History Main / WildHair

* The ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' Primarina has its hair tied in pearl bands which subvert this trope... until [[MakeMeWannaShout it starts singing]], at which point the hair literally ''explodes'' outward.

* In ''Film/TheWildChild'', the feral boy Victor has a huge mop of tangled hair until Madame Guérin give him a haircut.

* ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'': In ''First & Only'' and ''Ghostmaker'', [[BlueBlood aristocratic]] regiments sneer at the barbarian Ghosts from Tanith for their appearance, including their unkempt (black) hair. The Ghosts are master scouts, which is explicitly attributed to the forests of their planet. (Although, since we get it only from the [[MoralMyopia aristocratic point of view]], much of it may only be [[AristocratsAreEvil aristocratic disdain]].)

%%* Literature/{{Tarzan}}.

* OlderThanDirt: This was in ''Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh''. Enkidu, the wild man the gods sent to Gilgamesh, was said to have wild hair reaching down past his waist. When they brought him to civilization, he got a haircut.
* This is often how John the Baptist was depicted while he was living in the wilderness in the New Testament.
* [[StringyHairedGhostGirl Onryo]] are often depicted with long, unkempt hair.
* Medusa arguably had the wildest hair of all time.

* ''Literature/TheChangeling'': Zilpha Keatley Snyder has several descriptions of Ivy's hair. "It foamed in tangled curls inches thick around her head and usually halfway covered her face. She had a habit of sticking out her lower lip and blowing upward when she especially wanted to see something, to get the hair away from her eyes." As Ivy gets older, she starts putting her hair in a huge braid. By the time she is fourteen, it hangs "far below her waist." When she unbraids it for a dance audition, she looks bizarrely beautiful. Ivy's connections to nature and the out of doors are part of her "changeling" identity, and her hair is one of the things that makes her seem actually otherworldly.

** Wrath in [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime version]]. Justified since [[WildChild he lived in a jungle until he was found]].

* Sousuke Sagara from ''Lightnovel/FullMetalPanic'', back when he was a [[ChildSoldier young Guerilla]]. His hair was very long, and rather unkempt. Definitely to emphasize how he's a [[CrazySurvivalist wild, violent survivalist]] that didn't care that much about maintaining a nice haircut. Interestingly enough, he's shown to be [[IdenticalGrandson the spitting image of his mother]] when he had long hair. In ''The Second Raid'', he started growing it out again, only to receive an ImportantHaircut from Kaname.

Characters have unkempt, shaggy, or unusually [[BarbarianLonghair long]] hair, and often {{beard| of barbarism}}s -- usually dark, though it may have gray in it -- to show that they are [[NatureLover close to nature]], possibly the NatureHero. Often occurs for the MountainMan. Indicates that the character can handle himself in a wilderness, and such skills as [[ScarilyCompetentTracker tracking]]. On the other hand, he is often NotGoodWithPeople. Poor social skills aside, a character sprouting this hairdo tends to be [[GoodHairEvilHair good]]. ChaoticGood, but heroic nonetheless.

* Mebh from ''WesternAnimation/{{Wolfwalkers}}'' is a WildChild whose her hair reaches down to her feet and is even bigger than her entire body. When she's first introduced, it's also full of leaves and bones before Robyn brushes it for her.

* Taken to extremes in French prehistoric comedy ''[=RRRrrrr!=]''. Then again, part of the plot revolves around the invention of shampoo.

->''"You have such sensible hair."''
-->-- '''Creator/NeilGaiman''' to Creator/MattSmith, ''Series/DoctorWho Confidential''

* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', this seems to be common for Quartz Gems, and seems to indicate recklessness or aggression. Amethyst and Jasper both have long and wild manes of hair. Rose Quartz subverts this with her UpToEleven RegalRinglets, which indicate a refined, [[LadyOfWar lady-like]] temperament instead of the wild aggression of her fellow Quartz Gems. For humans, Greg, both in his youth and in the present day, sported long, unkempt hair that reaches down to his waist [[spoiler:(at least before he was forced to cut it short in the ''Future'' episode "Bluebird")]], which seems to indicate his often laid-back and simple but also wise and sensitive personality.

