Barbershop Episode

"You keep squirmin', there's going to be a little bald girl with no lollipop."

"Chuckie, you're getting your hair cut!"

— Angelica Pickles, Rugrats (1991), "Chuckie's First Haircut".

Sooner or later, someone's hair becomes too long. It covers their eyes and gets in their ears, so the ideal thing to do in this situation is to go to the barbershop and get a haircut. In the case of adult men, they might also go to the barbershop to get their beard shaven. In works involving little kids in particular, said little kids may be afraid of going to the barbershop because they think it's going to hurt, especially considering that scissors are a primary tool for the job. In the end, they'll most likely overcome their fear and may even get a lollipop for being a good customer. May also result in I Do Not Like Green Eggs and Ham if a character thinks they're going to hate getting a haircut, only to find out they like it. They will probably meet a Chatty Hairdresser or two there. If the barber is inexperienced, this may result in a Traumatic Haircut, or in some cases, a Gag Haircut. May often happen when a character's grown Wild Hair.

Compare The Dentist Episode and Injection Plot, as these can also involve appointments and dealing with one's fears (and possibly getting over them).

---

Examples:

Comic Strips

• Peanuts: In one story arc, Peppermint Patty goes to the barbershop so she can get a haircut for an upcoming skating competition. Charlie Brown's father (the barber) mistakes her for a guy and makes her hair ridiculously short, much to her dismay. She solves the problem by wearing a wig.

Literature

• In one chapter of "Kristy's Big Day" in The Babysitters Club, as part of the preparations for her mother's wedding, Kristy has to take her younger brother and a few of their cousins to the barbershop to get their hair cut. The boys behave abominably, to the point where Kristy has to threaten to call their grandmother.
• Biff, Chip and Kipper: The Stage 1 picture book "The Haircut" features Kipper and Dad visiting Snips Hair Salon, and return home sporting short haircuts that shock Mum. Status Quo Is God, though, and they get their regular hairstyles back the next book.
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: In "Dog Days", Susan takes Greg to Bombshells Beauty Salon for a haircut. He's initially reluctant to go, but he ends up befriending the talkative hairdressers there because they have gossip on people in town.
• In Dirty Bertie, one story involves Bertie needing a haircut but he's afraid to go to the barber. Unlike most examples, he knows that having his hair cut won't hurt, but the barber only does buzz cuts and he doesn't want one. He tries getting his classmate Eugene to cut his hair, but he ends up with his hair still too long in some places and too short in others. Eventually, Bertie and his dad go to the barber and Bertie's dad is the one who ends up with the buzz cut.
• Hair by Leslie Patricelli shows a baby going to the hairdresser's when his single hair gets overly long. He's a little nervous that it'll hurt, but he's quick to find out that it's painless and his hair goes back to its usual appearance.
• Junie B. Jones: In Junie B. Jones is a Beauty Shop Guy, Junie B. goes to the beauty shop and decides she wants to be a hairdresser when she grows up. She goes around giving everything haircuts, culminating in her cutting her own hair terribly.
• In one chapter of the Ramona Quimby book, "Ramona and Her Mother", the Quimby sisters have their hair cut and shampooed by a guy named Lester. He does Ramona's hair well, but uses too much hairspray on Beezus, making her hair look like, as she puts it, "a cheap wig".

