And she's supposed to be hiding her status.
"That curled hairstyle has been the standard for rival female characters since the Showa era."
— Kenzaburo Tondabayashi, From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad's Been Reincarnated!
An easy way to tell if a female character in Japanese media is of high social standing is to look at her head. No, not the top of her head for any tiara or other Requisite Royal Regalia, but her hair — specifically, the locks which directly frame her face. If you see a curl directly in front of or directly behind each ear — always in front of her shoulder, never tucked behind — she either is high class or acts like it.
Needless to say, this is common among Ojou. Some Elegant Gothic Lolitas also sport this hairstyle.
Also known as "drill hair", and derived from the Regal Ringlets popular in Roman times. For the distinctly Japanese princess' hairstyle — long and straight with level bangs and sidelocks — see Hime Cut.
Please do not list examples unless they have two curls from either the hair directly in front of or directly behind the ear and at least one of the lifestyle or personality characteristics (royalty, Ojou, Elegant Gothic Lolita, Lady of War, or other traits). Having two ringlets only does not qualify a hairstyle as Ojou Ringlets.
Do not confuse them for the sideburns Orthodox Jewish men wear, called peyot (pronounced "pay-ott") (peyos, pronounced "pay-ohs," if you're Ashkenazi).
A Sub-Trope of Regal Ringlets. Compare Quirky Curls.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Reika from Aim for the Ace! has multiple large ringlets in the back and two smaller curls in front of her ears, alluding to her Ojou upbringing.
- Princess Charlotte from Berserk goes through a couple different hairstyles throughout the series, one of which has two thin curls in front of her ears.
- Fukiko "Miya-sama" Ichinomiya from Dear Brother has multiple ringlets, with two of them in front of her ears and collarbone. She is the manipulative and wealthy Student Council President.
- Excel♡Saga: Elgala from the manga has two ringlets in front of her ears. When she first appears, she's actually dirt poor like the rest of the ACROSS girls, but she acts like a wealthy debutante nonetheless.
- Played for Laughs in Frieren: Beyond Journey's End: during the First Class Mage exam, after Fern frees her from another mimic, Frieren recounts that she would get herself out while travelling alone by blowing them up from the inside with magic, but that she doesn't like doing that because it makes her hair frizz up. Fern then remembers that one time Frieren returned to the inn they were staying at with ringlets instead of her usual twintails.
Fern: So that's why you'd sometimes have a different hairstyle.
- Giant Ojou-sama: Oriko Fujidou, the eponymous giant ojou, has four of these curls: two of modest size that start at the top of her head and droop down to her shoulders (creating an effect similar to cat ears), and two extremely long and thick ones that go down behind her ears to around her waist. This is shared with her Alternate Universe counterpart Oriko B, though hers aren't quite as impressive.
- Ayumi Himekawa from Glass Mask has two large ringlets in front of her ears. She is the Privileged Rival of the main character.
- Good Luck Girl!: Nadeshiko Adenokouji has a Hime Cut with four ringlets, with two of them in front of her ears. Like the main character, she's another Rich Bitch.
- Ryuuka Jihiyou from Hanaukyō Maid Team is the next head of the fabulously wealthy and powerful Jihiyou family. She has two ringlets in front of her ears.
- Athena (or A-Tan) from Hayate the Combat Butler has two ringlets in front of her ears and shoulders, being the main character's rich ex-girlfriend.
- Hyakunichikan!!: Kindergarten Ojou Kanami has one on the side of her head, indicating her upper-class background.
- Miho from Ichinensei Ni Nacchattara is the elementary school Rich Bitch and has multiple ringlets, with two of them in front of her ears.
- Kaguya-sama: Love is War:
- Onodera is the daughter of a jewelry company president and is initially introduced wearing her hair in two loose drills, though it becomes looser and looser as the series goes on until they just hang down normally.
