# Why do some Simpsons characters have blue hair? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** cartoons-animation\ **Created:** [March 11, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616 "2004-03-11T02:55:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carterba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85e7bf/32.png) [@carterba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carterba)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/21 "2004-03-11T15:16:11Z")
> [@Alias](#): > > “Kiss my hairy, yellow butt!” > “Someone’s yellow belly is showing.” My favorite: “I’m the sweet minister’s daughter, and you’re just yellow trash.” ---
**Author:** ![moejuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@moejuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejuck)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/22 "2004-03-11T16:12:35Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > Perhaps Groening and company throw in things like blue hair to counteract the tendency of some fans to expect rational reasons for things in a fictional cartoon town. :rolleyes: I wasn’t seeking a rationalization, simply wondering if there was more to it than I suspected. I stated this in the OP. What if there was some perfect explanation and I went about my day not knowing it? That would mean I was ignorant of the fact that some Simpson’s characters have blue hair for a reason. I don’t want to be ignorant, not even when it comes to something so trivial. In other words, it was just a question. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/23 "2004-03-11T16:24:09Z")
> [@carterba](#): > > My favorite: “I’m the sweet minister’s daughter, and you’re just yellow trash.” Homer (From the episode in which his father dates Mrs. Bouvier): “If he marries your mother, Marge, we’ll be brother and sister! And our kids, they’ll be horrible freaks with pink skin, no overbites, and five fingers on each hand!” ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/24 "2004-03-11T16:41:04Z")
I got mahself a cite: > [@](#): > > When it came to time to pick the colours for the show, I had always worked in black and white before the Simpsons and one of the animators just drew their skin colour yellow and it was, so I can’t say there was any big plan, but the second I saw it, I said: “Yeah, that’s it.” > > … > > At the time - that is back in '87 - there were actually knobs on TVs that you could actually adjust the colour. I thought maybe people would try to adjust the colour of the yellow skin characters to that sort of horrible pink that passes for Caucasian in animation that it would wreck the colours of all the characters and people on all the other channels so it was a little subversive on my part. [Matt Groening](http://www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/features/2002/animated_encounters/groening/groening_answers3.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/25 "2004-03-11T16:42:42Z")
…oh, and my own idea…blue hair in Springfield is about as common as red hair in RL… ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/26 "2004-03-11T17:55:54Z")
First rule in anime: _Beware of the new kid with blue hair_. Maybe they hail from Springfield. DD ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/27 "2004-03-11T19:22:37Z")
Quoth **Walloon** : > [@](#): > > My guess is that it’s a cartoon work-around thing: if you really draw someone’s hair black, it’s hard to show details like curls or waves, so the cartoonists substitute blue for black. In support of this, am I the only one who remembers that Superman used to have blue hair? Same reason there, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/28 "2004-03-11T23:36:25Z")
Hey, sometimes a guy just wants his skin to look its yellowest. ---
**Author:** ![dubilee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/35a633/32.png) [@dubilee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dubilee)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2022, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/29 "2022-09-10T21:12:05Z")
moe had black hair ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2022, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/30 "2022-09-10T22:15:33Z")
Welcome, @dubilee! If you remember that, you’re no spring chicken. 🙂 Hope you like it here! ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2022, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/31 "2022-09-10T23:10:06Z")
> [@dubilee](#): > > moe had black hair Ninja’d > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Didn’t Moe have black hair in some of the early ones? Now it’s grey. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2022, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/32 "2022-09-10T23:33:10Z")
> [@dubilee](#): > > moe had black hair If you have regulars like Homer and Barney, you tend to get grey fast… ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2022, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/33 "2022-09-10T23:46:06Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > The prevalence of blue hair is due to some secret Van Houten-Bouvier-Wiggum link that will come up during the series finale. Any decade now, we’ll find out if @Sublight was correct. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2022, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/34 "2022-09-11T00:28:14Z")
My theory: blue is a natural hair color in their world, but quite rare. And that’s why Marge is aghast at the idea that she colors her hair–even though she does. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2022, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/35 "2022-09-11T02:06:38Z")
I’ve noticed a lot of drawn characters have orange hair. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2022, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/36 "2022-09-11T12:19:44Z")
Like Fry! Like Fry! Oh wait, wrong show. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2022, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/37 "2022-09-11T15:27:00Z")
[![](https://hamm0ndeggs.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/simpsonsdidit.png) ](https://hamm0ndeggs.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/simpsonsdidit.png) ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2022, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/38 "2022-09-11T15:37:53Z")
Futurama _DID_ have a crossover with the Simpsons. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpsorama](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpsorama) Maybe the blue hair and yellow skin is a precursor to the Mutants on Futurama. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2022, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/39 "2022-09-13T02:29:20Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > The prevalence of blue hair is due to some secret Van Houten-Bouvier-Wiggum link that will come up during the series finale. In 2056. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616.md?page=1)