Live-Action TV

• Our Miss Brooks:
  • In the radio episode, "The Hair-Do", Miss Brooks goes to the beauty salon. Sitcom Arch-Nemesis Daisy Enright tells Antoine to give Miss Brooks an inappropriate hairdo.
  • To a lesser degree, "Fargo Whiskers". Harriet advises Miss Brooks that she can get more interest from Mr. Boynton by changing her hairstyle. Miss Brooks goes to the hairdresser and gets a hairstyle with three buns on the side and the back. Later, Miss Brooks tries a series of wigs. Unfortunately, some misinformation from Miss Brooks' landlady Mr. Davis makes Mr. Boynton think that Miss Brooks is only getting new hairstyles is because Brooks' suffering from overwork.
• Atlanta: Al's Season 2 A Day in the Limelight, "Barbershop", centers around Al trying to get his haircut while being sidetracked by his chatty and dramatic barber.
• Full House: The B-plot of "I'm Not D.J." involves Uncle Jesse and Aunt Becky taking their twin sons Nicky and Alex to Jasper's Kiddie Kuts for their first haircut when their hair becomes so long that Stephanie's friends, both named Jennifer, mistake them for girls. Jesse is so reluctant to take the twins to Kiddie Kuts that he contemplates trying to cut their hair himself.
• In the C-plot of the Good Luck Charlie episode, "Bad Luck, Teddy!", P.J. gets too old for his haircut at the Orange Balloon barbershop, so Bob takes him to his regular barbershop, where P.J. falls for Syd, an attractive female barber. When P.J. finds Syd giving a haircut to another client, he has another crazy barber who works at the same place cut his hair to make her jealous, which results in him getting endless scrapes and cuts.
• Mr. Bean has the episode, "Hair By Mr. Bean of London", where Bean goes for a haircut only to play impromptu hairdresser himself when the real hairdresser unexpectedly left because of an errand. The episode notably had Mr. Bean giving an unsuspecting young boy a 90s-style bowl cut, snipping off another customer's precious ponytail, shaving an elderly man bald... and then making the split when the real hairdresser returns from his errand, at mercy of three^note the boy's mother, the ponytailed guy, the old man pissed-off customers.
• El Chavo del ocho had an episode of Don Ramón working part-time in a barber shop, filling in for the owner who is on vacation. Hilarity ensues when the kids show up and begin playing with his tools, culminating with El Chavo cutting off La Chilindrina's Girlish Pigtails with the scissors.

Professional Wrestling

• Brutus Beefcake used to host The Barbershop, a Talk Show with Fists taking place, well, in a barbershop mounted in the ring, during the Golden and New Generation eras.

Puppet Shows

• Sesame Street:
  • In one skit, a man sings about a time he went to the barber after his hair had grown so long that he couldn't see his body.
  • In one skit, a boy named Jeffy says that he's unhappy because he needs to get his haircut, and explains in song that he's afraid it will hurt. Cookie Monster sings back that having one's hair cut doesn't hurt, and in fact he's going to get his fur cut himself.
  • In Episode 3834, Baby Bear grows a really long tuft of hair and wants it gone, but he's afraid to get a haircut, so he tries brushing it back or holding it in place. When these efforts fail, and Papa Bear shows him that he needs a haircut as well, he plucks up the courage to go to the barber.
  • In an "Abby's Flying Fairy School" segment, Gonnigan is having a bad hair day, so he uses something called "Rapunzel Gel", but it makes his hair really long. They have to magic up a barber to cut it.
  • In Episode 4921, Julia is in need of a haircut, but she finds going to the barbershop to be an upsetting experience, so Elmo, Abby, and Alan try to help her overcome her fears by setting up a pretend barbershop outside Hooper's store. Julia is still hesitant about the experience, but enjoys the idea of playing. Alan takes on the role of her hair stylist, while Elmo pretends he's "El Mo," the greatest hair stylist in the world and Abby is his customer. By the end of the episode, Julia decides that her hair is too long and that she's ready to visit a real barbershop. She is given a shorter haircut and after Elmo and Abby compliment it, they decide to play barbershop some more.
• The Upside Down Show: In "Barbershop", Shane goes through the Very Hairy Room and gets very long hair (and later on, it becomes so long that it hides his face). David suggests that he should get a haircut, but Shane's anxious about going to a real barbershop. Throughout most of the episode, they try to find the barbershop, and they do at the end. Shane regains his usual baldness.

Webcomics

• Gunnerkrigg Court: Chapter 15 centers around the main characters helping a fairy-turned-human get her first haircut. It's a fraught experience — appearance is Serious Business to fairies, plus she's new to having hair that isn't a living part of her.

