle that acts as an expansion of themselves. Christopher takes the power even further by being capable of [[spoiler: generating entire illusions and manifestations with his flame]].
** Samantha Thing is another example of this, her hybrid Monster species (half futakuchi-onna) gives her everlasting long hair and the ability to freely manipulate it.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Witchy}}'', a person's magic is determined by the length of their hair, and those with natural long hair and strong magic are recruited as soldiers. If their hair is ''too'' long, though, they are "a danger to the kingdom", and they are killed; but cutting your hair is considered an offence to the spirits [[MortonsFork and is punishable by death]]. Good luck!

* ''WesternAnimation/LadyLovelyLocks''' hair is so magical the BigBad keeps plotting to get it; by shaking her hair Lady could summon the Pixietails and power the Looking Room, which let her see what was happening in the land and heal troubles within it. There's a reason the Brazilian title translates as "Princess of Magical Hairs".

** ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyAndFriends'': The mane and tail hair of the Little Ponies are magical, due to the inherently magical nature of the ponies themselves. This is a plot point in the serial "The Glass Princess", in which the VainSorceress Porcina has some of the ponies captured so that she can use their hair to mend her magic cloak -- since their hair grows back as soon as it's cut, she can just keep harvesting the same couple of ponies over and over instead of needing to capture more or wait for it grow at a normal rate.

* ''Fanfic/CodexEquus'': This is often a hallmark of divinity, especially for [[WingedUnicorn Alicorns]], who are [[DeityOfHumanOrigin mortal Ponies that managed to Ascend]]. As they grow "older", the Alicorns eventually develop so much innate magic that it starts leaking into their manes and tails, which [[SupernaturalFloatingHair makes them constantly ripple]] and changes so they develop the properties of (or are related to) what each individual Alicorn embodies. [[ElementalEmbodiment Elemental]] deities have [[ElementalHairComposition hair]] that take on the properties of the element they embody.
* In the ''Manga/LuckyStar'' fanfic [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8895129/1/Starbound Starbound]], anyone's hair who is appointed by a Magé Stone becomes this, rising up to wrap around said stone and [[BeehiveHairdo mount itself atop her head]] in order to allow it to interact with her brain and give her a sixth sense and psychokinetic powers.

[[folder:Film - Animation]]

* In the ''Literature/ChaosGods'' series, Ki can use strands of her hair to cast spells. She wears her hair in two pigtails of varying length, so that she can quickly pluck short or long hairs depending on the amount of power required.

* Myth/ClassicalMythology: Medusa, whose hair was snakes.

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}''. It appears that the title character is using her hair to make giant fists, giant feet, and giant ''dragons'', but reading Antonio Redgrave's notes reveals that witches need a medium in order to summon these things. In theory they could use anything, but hair is the most readily available. It's not that the hair is magic, more like magic things are happening to the hair. In [[VideoGame/Bayonetta2 the sequel]], you can tell [[OhCrap shit is going south]] when Gomorrah breaks out of Bayonetta's hair and goes on a rampage.
* Millia Rage from the ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' series. After losing her parents, she was adopted by a Assassin Syndicate, where she practiced in the art of Hi-Deigokutsuipou, or the "Six Forbidden Magics", with gave Millia's her ability to control the movement as well as alter length and shape of her hair at will. However, it couldn't do as much as it does in the game if the Syndicate hadn't also implanted a Parasite (similar to Zato-1's Eddie) in her scalp as well; in some of her endings throughout the series, when she breaks ties with the Syndicate and loses the Parasite, her hair is ''far'' shorter.

* [[{{Expy}} Filia]] from ''VideoGame/{{Skullgirls}}'' has hair with powers nearly identical to Millia's. It is implanted with a parasite that gives her the power to control her hair's length and shape. Unlike Millia, however, Fillia's parasite has a face, a voice, a personality, and an appetite.

* Akiha Tohno's special ability in ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' is draining heat (life) out of everything she touches with her hair in its red mode.

* In the AnimatedAdaptation of ''Series/IDreamOfJeannie'', Jeannie used her ponytail as a MagicWand, pointing it towards what she wanted to magic.

** In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyAndFriends'', the mane and tail hair of all the Little Ponies are both magical, due to the inherently magical nature of the ponies themselves. This is a plot point in the serial "The Glass Princess", in which VainSorceress Porcina has some of the ponies captured so that she can use their hair to mend her magic cloak.

