'"Have you heard of the Kunoichi? [...] It's the deadly sisterhood of the Ninja, originally Japanese. Like the geishas, they were trained in singing and entertaining so they could get access into the household of an enemy warlord, and just when he'd gotten her nice and cosy in his arms he'd end up with an icepick through the ear into the brain — one of their favourite tricks, in my language the ssu chieh wen — the kiss of death."
— Quiller's Run
Women get all the best Hidden Weapons. A woman with a Combat Haircomb has an ornamental comb or pin to fasten her hair that is also a dagger or other sharp implement. It may be inside a sheath, or the hair itself may serve to hide the blade. It's very popular for spies and assassins as well as undercover warriors who need to blend in to high society functions.
In a pinch, chopstick-style plain wood hairpins can be used this way, as an Improvised Weapon. Another variant is to use a big brush comb and use the handle to hide a weapon or as a blade. In rare cases, it's an actual comb, albeit with poison tips.
See also Nothing Up My Sleeve, Slipknot Ponytail, and Victoria's Secret Compartment. Subtrope to Arsenal Attire.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Ayakashi Triangle: Matsuri's pinwheel is not exactly a weapon, but is a Magic Wand for ninjutsu that also detects evil spirits. After he is turned female, Matsuri takes advantage of his lengthened hair to store it hands-free while passing it as an accessory (though he actually ties it with elastic bands so he can take the pinwheel out). Previously, he had to hold it in his hand, mouth, or the armlet of his combat outfit.
- Paako from Beelzebub sometimes uses her flower hairpin as a knife.
- Black Diamond: Miko has combs that she can combine to use as spiked brass knuckles.
- Princess Kyougoku from Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic uses her hairpin as her metal vessel.
- In the first Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Compilation Movie, Yoko improvises the two needles that serve as her hairpins to stab Adiane's scorpion tail, pinning it to the floor. This also draws a backup pistol Yoko stores in her tied up hair, which she uses because Adiane broke her rifle.
Fanworks
- Wolfblood: When Milena is showing some of the warriors with longer hair how she styles hers the warrior women ask if the hairstyle would work with the hairpins sharpened into weapons, and are quite happy when Milena says that should be fine so long as they are careful not to hurt their scalp while doing their hair.
Films — Animated
- White Snake (2019): Blanca possesses a jade hairpin that's actually a powerful magic weapon made by the Jade workshop. Not only it serves by being a deadly Flying Weapon, but also has the magical ability to absorb magic or the essence of other beings, although constant use seems to have the side-effect of messing with the memory of its user.
- Make Mine Music: In Casey at the Bat, after the title character gets a strike, a woman in the stands attempts to stab the umpire with a hairpin, brandishing it like a dagger.
Films — Live-Action
- Black Christmas (2019): When Riley is forced to kneel at Brian's feet in the frat house, she grabs the comb that had been stolen from her earlier off the altar and uses it to rake Brian's face.
- In The Bold Caballero, Isabella's duenna stabs the Commandante in the shoulder with the sharp comb used to hold up her mantilla.
- In Countess Dracula, Elisabeth murders the Hot Gypsy Woman by stabbing her through her jugular with a jeweled hairpin.
- In Cruella, Cruella uses a long hairpin to jab the Baroness to distract her while she steals the dog whistle. Notably, Jasper thinks she is planning to murder the Baroness with it.
- In Death Wish, one of the New Yorkers inspired by Vigilante Man Paul Kersey is an old woman who stabs a mugger with her hatpin.
- In The Forbidden Kingdom, Golden Sparrow wears a magical dart in her hair that can kill an immortal. She's waiting to meet the magical warlord who killed her family.
- The seeresses in Immortals had one used to break out of captivity.
- In Kiss of the Dragon, a prostitute uses her hairpins to assassinate her client while she's servicing him.
- In Lady Ninja Kaede, Kaede uses her razor sharp hairpins to fatally stab Kichiemon in the back.
- A character in Leprechaun in the Hood is killed with an afro pick to the throat.
- In Nothing but the Night, Dr. Haynes is murdered by being stabbed through the temple with one of Anna Harb's hatpins.
- In The Scavengers, Nancy kills Cpl. Mason by luring him into an intimate embrace, then stabbing him in the neck with a hatpin.
- Irene Adler in the trailer to Sherlock Holmes (2009). The scenes never made it into the movie.
- The Three Musketeers (1973): While fighting Constance Bonacieux over the diamond-studded necklace, Milady pulls an ornamental hairpin out of her hair and uses it as a weapon.
- A male example is the title character of Undercover Brother, who uses his afro picks as throwing knives.
Literature
- Inverted in 20 Years After, where a perfectly ordinary comb is confiscated by an overzealous Lawful Stupid jailer, whose orders were to prevent the prisoner from having any sharp objects. It's part of a plan to ensure no one knows the jailer is actually there to help the prisoner break out.
- Discworld:
- In Sourcery, Conina the barbarian hairdresser is the daughter of Cohen the Barbarian ("wholesale slaughter") so has no choice but to accept destiny as a barbarian warrior. But what she really wants is to own a hairdressing salon. In between bouts of sickening violence, she keeps her hand in by doing hairdos. Sometimes combs and scissors become lethal weapons in her hands...