In visual media, usually manages to be still quite attractive. The JunglePrincess, though, is more likely to have RapunzelHair, however improbably.

* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', this seems to be common for Quartz Gems, and seems to indicate recklessness or aggression. Amethyst and Jasper both have this combined with RapunzelHair. Rose Quartz subverts this with her UpToEleven RegalRinglets, which indicate a refined, [[LadyOfWar lady-like]] temperament instead of the wild aggression of her fellow Quartz Gems. For humans, Greg, both in his youth and in the present day, sported long, unkempt hair that reaches down to his waist [[spoiler:(at least before he was forced to cut it short in the ''Future'' episode "Bluebird")]], which seems to indicate his often laid-back and simple but also wise and sensitive personality.

* When Aragorn [[KingIncognito first appears]] as a ranger called Strider in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Creator/JRRTolkien describes his (dark) hair as "shaggy".
* In Creator/DanAbnett's Literature/GauntsGhosts novels ''First & Only'' and ''Ghostmaker'', [[BlueBlood aristocratic]] regiments sneer at the barbarian Ghosts from Tanith for their appearance, including their unkempt (black) hair. The Ghosts are master scouts, which is explicitly attributed to the [[TheLostWoods forests]] of their planet. (Though since we get it only from the [[MoralMyopia aristocratic point of view]], much of it may only be [[AristocratsAreEvil aristocratic disdain]].)
* Creator/LloydAlexander's ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfPrydain''. In ''The Book of Three'', Prince Gwydion is described as having "the shaggy, gray-streaked hair of a wolf".
%%* Mowgli in ''Literature/TheJungleBook''.

* In Creator/PatriciaAMcKillip's ''Literature/TheBellAtSealeyHead'', Emma's mother Hesper went to live in a tree in the forest. She had always been neat at her grandmother's, but now she has wild hair.

* In Creator/PatriciaCWrede's ''Literature/ThirteenthChild'', when they meet Wash in the wilds, his hair is longer and his beard less neat than in civilization.
* Zilpha Keatley Snyder in ''The Changeling'' has several descriptions of Ivy's hair. "It foamed in tangled curls inches thick around her head and usually halfway covered her face. She had a habit of sticking out her lower lip and blowing upward when she especially wanted to see something, to get the hair away from her eyes." As Ivy gets older, she starts putting her hair in a huge braid. By the time she is fourteen, it hangs "far below her waist." When she unbraids it for a dance audition, she looks bizarrely beautiful. Ivy's connections to nature and the out of doors are part of her "changeling" identity, and her hair is one of the things that makes her seem actually otherworldly.
* Literature/SeptimusHeap's brothers have this when they live in the woods -- although it is, unusually, blond, and none of their family is noted for neatness of hair.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
--> Lucky it might be, and red it certainly was, but Ygritte's hair was such a tangle that Jon was tempted to ask her if she only brushed it at the changing of the seasons.
* S. Theodora Markson from ''Literature/AllTheWrongQuestions'' has a massive mess of hair.
* Kilgore Trout in ''Literature/BreakfastOfChampions'', as described in one of Vonnegut's asides:
-->I gave him hair, but I turned it white. I wouldn't let him comb it or go to a barber. I made him grow it long and tangled.

!!Examples

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[[folder:Religion & Mythology]]
* OlderThanDirt: This was in ''Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh''. Enkidu, the wild man the gods sent to Gilgamesh, was said to have wild hair reaching down past his waist. When they brought him to civilization he got a haircut.

SubTrope of MessyHair. Compare and contrast UnkemptBeauty. See also BraidsOfBarbarism.

* ''Film/{{Howl}}: The werewolves that come from the woods and attack the train with utter bloodlust have half-bald bodies, with wild manes of hair on their heads.