*** The Princesses of Equestria, Celestia and Luna, have manes and tails that sparkle and drift about as if unaffected by gravity. Due to being [[PhysicalGod alicorns]] that move the Sun and Moon, respectively, Celestia's hair is bright and colored like the morning sky, while Luna's hair is dark and sparkles with stars. The Season 4 Finale, "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E25TwilightsKingdomPart1 Twilight's Kingdom]]", reveals that their manes and tails drift and sparkle due to their magic. When they transfer it to Twilight, their manes and tails stop doing this and become still until their magic is recovered, restoring them to normal. In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS9E26TheLastProblem The Last Problem]]", a DistantFinale set a few decades after the rest of the show, [[spoiler:Twilight has a developed an ethereal mane much like Celestia's, signifying her having fully matured into a powerful, ageless alicorn]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/PunkyBrewster'' episode "Return To Chaundoon," Punky, her friends and Glomer are captured by the BigBad of the episode, the Great Grumble. With Glomer growing sleepy due to the Grumble's theft of the town alarm clock, he reaches out to touch index fingers with Punky to transfer his magic powers to her. Punky uses her now-magically fueled pigtails to defeat the Grumble and rescue Chaundoon.
* Lion from ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' has a mane that Steven (and anyone with him) can use as a portal to a PocketDimension. [[spoiler: After Lars dies and gets revived via Steven's healing tears, his hair gains the same power, leading to the same place. Which gives Steven and anyone else he's with the ability [[ExtraDimensionalShortcut to travel between Earth and space within seconds]].]]

* [[LoveMakesYouCrazy Yukako]] [[ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend Yamagishi]] from ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'' has the stand "Love Deluxe" which gives her full control over her hair, even if she cuts it off.

* ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'': The magic system of the universe requires well-maintained hair in order to work with magic: in fact, letting one's hair go without being washed for a sufficient period of time [[AntiMagic actually grants resistance to magic! Even useful enchantments]]...

* Midna in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' and ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'' has expandable PrehensileHair which she often forms into a hand shape for purposes such as pointing, grabbing objects (or people), and casting magic; along with a few other things. Her orange hair also seems to practically be glowing at some points, although that might just be the lighting.

* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' has this. "So wait. ''Officially'', hair ''does'' spontaneously change color?" It's a [[http://egscomics.com/?date=2009-11-19 possible side effect]] of magical burnout.

* ''WesternAnimation/LadyLovelyLocks''' hair is so magical the BigBad keeps plotting to get it; by shaking her hair Lady could summon the Pixietails and power the Looking Room, which let her see what was happening in the land and heal troubles within it. There's a reason the Brazilian title translates as "Princess of Magical Hairs".

* In the ''WesternAnimation/PunkyBrewster'' episode "Return To Chaundoon," Punky, her friends and Glomer are captured by the BigBad of the episode the Great Grumble. With Glomer growing sleepy due to the Grumble's theft of the town alarm clock, he reaches out to touch index fingers with Punky to transfer his magic powers to her. Punky uses her now-magically fueled pigtails to defeat the Grumble and rescue Chaundoon.

* From ''Manga/InuYasha'', there was Yura of the Hair, who collected the stuff and then used it as RazorFloss.

[[folder:Mythology]]
* Medusa, whose hair was snakes.
* Literature/{{The Bibl|e}}ical Samson was granted supernatural strength by God in order to combat his enemies and perform heroic feats, including wrestling and killing a lion with his bare hands, slaying an entire Philistine army with only a [[BadWithTheBone jawbone of a donkey]], etc. There was a catch though: he couldn't drink any kind of alcohol and he couldn't shave his hair -- if he did that, he would lose his super strength. Unfortunately, he told this to his lover Delilah, who then cut his hair and sold him to the Philistines, who stabbed out his eyes with their swords. After being blinded, Samson was brought to Gaza, imprisoned, and put to work grinding grain. Later, the Philistines leaders and common people gathered in the temple of their god Dagon, for having delivered Samson into their hands. They summon Samson in order to ridicule him, but once inside the temple, Samson asks a guard one question: can he lean on the central pillars? Soon enough the gathered Philistines realized something -- hair is known for [[OhCrap growing]] [[TakingYouWithMe back]]...
* In the English FairyTale "Literature/TheBuriedMoon", the moon spirit's blonde hair is equated with rays of moonlight, and [[FantasticLightSource illuminates the way for a lost traveler.]]

*** A few very powerful unicorns possess similarly ethereal, floating manes. Mistmane, a legendary unicorn sorceress, has hair that flows much like the Princesses'; Gusty the Great, an ancient unicorn hero, is likewise despited with such hair, although hers flows ins several distinct locks instead of in a single mass like Celestia's, Luna's and Mistmane's.