Western Animation

• Abby Hatcher: In "Grumbles' First Haircut", Grumbles keeps shedding excessively and leaves furballs all over the hotel. Abby suggests that Grumbles should go to Harriet's salon and get a haircut, but Grumbles is way too nervous. Abby decides to show him that getting a haircut isn't that bad by having Harriet cut her ponytail. Upon noticing how soft Abby's hair is now, Grumbles wants soft hair too, so he lets Harriet give him a haircut.
• The Arthur episode, "D.W. Queen of the Comeback" begins with D.W. getting a haircut. When the barber, Pelato, accidentally cuts off a good chunk of D.W.'s hair, he cuts the rest of her hair short to remedy his mistake. When the Tibble Twins see D.W.'s new Traumatic Haircut, they tease her and call her "Dennis", D.W.'s twin brother.
• In the The Casagrandes episode, "Short Cut", Margarita has Carlota become her assistant in her barbershop because her normal assistant is sick with both chicken pox and the flu. However, Carlota's first attempts to style people's hair are absolutely disastrous, so she trains with C.J., the master barber.
• Charlie and Lola: In "I Like My Hair Completely The Way It Is", Lola is due to have a haircut but tries to insist she doesn't need to have her hair cut for various reasons, despite it being too long for her to see properly. Lola eventually reveals she's afraid to get her hair cut because she doesn't want her hair to look like Charlie's, so Charlie helps her face her fear and like her for herself.
• The Cramp Twins: In "Haircut Horrors", Mrs Cramp brings Lucien and Wayne to the barbershop because their hair has grown too long (despite Wayne having Charlie Brown Baldness). It all goes wrong because the new barber doesn't keep the place clean and Mrs Cramp tries to help him by sterilizing the scissors and combs, but they end up ruining the boys' hair in the process.
• Doug:
  • In "Doug Gets His Ears Lowered", Doug's hair becomes too long, and he hasn't found a new barber since he moved to Bluffington, as his old barber, "Big" Al Sweeney from Bloatsburg, always cut his hair. After many unsuccessful attempts to find a new barber, Doug comes across Joe's Barbershop, where he meets Joe the Barber. Joe gives Doug just the haircut he wants, and also reminds Doug of Al Sweeney. Doug discovers that Joe is Al's cousin, and Joe offers him and Porkchop lollipops.
  • In "Doug's Last Birthday", the first episode of the Disney series, Doug needs to get his hair cut. However, as he is starting middle school, Joe insists on giving Doug a new haircut. Doug, who is overwhelmed by all the new changes happening in his life, such as Roger becoming rich and the Honker Burger being replaced by a snooty French restaurant, refuses to get a new haircut at first, but he eventually learns to accept that things are going to change and he can't do anything about them, and gets a new haircut, which is nearly identical to his old one.
• Dennis the Menace:
  • In "A Hair-Raising Tale", PeeBee invents a hair growth formula, and Dennis wants to test it on Mr. Wilson due to the latter's lack of hair, but when Mr. Wilson refuses to be their test subject (not realizing that the formula works until after his bowling ball and its bag are both covered in hair), Dennis and PeeBee take the formula to Mr. Cavalini's barber shop so Mr. Cavalini can test it on his customers. Unfortunately for them, Mr. Cavalini thinks Dennis is making this up and refuses to take the formula. At this time, Dennis accidentally spills some formula on Mr. Cavalini's floor, forcing Mr. Cavalini to clean it up. Near the end of the episode, Mr. Wilson and Mr. Cavalini fight over the formula after having found out about its power and end up destroying the beaker with the formula in it.
  • In "Barbershop Disharmony", the Mayor stops by Mr. Cavalini's barbershop to get a haircut for a photo session. Around the same time, Dennis comes to the barbershop to hang some posters for City Clean-up Week. A mix-up with Dennis' bottle of glue and Mr. Cavalini's bottle of hair tonic result in Mr. Cavalini's hands getting stuck to the Mayor's head and Mr. Cavalini's barbershop becoming a huge mess when Dennis tries to help Mr. Cavalini get the glue off.
• Lilo & Stitch: The Series: In "Swapper", the titular Swapper has swapped Lilo and Stitch's bodies. Lilo has been planning to get a haircut, so she has Stitch (whose mind is in her body) go to the barbershop to get it himself. Unfortunately, he chooses to get a blue and white mohawk.
• In the Looney Tunes short, "Rabbit of Seville", Bugs Bunny gets chased by Elmer Fudd into the stage door of the Hollywood Bowl, whereupon Bugs tricks Elmer into going onstage, and participating in a break-neck operatic production of their chase punctuated with gags, all to the tune of Rossini's overture to The Barber of Seville.
• Subverted in the segment, "Haircut" from the Mr. Bean animated series. Mr. Bean has two cowlicks that won't stay down, so he goes to the barbershop. However, he becomes impatient when the barber is working on someone with very thick hair, so he goes home to give himself a haircut. Unfortunately, his cowlicks still stick up no matter how much he cuts off, forcing him to shave himself bald.