- Anyone who sees Granny Weatherwax remove her hatpins had better start running...
- Played absolutely straight by Willikins in Snuff. If he's tasked with keeping you under control, and you start getting any funny ideas about escaping, and you see him remove a steel comb from his pocket... you just sit right where you are and don't so much as breathe in a threatening manner.
- That indefatigable chronicler of Discworld Rail Ways, Mrs Bradshaw, notes in her Handbook that pins are frequently deployed by ladies nervous of being molested by strange men with whom they are forced to share a compartment. She hints that many prim old ladies seem to hope men will molest them under cover of darkness...
- In the Dresden Files novel Cold Days, Sarissa, Harry's personal trainer, is invited to a fae party and taken hostage. She breaks out by using her hair needles—while they're just ordinary glass decorations, inside they are supported by steel rods, which burn fae.
- In The Gardella Vampire Chronicles, Victoria's hairdresser hides her stakes within her hairdos, for easy access.
- In the Heralds of Valdemar, Talia's formal Whites include two long pins in her hair that could, in a pinch, be used as stilettos. She also has throwing knives on her wrists (concealed by long sleeves) and a long dagger—almost a short sword—strapped to her thigh, accessible through an invisible slit in her skirt. In another book, Mags gets the autistic savant craftsman Tuck to make weapons for his fiancee Amily to hide in her wedding dress, observing that women wear more than men, so they have more places to hide things. (He has things hidden in his wedding suit as well, but not as many.)
- In Iron Widow, Zetian spent her life's savings to create a hairpin with a hidden stiletto so she could sneak into the military and assassinate her sister's killer. She loses it by accident, but kills him in the mecha anyway.
- Judge Dee: The Reveal of The Chinese Nail Murders involves a mysterious death finally being explained by the victim's wife driving a shoe nail into her husband's head.
- In the Kate Daniels series, specifically Magic Strikes, this is double-subverted, with Kate telling her companion that her hair ornaments aren't knives, as this is a good way to lose a chunk of hair when you pull them — and then killing an attacker with them and explaining that, technically, the sharpened wooden sticks are spikes, not knives.
- Kushiel's Legacy: In Kushiel's Avatar, Phèdre uses a sharpened hairpin to assassinate the Mahrkagir.
- The Lightlark Saga: Isla at one point wears a throwing star (shuriken) disguised as a hairpin. It's not specified how this works given throwing stars don't look remotely like pins and their shape makes it likely they'd get tangled in and/or slice through hair; there are actually pins and darts designed as throwing weapons that could double as hair accessories, but the text specifically describes it as a "star".
- Matthew Hawkwood: In The Reckoning, Maddie is abducted by Mudd and Ridger in an attempt to force Hawkwood of the case. When she makes an escape attempt, she yanks a silver haircomb—a gift from her late husband—out of her hair and strikes at Mudd's face with it. She is aiming for his eye, but he twists his head. Even so, the tines of the comb pierce his cheek and penetrate the soft palate of his mouth.
- Partners in Crime: The Tommy and Tuppence short story "The Sunningdale Mystery" has them investigating a man who was stabbed with a hatpin. Tuppence immediately rules out the main suspect, who has a '20s Bob Haircut and therefore wouldn't have a hatpin. She later extends this to correctly concluding that the murderer was a man, trying to make it look as though a woman had done it.
- Princesses of the Pizza Parlor: Princesses in the Darkest Depths: Some loot found in a old ruin includes something that had "probably been a lady's hairpiece at one point, one of those concealed stiletto blades for a last-ditch defense of honor." a.k.a a Chastity Dagger.
- Ravenor: Patience Kys' weapons of choice are kineblades, small stiletto-like spikes controlled through telekinesis. Their unassuming appearance lets them be concealed in plain sight as part of her wardrobe, including at one point as hairpins.
- The Thrawn Trilogy: Shada D'ukal's Establishing Character Moment in The Last Command is her instant transformation from decorative escort to incredibly lethal bodyguard by pulling out her hair needles and using them as throwing daggers.
- In Tigana, Catriana uses a bladed, poisoned hair comb to assassinate Anghiar, who is the conqueror's emissary in the free province of Senzio.
You could buy anything you wanted in Senzio’s weapon market. Anything at all. Including a woman’s ornament with a hidden blade. And poison on the blade. An ornament for the hair, in black, with shining jewels, one of which released the spring that freed the blade. An exquisite, deadly thing.
- In Trickster's Duet, the royals of the Copper Isles have spells that warn them if weapons are too close to their person. Aly spots a raka servant (and fellow spy) with some rather pointed hairpins, and compliments her ingenuity.
Live-Action TV
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer: In "Go Fish", Buffy runs into evil vampire Angelus and draws a small wooden stake she was holding her hair bun in place with, Shaking Her Hair Loose in the process. Angelus promptly quips, "Why, Ms. Summers! You're beautiful!"
- Killing Eve: Villanelle has used a hairpin with a syringe built inside it to poison someone.