- An unnamed member of the lacrosse team seen at the beginning of Chapter 10 also wears her hair in this manner and is implied to come from a powerful family since she's among the VIPs that Tsubame gathers up in Chapter 200 to discuss her plans to clear Ishigami's name.
- La Seine No Hoshi: Marie Antoinette has a Beehive Hairdo and hair styled into these ringlets.
- Joséphine of the Rose (2011) has many examples:
- The main character herself. Her several ringlets are so long and frilly that they spill all over her upper chest and back. And they're even more voluminous when up close.
- Unlike Joséphine, Catherine ringlets are thicker, bigger and fewer in number, and arranged around her like a necklace.
- Madame de la Tousche has black hair fashioned in many coily ringlets of varying sizes surrounding her head.
- Lyrical Nanoha:
- When Vivio was first introduced in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, she didn't have these at first, but after she gained access to her Sankt Kaiser form, she gets two thin curls in front of her ears. By the time of StrikerS Sound Stage X, she's taken to wearing her hair in this manner full time.
- When Olivie Sägebrecht, the Sankt Kaiser that she was cloned from, finally had her appearance revealed in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid, she has two thin curls in front of her ears.
- Mischievous Twins: The Tales of St. Clare's: Madeleine has volominous, coil-like ringlets tied to the back of her head, and is the queen bee of St. Clare's.
- Isabella from Paradise Kiss sometimes has small loose curls in front of her ears to go with her Victorian lady look. She's described as being the epitome of high class and femininity.
- Masako Natsume from Penguindrum is wealthy and has four ringlets, with two of them in front of her ears and the rest behind her ears.
- Pokémon the Series:
- Jessiebelle, James' psychotically proper fiancée, has two large ringlets behind her ears and one at the back of her head. Since the English dub gave her an American Southern accent, they also call to mind Scarlett O'Hara's Regal Ringlets in Gone with the Wind.
- One of Dawn's contest ensembles incorporates a loose ponytail and two tight ringlets in front of her ears for her hairstyle, in keeping with her Girly Girl.
- One of Dawn's rivals, Ursula, has high curled pigtails behind her ears.
- B-Ko from Project A-Ko is a member of a rich and influential family affecting typical Rich Bitch behavior. She wears her hair in two smaller ringlets in front of her ears.
- Regardless of whether she has high curled pigtails or large three ringlets in the back, Izumi from Princess Nine always has four thin curls, with two of them in front of her forehead and the rest in front of her ears.
- Mami Tomoe of Puella Magi Madoka Magica has a pair of large corkscrew curls behind her ears. She's the Ojou because of her deceased family's wealth and her own class and uses a more graceful style of Gun Kata. Rebellion would show her outright using magic to get them that way.
- Ymir from Queen's Blade is the daughter of the Dwarf King and has multiple large ringlets, with two of them in front of her ears.
- Juri Arisugawa from Revolutionary Girl Utena has multiple pairs of ringlets framing her face. She's part of The Beautiful Elite and is implied to be particularly refined even by Ohtori Academy standards. It's implied that she does actually use a curling iron for at least some of it as she's seen on occasion (and in the movie) with her hair straight, though her bangs remain curled even in flashbacks.
- Hermione from Romeo × Juliet is a young noblewoman in an Arranged Marriage with Romeo. She usually has her ponytail in a ringlet as well but she always has two long ringlets that start in the front of her ears.
- Hinaichigo from Rozen Maiden has a pair of ringlets in front of her ears. She and the rest of her sisters are lolita fashioned dolls brought to life.
- Neo Queen Serenity and her daughter, Chibiusa, from Sailor Moon both have thin curls in front of their ears.
- Saaya Yamabuki from Shugo Chara! has two large ringlets in front of her ears and shoulders. Although she isn't a princess, she certainly acts like she's the best thing since sliced bread. She's actually less popular than Amu, but she acts like Amu is well below her.
- In Silver Spoon, Ayame Minamikujou wears her hair in multiple Victorian ringlets, with two of them behind her ears and in front of her shoulders. This is part of her acting like an Ojou, even though her family is totally normal. Aki wonders where she goes to get her hair done like that.
