Hair Fandom

Synonyms:
See also:	Blair's Hair, Hutch's Mustache, Long-Haired Kirk, Long-Haired Spock, Spock's Beard
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Hair Fandom is a fan activity and trope that focuses and celebrates characters' hair. This includes fanworks about character's long hair, curly hair, and the color and style of locks.

It is also a fan activity where fans imagine and create long hair or different kinds of hair for characters that otherwise do not have those qualities.

The hair focus is usually on the character's head, but can also include chest hair, facial hair in the form of a prominent mustache or beard, or the lack of hair.

Distinctive hair can also be a way of identifying characters in art that may not otherwise be clear on who it portrays. Fans familiar with a fandom will likely recognize, for instance, T'Pring or Leia Organa by their hairstyles

Wickedwords, a member of the vidding collective, Media Cannibals, commented about one of their vids:

"Hair" was my baby, a multimedia metavid about hair fans. Yes, I am serious. Hair fandom is huge, and it can make or break a series (right, Felicity?) Not to mention that whole fuss in Sentinel fandom when fans heard rumors that Blair Sandburg would have to cut. his. hair. Or making Ronon Dex's actor wear a wig when he cut off his dreadlocks during the Stargate Atlantis hiatus before season 5. Fortunately, we realized that we were in luck early on, as characters usually either had hair or did not, and we were able to use aliens for those that were in between.

[snipped]

One of the other novel things about it was that Sandy and I deliberately included women as some of the objects of adoration, which was different from most multimedia slash vids of the era, which usually only showed men. But the women got play as sex-objects in our vid, since it was all about the hair; it made no sense to the two of us to exclude them, because, hey, women are sexy and heroic and all kinds of fun. Plus some women have really good hair.

Canon Hair

Canon Hair Examples

• Blair Sandburg and his hair from The Sentinel
• Led Zeppelin and its tangent, Tris/Alex
• Leia Organa and her elaborate bun hairdo in Star Wars
• Dorian Red Gloria's hair from From Eroica with Love
• Janice Rand and her intricate weave in Star Trek: TOS
• many Disney Princesses, including Tangled starring Rapunzel
• Vincent Well's flowing locks from Beauty and the Beast (TV)
• Kiefer/Lou and Lou Diamond Phillip's hair
• Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace and the young Obi-Wan Kenobi's braid
• Spock's Beard, signifying his Mirror Universe character
• Hutch's Mustache, signifying his life changes from Starsky & Hutch

Canon Hair Fan Fiction

• In Of Plastic Sticks, Silky Curls and Lime Green Love by Zanz (Jim expounds on Blair's glorious hair: "And that hair. Those masses of rich brown curls that in the sunlight held highlights of gold and red and seemed almost to be alive in their sinuous movements. More than anything he wanted to turn up his sense of touch and run his hands through those curls, feel the caress of the silk sliding between his fingers.") (The Sentinel)
• In Dork by Francesca (Blair cuts off his hair and sends it in a box to a former girlfriend, telling Jim: "Well, I figured they could continue their relationship perfectly well without me." ) (The Sentinel)
• Scissors by LRH Balzar (1997)
• Permanent Change by Jane Mailander (The Professionals) (1999)

Canon Hair Vids

• Hair by Media Cannibals -- VCR era, a meta vid for hair fans
• ...and The Ladies With Pretty Hair by hollywoodgrrl (2009) (Merlin/Legend of the Seeker)
• Sister Golden Hair by Mary Van Deusen (Man from U.N.C.L.E.)

Canon Hair Fan Art

• 
  TACS portrays Jimmy Page and an elf-eared Robert Plant from Led Zepplin (unknown date)
• 
  from The World of Dark Shadows #13, Barbara Fister-Liltz portrays Angelique and Barnabas Collins (1977)
• 
  from Legends of Light #1, Leia's hair, unbound, artist is Meredydd (1982)
• 
  from Faded Roses #3 (1991), artist is possibly Valerie L. Meachum, the subject is Vincent Wells from Beauty and the Beast (TV)
• 
  from 852 Prospect #2 (1999), art by by TM Alexander, The Sentinel
• 
  from To Love Forever, artist unknown, Catherine Chandler gives Vincent Wells some hair care (1992)
• 
  from Cyber Dreams: Tappings from the BBTV Pipes, artist is Sandy Tew (Beauty and the Beast (TV)) (1998)

Fanon Hair

Fanon long hair on characters may be due to being their entrapment and their hair is due to lack of agency. Different hair may be due to a disguise such as an undercover operation. Long hair may symbolize depression or a lack of interest in body care. Maybe the character's different hair is part of an important life decision? The different hair may be due to the character being in an alternate universe. Fans may also create more hair because they love the color or texture and want to see way more of it. Giving characters different hair may also be a component of fics, art, and vids that focus on gender.

There is a line in the last episode of The Sentinel in which Blair Sandburg announces that if he goes to the police academy, he is not cutting his hair. Since a short-haired Blair does not appear in canon, the many fanworks that portray him without his long locks are fanon.

