Line #76 Main/CharlieBrownBaldness


1	[[quoteright:250:[[WesternAnimation/ItsTheGreatPumpkinCharlieBrown https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/charlie_brown_baldness_1780.jpg]]]][[caption-width-right:250:He barely has any luck and he barely has any hair!]]
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3	Some characters have [[AnimeHair outrageous, gravity defying hairdos]]. On the other hand, there are characters like this, with only two or three strands of hair. To a casual viewer, a character with Charlie Brown Baldness will appear, well, bald. However, the character may occasionally mention getting a haircut, or other characters will comment on said haircut or colour. The current {{Trope Namer\|s}} is [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} Charlie Brown]], who, at first glance, appears bald save for a few short curls in front, but according to WordOfGod, just has incredibly light blond hair, buzzed short (as was a popular style for boys in the 40's and 50's). Keep in mind Charlie's father is a ''barber''.
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5	If the character is a child, expect jokes about the character [[LittlestCancerPatient suffering from cancer]].
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7	Contrast FurryBaldness, where an animal character is "bald" despite still having hair, feathers, or fur, and PrematurelyBald where a character is ''actually'' bald despite their young age.
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9	----
10	!!Examples
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12	[[foldercontrol]]
13
14	[[folder:Advertising]]
15	* Cara Confused from the UK's Confused.com ads is a rare female example. Though she was originally a character of ambiguous gender before she was given a voice and TertiarySexualCharacteristics.
16	[[/folder]]
17
18	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
19	%%* Mochu, a minor character in ''Manga/GakuenAlice''.
20	* In ''Manga/OsomatsuKun'' with Chibita, who’s known to have a clean bald head save for his thick wavy strand on the back of his head.
21	* Chaozu in ''Manga/DragonBall'' rarely appears without his hat, but he removes it in his first encounter with Krillin to show that he has one (and only one) strand of hair on his scalp. Krillin, a former Buddhist monk who keeps his head shaved until the Buu arc, is infuriated.
22	[[/folder]]
23
24	[[folder:Comic Books]]
25	* ''ComicBook/CuoriGrassi'': Rocco's appearance during The90s was that of an apparently bald teenager with three blond {{Idiot Hair}}s protruding from his head. Later issues portray him as having normal blond hair, so it's kinda implied he's always had it like that and his baldness was merely a stylistic choice.
26	* Jimmy Five from ''ComicBook/MonicasGang'', who is often called "baldy" despite having, well, five strands of hair (two of which somehow flatten the top of his head).
27	* Billy Whizz, his brother Alfie, and their Dad, in ''ComicBook/TheBeano''. They all have two long hairs and the rest of the head is bald. There are little dots on Billy and Dad indicating that theirs are buzzcuts, but Alfie, being a toddler, lacks this, and so plays the trope straight.
28	* ComicBook/{{Tintin}} has that single absurd-looking tuft sticking up in front.
29	* ComicBook/{{Titeuf}} also has the same thing going on as Tintin - but exaggerated and then some way beyond.
30	[[/folder]]
31
32	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
33	* Charlie Brown from ''{{ComicStrip/Peanuts}}'', pictured above. [[WordOfGod According to Charles Schulz]], he's blond, but since his father is the local barber, he maintains Charlie with a perpetual buzz cut. Apparently, that's what Schulz's father did for Charles himself.
34	* Lt. Fuzz, ironically, in ''ComicStrip/BeetleBailey''
35	* Iggy from ''ComicStrip/LittleLulu''. Igg has visible "stubble," though, making it clearer than many examples that it's the result of a buzz cut.
36	* Joey from ''ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUS'' eventually became an example of this trope via ArtEvolution. In the earlier comics, he had a full head of curly hair before it turned into a single strand.
37	* Jon’s brother Doc from ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} is usually drawn with four strands of hair on the top of his head, some angles particularly when he looks straight ahead depicts him with short black hair.