• In the Oswald episode, "Henry Needs a Haircut", Henry has a feather sticking out on top of his head that won't stay down. Oswald suggests that he visit the barber, but Henry thinks it will hurt and refuses. Instead, he makes many attempts to slick the stray feather back, but nothing works. At the end of the episode, Henry finally goes to the barbershop, and finds out his haircut wasn't as bad as he thought it would be.
• In the Popeye short, "A Clean, Shaven Man", Popeye and Bluto overhear Olive singing that the kind of man she loves the most is... well, clean and shaven, so they decide to go to the barbershop (and clean themselves when it turns out the barber's out for lunch). While Popeye leaves Bluto impeccable, Bluto decides to torpedo Popeye's chances by doing a horrible job, which leads to the standard brawl. Then it turns out that it was All for Nothing when Olive passes them, already on a date with a very filthy and bearded bohemian.
• In the Rocko's Modern Life episode, "Hair Licked", Rocko is chosen as Kind Of A-Lot-O' Comics' Employee of the Month, and is about to have his picture taken for the newspaper. Unfortunately, his hair becomes an uncontrollable mess. Heffer tries to give Rocko a haircut, but his haircut is terrible, so he takes Rocko to the Chameleon Brothers' barbershop so Chuck and Leon can give him a better haircut.
• In the Rugrats (1991) episode, "Chuckie's First Haircut", Chuckie is afraid of going to the barbershop to get his first haircut, especially because Angelica told him it's going to hurt. The other babies and Chas all try to help Chuckie overcome his fear, and in the end, Chuckie is ultimately fine when he finally goes through with getting a haircut. Unfortunately, Chas lets Chuckie cut his hair as a way of showing him that haircuts are nothing to be afraid of, which results in Chuckie cutting off nearly all of his hair.
• The Simpsons:
  • In "The Haircut", one of the pilot shorts produced for The Tracey Ullman Show, Bart's hair becomes too long and he tries to hide it by wearing a sombrero. When the rest of his family sees his long hair, they make him go to the Snipper Cuts and Shaves barbershop. Bart asks the barber just to take a little off the top, but the barber cuts off all of Bart's hair, leaving him bald. When Bart gets back home, he tries unsuccessfully to glue his hair back on. The short ends with the rest of the Simpson family laughing at Bart when they see him bald (including Homer).
  • Show Within a Show example; In "The Front", Bart and Lisa decide to write their own episode of The Itchy & Scratchy Show after seeing a mediocre episode. When they see Homer accidentally cut Marge's hair off while trimming the hedges, they write an episode called "Little Barbershop of Horrors", where Itchy is the barber and Scratchy is his customer. In the episode, Itchy covers Scratchy's head with barbecue sauce instead of shampoo, then opens a box of flesh-eating ants, which reduce Scratchy's head to a skull. When the script is rejected at first due to their young age, Bart and Lisa credit Grampa as the writer to get it approved.
  • In "Lisa the Tree Hugger", Bart needs money to buy the GameStation 256 video game console, so he tries to get a job to earn it. The first place he applies to is Jake's Unisex Hair Palace, where he gets a job sweeping hair off the floor. He quits the job when he finds out that Jake pays him in hair.
  • In "Homer Scissorhands", Bart and Lisa accidentally toss paint into Patty's hair after Bart ruins a portrait of Patty and Selma that Lisa painted. Homer uses garden shears to cut the remaining hair, miraculously styling it. Selma demands that Homer style her hair, and he becomes Springfield's most popular hairdresser, soon styling hair for numerous women in Springfield. However, he soon discovers that listening to their inane chatter upsets him. Eventually, after declaring that he can hear the hair growing around town, Homer styles Marge's hair for a party, and they pretend that Julio created the hairstyle instead. Julio is immediately surrounded by women demanding that he style them, too.
• A variant in the Thomas & Friends episode, "A Close Shave/A Close Shave For Duck"; Duck struggles to slow the Troublesome Trucks to a halt after they break away from Edward and chase him. They come across James just as he is about to leave the station with a passenger train. Duck just barely manages to avoid crashing into James' train and is diverted onto a siding, where the C&B Barbershop is. Inside, the barber is shaving a customer. Duck crashes into the barbershop and apologizes, but the barber is furious with him for frightening his customers, and lathers his face with shaving cream as retribution. After Sir Topham Hatt explains to him that Duck saved the lives of all the passengers onboard James' train, the barber apologizes and washes the shaving cream off Duck's face as Thomas pulls Duck out.
• Zig & Sharko: At the start of "Hair Story", Marina goes to the beauty salon for a haircut. The hairdresser (who is an octopus) starts to give her a trim, but he gets startled by a loud noise and accidentally gives her a Traumatic Haircut, and she locks herself in a room, wailing loudly. Zig and the octopus spend the rest of the episode looking for animals to shave so they can make a wig for Marina.

---