Female Cartoon Characters With Curly Hair

Some of the most beloved cartoon characters with curly hair are women, and I could talk about them all day. The best female cartoon characters with curly hair include Merida, Mirabel Madrigal, Moana, Ms. Frizzle, and Ginger Foutley, and every one of them wears those curls like a personality trait.

Growing up fighting a brush every morning, I always noticed the curly-haired characters.

heir hair usually meant something: a bit of rebellion, a bit of individuality, a refusal to be smoothed down and made neat. So here are my favorite female cartoon characters with curly hair, from big movie heroines to deep-cut 90s icons.

The Best Female Cartoon Characters With Curly Hair

I lined these up starting with the most iconic curls in animation and working out toward the deeper cuts.

See how many you remember.

Merida (Brave)

Merida is probably the first character anyone pictures when you say curly-haired cartoon girl, and for good reason. That wild mane of red spirals is the whole point of her, and it is easily the most famous curly hair in any animated movie. It refuses to be tamed, exactly like she does.

Pixar made a real fuss about how hard those curls were to animate, and you can see why. Every ringlet bounces and reacts on its own. As a kid who lost the fight with a hairbrush most mornings, I felt like Merida was a small win for frizzy hair everywhere.

Mirabel Madrigal (Encanto)

Mirabel might be my favorite modern example. She is the one Madrigal without a magical gift, and somehow she turns out to be the heart of the entire family. Her chin-length dark curls, big round green glasses, and butterfly-stitched blouse make her instantly recognizable.

She is a rare cartoon girl with curly hair and glasses, wearing both with total confidence, and Encanto put natural curls front and center for a whole new generation of kids.

Moana

Moana‘s thick, dark, wind-blown curls do half the acting in that movie. Disney animated her hair to move like it has a mind of its own, whipping around in the ocean spray while she sails. She mostly wears it loose and only twists it into a quick bun when there is real work to do on the boat.

It is some of the most beautiful curly hair Disney has ever put on screen.

Ms. Frizzle (The Magic School Bus)

Ms. Frizzle was my whole childhood idea of a cool teacher. Frizzy red hair pulled into a loose bun, a themed dress for every single science lesson, and earrings that lit up right before an adventure kicked off. Her hair matched her entire vibe: a little chaotic, a lot of fun, never once boring.

If your teacher shows up in a talking bus that can shrink down and travel through a bloodstream, you get on the bus.

Marge Simpson

Marge makes this list on a technicality, but what a technicality it is. That towering blue beehive is really just a giant stack of curls, and it is one of the most recognizable silhouettes in TV history.

I grew up with that hair. It is basically a landmark at this point. My favorite bit of Simpsons trivia: she has been shown hiding things inside the hair, and she keeps a whole drawer of backup red pearl necklaces.

Ginger Foutley (As Told by Ginger)

Ginger was the curly redhead of turn-of-the-millennium Nickelodeon. As Told by Ginger was a more grounded, awkward, honest take on growing up than most cartoons dared to be back then, and Ginger’s curly red hair and barrettes were the whole look.

She dropped the barrettes by high school, which felt like a real coming-of-age moment on its own if you were watching along at the same age.

Susie Carmichael (Rugrats)

Susie was the Rugrats kid who could go toe to toe with Angelica, and I always rooted for her. Her hair, styled in curly braids tied off with little flowers, changed up across the movies but always stood out in a sea of bald babies.

She even had a legendary singing face-off with Angelica that has lived in my head rent-free for years.

Reggie Rocket (Rocket Power)

Reggie was the older-sister voice of reason in Rocket Power, and her long curly purple hair, usually under a pair of red and blue shades, was pure late-90s energy. While Otto charged headfirst into every reckless stunt, Reggie was the one thinking it through and, more than once, saving everyone from themselves.

Extreme-sports show, sure, but she was the actual grown-up of the group.

Tip Tucci (Home)

Tip, from the DreamWorks movie Home, is all sass and heart, with medium curly brown hair she usually gathers into a ponytail. She spends the film road-tripping across the planet with a nervous little alien named Oh, in a flying car she lovingly names Slushious, all to track down her mom.

She does not get talked about enough, and her curls deserve a spot here.

Missy (Big Mouth)

Missy has one of the better hair arcs on this whole list. She starts out with thick brown curls tucked under a headband, and later, with a nudge from her cousins, she fully embraces her natural hair and switches to cornrows. It was a thoughtful storyline about a mixed-race kid learning to love her own hair, which is not something cartoons always take the time to get right.

Miranda Killgallen (As Told by Ginger)

Miranda was the sharp-tongued antagonist over in As Told by Ginger, and her dark purple curls gave her a look as distinct as her attitude. Voiced by the great Cree Summer, she was Courtney’s loyal best friend and Ginger’s regular headache. She is a deeper cut than the rest, but a memorable one for anyone who grew up glued to that show.

More female cartoon characters with curly hair

Eleven was never going to be enough for a whole century of curls, so here are more famous cartoon characters with curly hair worth a mention, spanning movies and TV. Plenty of these are great natural-hair icons in their own right.

From Merida’s untamed spirals to Mirabel’s curls and glasses, these female cartoon characters with curly hair turned their hair into part of who they are.

As a curly-haired kid myself, seeing that on screen always meant something.

Who is your favorite curly-haired cartoon girl, and who did I miss? Let me know in the comments.