*** The Princesses of Equestria, Celestia and Luna, have manes and tails that sparkle and drift about as if unaffected by gravity. Due to being [[PhysicalGod alicorns]] that move the Sun and Moon, respectively, Celestia's hair is bright and colored like the morning sky, while Luna's hair is dark and sparkles with stars. The Season 4 Finale, "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E25TwilightsKingdomPart1 Twilight's Kingdom]]", reveals that their manes and tails drift and sparkle due to their magic. When they transfer it to Twilight, their manes and tails stop doing this and become still until their magic is recovered, restoring them to normal.

** In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', the ruling Princess of Equestria, Celestia and Luna, have a mane and tail that sparkles and has an ethereal glow about it, and drifts about as if unaffected by gravity. And due to being [[PhysicalGod Alicorns]] that embody the Sun and Moon, Celestia's hair is bright and colored like the morning sky, while Luna's hair is dark and sparkles with stars like the night sky. The Season 4 Finale, "Twilight's Kingdom", reveals that their manes and tails drift and sparkle due to their magic. When they transfer it to Twilight, their manes and tails stop doing this and become still until their magic is recovered, restoring them to normal.

[[quoteright:300:[[Disney/{{Tangled}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Rapunzhair_7670.png]]]]

* Rapunzel from ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'', whose hair has [[HealingHands healing powers]], acts as a FantasticLightSource, ''and'' serves as a FountainOfYouth.

* In the ''Series/PunkyBrewster'' animated episode "Return To Chaundoon," Punky, her friends and Glomer are captured by the BigBad of the episode the Great Grumble. With Glomer growing sleepy due to the Grumble's theft of the town alarm clock, he reaches out to touch index fingers with Punky to transfer his magic powers to her. Punky uses her now-magically fueled pigtails to defeat the Grumble and rescue Chaundoon.

* Several characters in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' can grow and use their hair for combat purposes such as becoming a human SpikeShooter, becoming a human version of TheSpiny to deter attackers or even sharp razors to enhance a RollingAttack akin to SonicTheHedgehog.

Hair that has magical powers. May have RapidHairGrowth as a characteristic.

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

[[folder: Fanfic ]]

[[folder: Film - Animation ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Mythology ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Visual Novels ]]

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* In ''Webcomic/{{Witchy}}'', a person's magic is determined by the length of their hair, and those with natural long hair and strong magic are recruited as soldiers. If their hair is ''too'' long, though, they are "a danger to the kingdom", and they are killed; but cutting your hair is considered an offence to the spirits [[MortonsFork and is punishable by death.]] Good luck!

[[folder: Web Original ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'': The mane and tail hair of all the Little Ponies, due to the inherently magical nature of the ponies themselves. This is a plot point in the serial "The Glass Princess", in which VainSorceress Porcina has some of the ponies captured so that she can use their hair to mend her magic cloak.

* In the ''Series/PunkyBrewster'' animated episode "Return To Chaundoon," Punky, her friends and Glomer are captured by the BigBad of the episode the Great Grumble. With Glomer growing sleepy due to the Grumble's theft of the town alarm clock, he reaches out to touch index fingers with Punky to transfer his magic powers to her. Punky uses her pigtails to defeat the Grumble and rescue Chaundoon.

[[folder: Mythology ]]
* Medusa, whose hair was snakes.
* Literature/{{The Bibl|e}}ical Samson was granted supernatural strength by God in order to combat his enemies and perform heroic feats, including wrestling and killing a lion with his bare hands, slaying an entire Philistine army with only a [[BadWithTheBone jawbone of a donkey]], etc. There was a catch though: he couldn't drink any kind of alcohol and he couldn't shave his hair -- if he did that, he would lose his super strength. Unfortunately, he told this to his lover Delilah, who then cut his hair and sold him to the Philistines, who stabbed out his eyes with their swords. After being blinded, Samson was brought to Gaza, imprisoned, and put to work grinding grain. Later, the Philistines leaders and common people gathered in the temple of their god Dagon, for having delivered Samson into their hands. They summon Samson in order to ridicule him, but once inside the temple, Samson asks a guard one question: can he lean on the central pillars? Soon enough the gathered Philistines realized something -- hair is known for [[OhCrap growing]] [[TakingYouWithMe back]]...
* In the English FairyTale "Literature/TheBuriedMoon", the moon spirit's blonde hair is equated with rays of moonlight, and [[FantasticLightSource illuminates the way for a lost traveler.]]
[[/folder]]

* [[{{Expy}} Filia]] from ''VideoGame/Skullgirls'' has hair with powers nearly identical to Millia's. It is implanted with a parasite that gives her the power to control her hair's length and shape. Unlike Millia, however, Fillia's parasite has a face, a voice, a personality, and an appetite.