- Martina, a minor antagonist from Slayers NEXT, is a spoiled princess with a pair of tight ringlets in front of her ears.
- Isuzu Emi from Tenjho Tenge has four large ringlets, with two of them in front of her ears and the rest in the back. She's part of a wealthy clan whose job is to protect the Takayanagi family.
- Kihel Heim from ∀ Gundam has classic-length ringlets, with two of them in front of her ears and shoulders. She comes from a rich family and is a Body Double for the Queen of the Moon, Dianna Soreil.
- Sherry Belmont from Zatch Bell! is a young French woman from a wealthy family. She has blonde straight hair with two long ringlets in front of her ears.
- Ame-Warashi from ×××HOLiC is a high-ranking Gothic Lolita-fashioned water spirit. She has large pigtails and two smaller ringlets in front of her ears.
Films — Animation
- Domino in Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns has a large ringlet at each side of her head, showcasing her high position in Team Rocket.
Films — Live-Action
- Padmé Amidala wears her hair in this style during the picnic scene in Attack of the Clones; she has two ringlets that fall in front of her ears to frame her face (though they're smaller than some examples), combined with Regal Ringlets. She is very much an Ojou; she's a senator and former queen (elected) who is polite, composed and highly respected and loved.
Literature
- Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte: Lady Lieselotte Riefenstahl has a noticeable hair ringlet on the right side of her head that she tends to twist around her fingers when she's embarrassed.
- Montmorency in The Familiar of Zero has multiple Victorian ringlets, with two of them in front of her ears. Like most of the main cast in the series, she's a noble.
- High School D×D: Ravel Phenex usually has her hair in long twintails that curl up this way at the tips. She is the daughter of one of the noble demon families and as such she usually speaks and behaves in a formal, well-mannered way (when she's not being arrogant and condescending).
- As befitting a daughter of a high-ranking noble family, Claire Francois, the titular villainess of I'm In Love With the Villainess, wears her hair like this most of the time, which makes her instantly recognizable. In the manga, Rae practices doing hair in this style on her friend Misha, who does not look amused by the final result.
- Tisalia Scythia from Monster Girl Doctor is the heiress of a vast fortune in delivery and transportation. She has two long locks that dip down beside her face and turn into ringlets at the bottom; being a centaur, she also has three curly locks in her tail.
- Reign of the Seven Spellblades: Curly blond hair in ringlets is a Hereditary Hairstyle of the aristocratic McFarlane family: patriarch Theodore McFarlane wears his cut short and curled at his sideburns, his daughter and heir Michela has her hair styled in three streams of drill-tails, and her cousin Stacy Cornwallis (actually her illegitimate half-sister) wears hers in much broader spirals. While introducing herself to the other protagonists, Chela jokes that it's considered polite to faint at the beauty of the McFarlanes' ringlets.
- Scrapped Princess:
- Regardless of whether she has her hair up or down, Pacifica Casull always has two curls in front of her ears, indicating her status as the titular "scrapped princess".
- Queen Elmyr has two curls in front of her ears, also showing her royal status.
- The be-monocled Caterina Sforza from Trinity Blood is the Duchess of Milan and has long brown hair in multiple large ringlets, two of which start behind her ears and fall in front of her shoulders.
Live-Action TV
- Game of Thrones:
- Daenerys Targaryen sometimes wears her hair with two long ringlets framing her face (often paired with braids); she's a powerful queen and Lady of War.
- Lady Margaery Tyrell sometimes has two long curls falling in front of her ears, with the rest of her hair worn in elaborate curls as well; a notable example is her hairstyle during her wedding to King Joffrey.
Theatre
- Archbishop Raffaele Riario in Cesare - Il Creatore che ha distrutto is a male example of this trope. Like most of the characters, he is from the Italian noble families that were the closest thing to royalty in the Renaissance. The original manga artist seems to have been going for this look with his design.
