It's not just some cheesy line in a rom-com or plot twist during a scary movie that can make you feel some things. In fact, with TV shows and films in particular, it's not at all uncommon for a character's drastic haircut [1] or hair color change [2] to elicit a strong reaction from the person on the other side of the screen. That's all part of the cinematic adventure.
Whether the hair transformation [3] makes you want to throw your popcorn at the screen or sneak a screenshot of it on your iPhone to bring to your hairstylist, well, that's a different story. Someone who loves Jon Snow's manbun [4] might despise Jackson Maine's messy lob [5]. It's entirely subjective, and that's the beauty of it.
So, to help us narrow down the best onscreen hair moments, we've asked POPSUGAR editors to share their favorite transformations in cinematic history — from Girls to Grease to How to Get Away With Murder. Then, tell us more: do you agree?
Grease
You can't talk hair transformations without discussing Sandy's from the classic film, Grease. "That one stands out to me the most," one staffer said. "She goes from a sweet and classic '50s style to major curls and volume and it makes her look so much more powerful. I love everything about it."
How to Get Away With Murder
Viola Davis's character in How to Get Away With Murder is a badass in every which way, but we especially love the moment when — before confronting her cheating husband with his infidelities — she sits in front of her vanity, and takes off her wig, falsies, and lipstick. The moment was described by The Cut as "The Single Greatest Moment in Black-Women Television History [6]," and we agree: it was, as one editor put it, "epic."
Bride Wars
Kate Hudson [7]'s blue hair snafu in Bride Wars is pretty much every bride's worst nightmare. One staffer calls the moment her "hate-watch, because as if they'd let her out of the salon without fixing it." Which, true.
Sliding Doors
Call it a classic coming-of-age moment: Gwyneth Palthrow's character in Sliding Doors goes from long, dull, mousy brown hair to a cool-girl pixie cut [8] that was huge in the late '90s, with perfect chunky highlights. One staffer said "I loved that they still manage to style it loads of different ways even when it was really short. Not gonna lie, I did the little twists with the flowers, even though my hair was 8 inches longer than hers."
A Star Is Born
Wilma Flintstone's calypso-orange hair may have made the bed rock back in 1960, but the soft apricot shade [9] that Lady Gaga [10]'s character wore in A Star Is Born is what had everyone talking in Hollywood nearly six decades later. What struck a chord for one editor wasn't the color, necessarily, but that the dye job seemed to highlight the battle between Ally the superstar and Ally, the person. Orange wasn't her — not really, at least.
Dear White People
The popular Netflix series has never been afraid to tackle the topic of natural hair [11], starting with the powerful moment Antoinette Robertson's character decided to embrace her natural texture in season one. One editor loved how, originally, she had taken to wigs to distance herself from her roots because she thought her hair was what made her different from her peers. Until finally, she accepted that it's been a beautiful part of her all along.
The Parent Trap
"The haircut scene in The Parent Trap [12], 1998 version, is iconic," one staffer said. "I contemplated letting my cousin cut my hair so many times because of this scene! This transformation is basically what sets the rest of the plot in motion, allowing Annie James and Hallie Parker to fool their parents throughout the rest of the movie. Not to mention, it's filled with classic one-liners that I still use to this day."
Stardust
For the average person, getting a haircut from Robert De Niro [13] sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. For Charlie Cox's character Tristan in Stardust, he actually added a little length — and, according to one staffer, was "the ultimate male glow-up."
Girls
Everyone's done the emotional haircut at one point in their lives, right? That's probably why it was so easy to relate to Lena Dunham's character Hannah, when she was stressing about being thisclose to her e-book deadline with nothing to show for it, and decided to cut her own hair to look like Carey Mulligan [14].
Steel Magnolias
A large chunk of Steel Magnolias was set at Truvy's salon — it was the place where all the women got together and griped, which made it especially fun to watch. But the scene where Julia Roberts [15]'s character was getting her hair done before her wedding stands out for other reasons: "I know why she did it, to make things easier. But she spent all of that time in the beauty salon with her mom — she should have known better."