Fanon Hair Examples

• a Pre-Reform Long-Haired Spock and Long-Haired Kirk
• Blair Sandburg's hair is short, see Blair's Hair
• many, many Professionals fanworks, including the ever-popular Doyle-as-an-Elf fics and fanart
• Diamonds and Rust, a much-discussed Star Trek: TOS story by Mary L. Schultz & Cheryl Rice (The series' focus was an original character named Chantal Caberfae (and her hair!), and her relationships and interactions with the crew of the Enterprise, especially James T. Kirk.) (1977)

Fanon Hair Fan Fiction

• Their Mother's Eyes, part one (gen); Their Mother's Eyes, part two (slash) by Jayed in which Kira gives birth to fraternal twins, one with yellow, cornsilk hair and the other with dark, curly locks. Much angst ensues regarding David Starsky and Kenneth Hutchinson
• Cornsilk, poem by Sue-Anne Hartwick (ode to Hutch's hair (Nightlight #2) (1991)

Fanon Hair Fan Art

Please, May I Have Some More: General Hair Kink

Because you love that hair and want MORE.

• 
  Marilyn Cole portrays Ray Doyle in "Roll Me Over in the Clover" (unknown date)
• 
  Gee Moaven from Diamonds and Rust (Star Trek: TOS) (1977)
• 
  Gee Moaven portrays the original character, Chantal Caberfae, from Diamonds and Rust, printed in Interphase #4 (1977)
• 
  Gina Brown from Katra: The Living Spirit #2, portrays an original character with glorious, plentiful hair (1985)
• 
  from Fantazine #5, art by Karen Eaton, The Professionals (1993)
• 
  Suzan Lovett -- winner of a 1995 Huggy Award -- Keeper of the Key. The title is a play on the fact that Doyle is wearing a key on a chain around his neck. The key is the one that will open Bodie's handcuffs (back cover) and his heart. This illo channels a bit of Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin, and was a nod as well to Tris/Alex (1995)

Alternate Universe

• 
  from the post-apocalyptic zine Decorated for Death, art by Chris Ripley, Starsky & Hutch (1982)
• 
  from the post-apocalyptic zine, The Book of Strife, artist is TSL, the subject is "Dee (Ray Doyle)" (1989)
• 
  TACS portrays an AU Ray Doyle (1992)
• 
  R. Neville portrays Al Calavicci from The Alpha Chronicles (1995)
• 
  KOZ portrays a fan casted Miami Vice characters in original fiction (1996)

Historical AU Hair

• 
  Suzan Lovett portrays Ray Doyle from Taemon's Cuckoos, an alternate universe Professionals story set in ancient Crete, featuring Bodie and Doyle as Brianhet and Damon (1991)
• 
  titled Liaisons Dangereux (1994)
• 
  Suzan Lovett from Timeless #1 (Starsky & Hutch) (2003)

Gender AUs

Includes Bodyswap and Genderswap.

Pre-Reform Hair

• 
  from IDIC #6 (1978), artist is Alice Jones, a piece called “The Pride of the Clan” — a young, bare-chested Spock with long hair and a Star of David on his chest. I remember several conversations about that piece of art when I got into fandom (and that was seven years after it was published!)."

Dejection, Depression

• 
  Dani Lane portrays David Starsky who has become an alcoholic living on the streets from Don't Give Up On Us #2 (Starsky & Hutch) (1986)

Trapped and Enslaved

• 
  Ruth Kurz portrays David Starsky and Kenneth Hutchinson after Starsky's kidnapping in a scene reminiscent of Kirk and Spock in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, printed in Hopscotch (1979)
• 
  TACS portrays Starsky, trapped on a desert island, from The Fix #6 (1989)
• 
  Merle Decker portrays an amnesiac Hutch trapped in Australia, from Distant Shores (1991)
• 
  long-haired Daniel Jackson trapped on an alien planet, from Jack's Viking Sky (Stargate SG-1) (2005)

Undercover, Disguise, New Identity

• 
  Ruth Kurz -- "I know you are undercover, but what do you mean you have to go feed Vaal?!!", from Partners, a riff on David Soul's role in the Star Trek: TOS episode, "The Apple" (1980)
• 
  Maureen B. portrays David Starsky from Code 7 #3 (1984)
• 
  Illya Kuryakin from The Nowhere Man Affair, art by Paulie (Man from U.N.C.L.E.) (1986)

Humor

• 
  Jane Mailander and some The Professionals commentary via Bloom County (1995)

Facial Hair

• 
  Lois Welling, a very rare bearded Kirk, from The True Accord of Well Tuned Sounds (1984)

Long Hair, and The Elf

Miami Vice: Martin Castillo as an elf, artist is Susan K. Dundas, from Miami Spice #2 (1991)

Elf-ifying characters is often an opportunity for giving them non-canon long hair.

See Elf AUs.

Meta

• Blond Shall Not Touch Blond, Nor Curly Touch Curly (The Curl Rule) is a specific tongue-in-cheek fannish warning instructing fic writers to follow the rule that characters with similar physical appearances not be paired together.