Video Games
- Rosalia from Angelique is from a noble family and the Privileged Rival of the main character. She has two corkscrew curls in front of her ears and collarbone.
- Inverted with Aerith from Final Fantasy VII. While she has two tight ringlets in front of her ears, she is a flower girl from the slums and acts energetic rather than refined. It could be a nod to her being a Cetra or Ancient, which is a mystical people with special powers.
- Fire Emblem:
- Fire Emblem: Awakening:
- Maribelle is the daughter of a Ylissian duke and an Ojou in every sense of the word. She has multiple tight ringlets, two of which start behind her ears and rest on her shoulders.
- Sumia is a clumsy Pegasus Knight with some shades of Ojou in her personality. She has two tight ringlets in front of her ears.
- Flavia is the West-Khan of Ylisse's neighboring country. While the rest of her hair is tightly bound in a messy ponytail, she has two thin curls in front of her ears.
- Fire Emblem: Three Houses has Constance von Nuvelle, a haughty Large Ham with a Noblewoman's Laugh (in the Japanese version) who's the Sole Survivor of her noble family and has two blonde curls directly in front of her ears prior to the Time Skip.
- Fire Emblem: Awakening:
- Rose Bernstein from The King of Fighters has two large ringlets that start behind her ears and rest on her shoulders. She's the Rich Bitch daughter of Rugal Bernstein.
- The Legend of Zelda:
- The other eponymous character of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess has a variation of them as well: they're not curled, per se, but there are two braids of hair tied up in lots of ribbon.
- Mila from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is a Rich Bitch and has parted straight bangs that curl into tight ringlets in front of her ears. She loses them after her family goes from Riches to Rags.
- Reika Minazuki from Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 has straight hair with two ringlets that start at the temples of her head and fall in front of her collarbone. Her profile mentions that she's from a traditional family and attended a super-elite academy.
- Eru Daiunji from PA Potential Ability has two tight armpit-length ringlets that start behind her ears.
- Mitsuru of Persona 3, up until junior high, as seen in FES's flashbacks. When she was a child, she had two curled ringlets at the sides of her head. She carries this even in high school, but she keeps one loose curl instead. She is the daughter of Takeharu Kirijo, a founder of Kirijo Group, the group that owns the school where she is studying.
- Princess Sarah from the Richman series is a princess who has ringlets that looks more detailed in later titles.
- Soul Series:
- Ashlotte has two ringlets in front of her ears and is a robotic gothic lolita bonus character from Soulcalibur IV.
- Viola from Soulcalibur V is an Elegant Gothic Lolita and has two ringlets that start behind her ears and fall in front of her shoulders.
- Karin Kanzuki from Street Fighter Alpha 3 is a Rich Bitch and has blonde hair styled in Victorian ringlets with two of them falling in front of her shoulders.
- Susie Evans from Valkyria Chronicles has two large ringlets that start behind her ears and fall in the front of her shoulders. She's the daughter of a rich tycoon and only enlisted in the war to protect her family's honor.
Visual Novels
- Rika Shiraki from Bible Black is popular, from a wealthy family, and Student Council President. She sports long straight hair with two ringlets that in front of her ears and shoulders.
- Luviagelita Edelfelt from Fate/hollow ataraxia is a Rich Bitch and wears her hip-length hair in ringlets, with two of them in front of her ears and shoulders.
- Beatrice from Umineko: When They Cry has two thin curls in front of her ears as part of her "lady of Rokkenjima" persona. Like just about all of the cast, she's one of The Beautiful Elite.
Webcomics
- MegaTokyo: Miho is an Elegant Gothic Lolita and wears her hair with two shoulder-length ringlets in front of her ears during the (first) whole "Cave of Evil" debacle.
- Nixvir: Princess Aubrea has this hairstyle - perhaps befitting her high status.
Real Life
- It was a popular look in Lolita Fashion during The '80s. It's fallen out of style since, but a lot of people still love it. It's really hard to do without a wig though. Rag curls can look like it.