Basic Trope: Hair tonic has unpleasant side effects and/or doesn't do what it's supposed to.
- Straight: Tony rubs some hair tonic on his bald head. A lot of hair starts growing all over his body.
- Exaggerated: Tony rubs some hair tonic on his bald head. His mustache turns green, his head becomes full of moss, the hair under his arms becomes Prehensile Hair, and he catches a cold he never gets rid of. Also, when applied on an inanimate object, the tonic does exactly what it should do on a human's head.
- Downplayed: Tony rubs some hair tonic on his bald head. Nothing happens.
- Justified:
- Tony takes a pill that increases hair growth, and the active ingredient spreads in Tony's body.
- Read the Freaking Manual, it clearly states that the tonic is to be taken orally in order to be spread equally, rubbing it on your scalp over-energizes the few follicles it actually seeps into.
- Inverted: When Tony uses a tonic to make his head bald, he loses his mustache too.
- Subverted: Tony uses a hair tonic, and it does what it's supposed to.
- Double Subverted: After two months, it turns out the tonic has a side effect of slowly turning Tony's hair green.
- Parodied: Tony complains about his hair tonics making him feel sick while doing nothing about his lack of hair... then he learns that he isn't supposed to drink them.
- Zig Zagged: Tony uses a hair tonic. It doens't do anything, but turns out to be a placebo. The next tonic he tries does what it's supposed to, but shows its long-term odd effects (like green hair) after a couple months of use. Then it turns out that the tonic was tampered with, or at least that's what the producer claims.
- Averted:
- Tony doesn't use a hair tonic because he doesn't mind being bald. In fact, he thinks it looks great.
- The hair tonic does exactly what it's supposed to.
- Tony uses a wig instead.
- Enforced: "We're pretty much out of ideas." "Why don't we do the obvious joke about Tony wanting to get his huge afro back, and have it go wrong when the tonic doesn't do what it's supposed to?"
- Lampshaded: "Aaargh, I've tried like a dozen hair tonics, and none of them work!"
- Invoked: Hannah tampers with the hair tonic before Tony gets to use it.
- Exploited: Professor Bob labels his secret formula as "hair tonic" so that Tony won't touch it, after the last three hair tonics had such bad effects.
- Defied: Tony refuses to use an untested tonic to get his hair back, and either accepts his baldness or gets a wig.
- Discussed:
- "Tony, are you sure that you want to use a hair tonic? Aren't you afraid of it doing weird stuff to you?"
- A commercial for a hair tonic lists some possible side effects.
- Conversed: "You'd think someone would sue the producers of that hair tonic." "It's a silly show. Just relax and laugh."
- Implied: Tony tells everyone he's going to try a hair tonic. The next time we see him, he's still bald, and explaining that he had to stop using the tonic.
- Deconstructed: The side-effects of the tonic are dangerous to Tony's health and/or are make him a target for ridicule.
- Played For Laughs: Tony tries dozens of hair tonics and is eventually able to read a Long List of effects that the tonics have had on him. None of the tonics have done what they should do.
- Played For Drama:
- Tony is a constant target for ridicule because he's bald. He thinks the hair tonic will finally let him grow hair and have the taunting end... but when his entire body gets covered in hair, his situation just becomes much worse.
- Tony loses his hair after using the tonic. The tonic turns out to be a slow poison, and the hair loss is the first sign that Tony is dying.
Back to Never Trust a Hair Tonic.
