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22 Times Hollywood Lied To You About Hair

This is why people show up to hair salons with black hair and expect it to be purple in an hour.

Hannah Marder
by Hannah MarderBuzzFeedBuzzFeed Staff

I'm a Senior Staff Writer based in New York City, where I've been covering classic BuzzFeed-style content since 2020.

We recently asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us some of the most infuriatingly inaccurate hair moments in TV and film. Here are some of the most annoying.

1. When Arthur put green dye on his brown hair and easily turned it green in Joker.

Warner Bros. Pictures

"A running joke in the hairdresser community is Joker. There's so many things wrong with it! A. Color doesn't usually run like that. B. Putting green color over brown hair would result in brown hair. (You would have to bleach it first.) C. If for some reason there was a magical runny green color that could lift brown hair and then turn it green, his skin would have been stained green for weeks with the way he applied it."

—jamies76

2. When Jason and Kaylee dyed Marty's hair orange by replacing his hair products in Big Fat Liar.

Universal Pictures

Once again, Marty had brown hair. Without bleaching it, there was no way this would've worked.

3. In Pretty Little Liars, when A forced Aria to give herself pink streaks when she was being held hostage in the dollhouse.

Freeform

She didn't have bleach. She didn't even have a sink. (Wait, side note: how did the girls go to the bathroom??) How did this work??

4. When Jennifer Lawrence's character in Red Sparrow dyed her hair platinum with a single box dye.

20th Century Fox

"When any character has dark hair and they box bleach it blonde in a shitty bathroom and it is the perfect blonde. That. Is. Literally. Impossible."

—melissaftilley

"YEP! Looking at YOU, Red Sparrow."

—donnavanleusdenr

5. Similarly, when Saraya dyed her hair blonde overnight in Fighting With My Family.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

"The scene in the movie Fighting with My Family where the main character dyes her hair from pitch black to platinum blonde overnight on her own seems unrealistic. Friends of mine have done that and it took them multiple trips to the hair salon to finally get to blonde."

—sevanak

6. When Rory bleached Lane's hair on Gilmore Girls, and...there were just so many things wrong.

The WB

"On Gilmore Girls when Rory bleaches Lane’s hair. First of all, the bleach is some kind of FOAM (what?!?) that Rory just paints on Lane’s head without sectioning or saturating. That would have resulted in patchy orange spots. Secondly, Lane ends up with a light enough blonde that she covered it with a BRIGHT purple. This would not be possible. That would take MULTIPLE lightening sessions to accomplish in real life, seeing as she had naturally black hair."

—frontbutt69

7. When Ramona seemed to have a different vibrant hair color in every scene in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

Universal Pictures

"When a character’s hair is an extraordinary color like blue or cherry red, and it never fades and they never get weird roots over time."

—rebeccam4e04c2006

8. In Matilda, when Matilda used peroxide to dye her father's hair and he didn't notice until it was done.

TriStar Pictures

Even hair bleach burns your head. But pure peroxide? He would feel that!! Also, word of warning: please do not use peroxide to dye your hair.

9. In Orange is the New Black, when Frieda similarly stole some cleaning bleach and used it to give herself white streaks.

Netflix

Not safe, and would not have worked that well.

10. In Bride Wars, when the hairdresser somehow didn't notice he was putting blue dye on Liv's hair??

20th Century Fox

Blue hair dye is....you guessed it....BLUE. The tone they used would have been an especially dark turquoise. How did he not notice Emma switched it out??

11. When Ariel came out of the water with beautiful, flowing hair in The Little Mermaid.

Disney

"No one goes underwater with long hair and emerges with still-smooth-just-wet hair. Especially in pools. Looking at you, Little Mermaid!"

—colleend9

12. When Miley took off her wig in Hannah Montana and had perfect wavy hair.

Disney Channel

"When female characters wear wigs...then they take off said wig and they are NOT wearing a wig cap, and their natural hair falls down loosely and perfectly."