38	[[/folder]]
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40	[[folder:Literature]]
41	* Greg Heffley from ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'' is depicted with just three strands of hair sticking out of the top of his head in a tuft. Since Greg in the live-action movies has a full head of hair, Greg is generally considered to have hair in the book as well.
42	* A classic series of Chinese children's storybooks, ''San Mao'', so named for the young protagonist having only three hairs on his head.
43	[[/folder]]
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45	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
46	* A rare female (and live-action, for that matter) example of this comes from ''Series/{{Nanalan}}'', whose main character (three-year-old puppet Mona) has [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2jnfyiDx_rQ/hqdefault.jpg two pig-tails on her head and nothing else.]]
47	[[/folder]]
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49	[[folder:Video Games]]
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51	Baldi from ''VideoGame/BaldisBasicsInEducationAndLearning'' has a singular strand of hair atop his 3D misshapen head.
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53	[[/folder]]
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55	[[folder:Web Animation]]
56	* In ''WebAnimation/BonusStage'', Joel, for the first two seasons, had four long black hairs; his [[ArtEvolution designs past those two seasons]] had blond hair filling the spaces between those black hairs.
57	* Caillou’s cousin and female counterpart Boue from WebAnimation/CaillouTheGrownup is bald save for eight strands of hair on the sides of her head tied in pigtails.
58	[[/folder]]
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60	[[folder:Web Comics]]
61	* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', Belkar appears to have a BaldOfEvil, unless you look closely -- he has tiny reddish hairs sticking straight up. Looks something like a buzzcut. Note also that the hair on his head is identical to [[{{Hobbits}} the fur on his feet]].
62	* Averted in ''Webcomic/WeaponBrown'': Chuck really ''is'' bald, with a few stray curly hairs on his head.
63	* In ''Webcomic/ArthurKingOfTimeAndSpace'', Arthur's own webcomic ''The Thing of Shapes to Come'' initally portrays him with three strands of hair, as part of its exremely stylised nature. This is probably intended to represent that he has a very high forehead, somewhat resembling a receding hairline even as a teenager. In-universe ArtEvolution eventually fixes this. Prior to Arthur creating his own comic, there was a LampshadeHanging when Merlin claimed to have sketched a {{Chibi}} version of Arthur ... and it was Charlie Brown.
64	[[/folder]]
65
66	[[folder:Western Animation]]
67	* Sumo from ''WesternAnimation/{{Clarence}}'' has a buzzcut, however he looks completely bald except for some random hairs spread around his scalp. According to the pilot, him and Clarence shaved it off.
68	* Wayne from ''WesternAnimation/TheCrampTwins'' has a few strands of hair on his head, but he's still treated as having normal hair: in "Haircut Horrors" he he needs a haircut, while in "Lice-ence to Kill" he gets lice, and becomes completely bald at the end of the latter.
69	* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' parodied Charlie Brown's perceived baldness in a ''Peanuts'' skit, having him yell out for Linus [[BlackComedy because he was supposed to take Charlie to chemo]].
70	* The title character in the preschool cartoon series ''WesternAnimation/{{Caillou}}'' is drawn bald. This is because he [[AdaptionDisplacement was originally from a book series]] in which he was a baby, and when it came time for him to become a toddler, the addition of hair made him unrecognizable, so they left him without hair.
71	* Most of the male characters on ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' suffer from this. Ed appears to have a ring of short, black hairs around the edge of his scalp, which becomes an orange pompadour when styled in one episode. Kevin has something similar when he takes his hat off, but in red. Eddy appears to only have three foot-long hairs coming out of the back of his head. Jimmy has an odd, poofy hairstyle (described by other characters as resembling a chicken's rear end) which blends seamlessly with his skin color. Johnny is the exception, as while he also has a multitude of tiny black hairs, he is stated in-universe to be bald.
72	* ''WesternAnimation/NightmareNed'''s title boy has a few strands of hair that stick straight up.