- Marco Polo: Mei Lin keeps a hairpin which she can use in her services, but at one point uses against invading soldiers before commencing a Full-Frontal Assault.
- Peaky Blinders: Polly pulls out a very long, very sharp hairpin to threaten Grace. Then she puts it back in her hair and they sit down and talk.
- Princess Agents: Chu Qiao uses a sharp hairpin as a dagger.
- Robin Hood (BBC): If Marian is wearing anything in her hair it will be used as a weapon, a lockpick, or both.
- Queen Anne from the The Musketeers proves she’s useful with a hairpin during Rochefort’s Attempted Rape.
- Shadow and Bone. Inej has to do an Extended Disarming of all her knives before meeting with Tante Heleen, the woman holding her in Indentured Servitude, concluding with a blade she uses as a hairpin, which Heleen's bodyguard says is new.
- Maurice in Reginald the Vampire carries around a wooden pick haircomb both for his hair and to improvise as a stake against other vampires.
- In The 10th Kingdom, Virginia kills the Evil Queen by raking her with the poisoned comb the latter had previously attempted to kill Snow White with.
Music
- J-Pop group Brown Eyed Girls has the kunoichi version in their Kill Bill video, among the various other assassinations.
- Pink Floyd in song "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" on album Animals has the lyric "You like the feel of steel, You're hot stuff with a hatpin, And good fun with a hand gun..."
Toys
- The Transformers: The Thrilling 30 toy for Windblade gave her a headpiece that could be removed and equipped in her hand to function as a tessen.
Video Games
- Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore: If the player doesn't have enough rubies, Mortar threatens them with a switchblade comb, which he also uses to fix some loose strands in his pompadour.
- Red XIII from Final Fantasy VII can equip various hair clips, combs, and headdresses as weapons.
- One of the Hoshidan joke weapons in Fire Emblem Fates is a cute-looking, intricately-crafted Hair Pin
with a single cherry blossom flower on its handle. It can only be used by female characters.
- Leona from The King of Fighters uses her barette as a boomerang-like projectile.
- In GENBA no Kizuna, Shiku Jura wears a raptor sickle claw as a hair clip, and the claw is actually sharp, as Himatsu finds out when picking it up. The claw ends up being the actual murder weapon.
- Komachi from Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2 uses her kanzashi as weapons.
- Cate Archer of No One Lives Forever carries a barette with a poisoned blade inside in the first game.
- Samurai Warriors: Lady Noh's weapons are ever-more-elaborate hairpieces that she wields like daggers. Of course, they also grow to be longer than her arms when she attacks with them.
- EVE's Cool Sword in Stellar Blade doubles as a retractable hair accessory that hangs from the top of her long ponytail.
- Aiko in Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun has a hairpin that she can use to stab enemies to death. During the game's No-Gear Level, it's not taken from her, meaning that she is always armed.
Webcomics
- From Dubious Company, we have Tiren's hair... chopstick... things.
Tiren: Ha! They never take the hairsticks!
- The Erlking's Daughter in Roommates has a hairpin as part of her human disguise that came in handy in many situations. Including as stabbing weapon to threaten a magical mercenary with it. And Glinda had magic sleeping spell poppies among the flowers in her hair at least once.
Western Animation
- The Johnny Bravo episode "Bravo, James Bravo" (a James Bond parody) had several spy gadgets, including the bomb hair comb — one wave would arm it, another would disarm it. After getting it, Johnny immediately proceeds to rapidly comb his hair, sending his higher-ups into a panic. It doesn't explode though, because he's just that good at combing.
- Justice League Unlimited episode "Grudge Match:'' when forced into a physical fight with Huntress, supervillainess Roulette pulls out her hair ornaments and starts slashing with them.
- Total DramaRama: In "Toys 'R' Us", Duncan is trapped in Chef's old Hair Force Commando action figure. During a battle with a squirrel, he uses the figures comb accessories as throwing weapons to pin the squirrel's tail to the floor.
- The Tangle Web Comb on Xiaolin Showdown turns into a bunch of strings that can be used to bind the enemies.
Real Life
- Real-life geisha Mineko Iwasaki wrote in her autobiography Geisha: a Life/Geisha of Gion that geisha occasionally used their kanzashi (hair ornaments) to defend themselves or their clients from assault.
- In feudal Japan, the poisoned hairpin was a standard weapon for kunoichi (female assassins).
- Cold Steel makes the Honeycomb, a hairbrush that conceals a dagger in the handle.
- Steel combs were and are a favored weapon among greasers around the world.
- The Granny Weatherwax example above is Truth in Television; Edwardian era women used their hatpins defensively against street harassment. It got to the point that "[b]y 1910 Chicago and other cities had passed laws limiting the length of hatpins".
- People can buy butterfly knives that have a comb replacing the blade. They are surprisingly sharp, and if you push slightly too hard on your hair you may hurt your scalp. If you have one, don't pull it out next to someone. It will probably alarm them. The knife can also be used for butterfly knife tricks which is great practice without the risk of really hurting yourself.
- Novelty combs modeled after straight razors and switchblades also exist, and like the above can be dangerous if misused. Plastic versions that are less likely to accidentally stick yourself with are just as common, however.