—misskatie

13. In Clueless, when Cher and Dionne simply washed out the red dye from Tai's hair.

Paramount Pictures

Unless she'd just put like Overtone or something in (which didn't exist then), this would not have been possible.

14. In The Princess Diaries, when Paolo BRUSHED Mia's curls.

Walt Disney Pictures

"When that hairdresser goes to BRUSH Mia's hair, I gasped. YOU DON'T BRUSH CURLS, YOU IDIOT!"

—fillionfan4002

15. Also in The Princess Diaries, when Mia's newly straight hair stayed perfectly straight in the rain.

Walt Disney Pictures

"Mia's hair is naturally curly/frizzy, and it's ironed/thinned/probably relaxed for the rest of the movie. But the movie treats her hair like it was never curly at all afterwards. Ironed hair that was THAT big before always needs re-flattening, and when her hair gets wet in the rain, it should have bounced right back to wet frizz, but it doesn't. It just looks like wet straight hair."

—colleend9

16. When Elsa suddenly turned her bun into a perfect braid during "Let it Go" in Frozen.

Disney

"I hate the way how in Frozen, Elsa's hair/fringe stays so PERFECTLY STILL when she has her hair in the iconic plait style (plait and fringe brushed back). Also how her coronation style turned perfectly into a plait. It just doesn't work. P.S. I tried and failed both of them."

—ellianoara

17. On Arrow, when Curtis easily went back and forth between his afro and cornrows.

The CW

"Oh man, this has always driven me NUTS. On Arrow, Curtis (a.k.a. Mr. Fantastic) wears his hair in a sizable natural afro. Then the team will get a call to investigate a crime or track down a bad guy, they will appear on the scene in their superhero costumes, and Mr. Fantastic’s hair will suddenly be...in full cornrows.

Do they not understand HOW LONG IT TAKES TO DO CORNROWS? Did they change into their superhero costumes and then just sit around for several freaking HOURS while he got his hair did? Was there not a SINGLE BLACK PERSON in the writing room?"

—irishcowgirl

18. When Pocahontas' hair blew in the wind without getting in her face or getting tangled.

Disney

"The way Pocahontas's hair blew in the wind at the top of the cliff when looking out at the arriving boat. If only hair blew that perfectly in the wind."

—fallonrae22

19. When Leslie got a "perm" on Parks and Recreation without ever getting any solution put on her hair.

NBC

"OMG, the episode of Parks and Recreation when Leslie gets the ‘perm’ and then jumps in the water. First, they were rolling it WRONG! And when Leslie jumps in the pool, she talks about ruining her ‘perm.’ But the lady hadn’t even finished rolling the perm, LET ALONE put on any of the solutions that would have caused it to ‘be ruined’ by the pool water in the first place!"

—marijaallanam

20. In Gone Girl, when Amy cut her hair into the perfect bob by eyeballing it. Oh, and she dyed it.

20th Century Fox

"Any gas station bathroom dye job. Are they sitting in there for 35 minutes? Then conditioning it?"

—kngreyh

21. When Hallie gave Annie an identical haircut to hers (complete with sidebangs) in The Parent Trap.

Walt Disney Pictures

She was 11. I can't even cut my own bangs now without them looking super uneven.

22. And when Flynn somehow cut Rapunzel's hair with A SHARD OF GLASS in Tangled.

Disney

That must've been a VERY sharp shard of glass. Also — and I know this is controversial — it was the perfect pixie cut!! Maybe Flynn should've been a hairdresser instead of turning to a life of crime!

I'm sick of the lies. The truth must come out.

The CW

CORRECTION

In number 8 we originally said "stepfather" instead of "father" and "bleach" instead of "peroxide." Oops!

What do you think?

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Comments

  • Top Comment
    kyliemarieh
    In Clueless, Tai dyed her hair with Kool-aid. It was common to do in the 90s because it washed out.
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