73	* The eponymous character from ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'', as well as Skeeter.
74	* Similarly, on ''WesternAnimation/{{Stanley}}'', another cartoon by the same production company, Jumbo Pictures, both Stanley and his best friend Lester have only a few strands of hair and that's it.
75	* Tommy Pickles from ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}''. Which is probably to be expected, since [[JustifiedTrope he is a baby.]] This also applies to his younger brother, Dil Pickles.
76	* Also [[JustifiedTrope justified]] with Stewie from ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' for the same reason.
77	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
78	** Homer Simpson ''is'' mostly bald, but what little hair he has is stylized as an M over each ear -- part of a zigzag pattern going around the back of his head -- and two strands looping over the top like a comb over. In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'', Bart pulls on the M and it unravels as if it were one strand.
79	** The Simpson kids have hair the same color as their skin. "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS21E20ToSurveilWithLove To Surveil With Love]]" has Lisa being mistaken for a DumbBlonde, and "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS20E12NoLoanAgainNaturally No Loan Again, Naturally]]" has Bart's hair reverting to its natural red from lack of sun exposure. In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS22E13TheBlueAndTheGray The Blue and the Gray]]", they start obsessing over where their head ends and the hair begins, with Lisa hastily drawing a hairline with marker.
80	** Since ''The Simpsons'' has NegativeContinuity, the kids' spikes are alternately hair and ''parts of their skulls''.
81	** There is also "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E2122ShortFilmsAboutSpringfield 22 Short Films About Springfield]]" where Lisa gets gum stuck in her hair and has to go to a barber to have it removed, resulting in a new style.
82	--->''I finally look like a real person!''
83	** {{Lampshade\|Hanging}}d when [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E12HomerTheGreat Homer joins the Stonecutters]].
84	--->'''Homer:''' I swear, that if I ever reveal the secrets of the Stonecutters, that my stomach shall become bloated, and my head plucked of all but three hairs...\
85	'''Moe:''' Um, I think he should have to take a different oath.\
86	'''[[Creator/PatrickStewart Number One]]:''' Everybody takes the same oath!
87	** Ralph Wiggum has only a few strands of hair hanging down from the top of his head. In one episode his father describes him as "balding."
88	* WesternAnimation/GeraldMcBoingBoing has only a squiggle on his forehead to indicate hair in the original theatrical shorts. In the TV series, his hair is colored blond, thus averting this trope.
89	* Harold Berman of ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' is shown with only a few strands of buzzed short hair whenever he removes his baseball cap. It is never officially confirmed whether or not he's actually bald. Brainy is also this, since his "hair" is the same color as his skin a la Bart Simpson (which may be intentional since ''Hey Arnold!'' creator Creator/CraigBartlett is the brother-in-law of ''The Simpsons'' creator Matt Groening.)
90	* Lily Loud in ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' only has a tuft of blonde hair on her head for the same reason as Tommy Pickles--she's only a baby. That said, come Season 5 of ''The Loud House'' and she still retains this trait at the age of two.
91	* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': Subverted by Numbuh 1 as he ''is'' bald. The show [[RiddleForTheAges never disclosed what happened]] other than saying it was Delightful Children's doing and that Numbuh 5 blames herself for it.
92	* Pim from ''WesternAnimation/SmilingFriends'' has a single strand of what looks like hair sticking straight up from the center of his head. It's actually an exposed nerve ending.
93	[[/folder]]
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95	[[folder:Other]]
96	* Caricatures of Creator/ChuckJones by his fellow Termite Terrace animators often depicted him like this-- and one such example shows up near the end of the cartoon ''WesternAnimation/PageMissGlory'' (along with caricatures of Creator/TexAvery and Creator/BobClampett).
97	* Generally, people tend to draw babies like this. Slightly more explainable as babies don't have too much hair.
98	[[/folder]]

Context Main / CharlieBrownBaldness