Fairy-locks
A folk belief that fairies and spirits tangle the hair of sleeping children and animals.
Fairy-locks are knots found in human or animal hair, attributed to supernatural beings. English folklore links them to Queen Mab, while German tales blame elves and wights. In Poland, the phenomenon is known as Polish plait and is often blamed on witches.
When is Fairy-locks kept?
Fairy-locks is kept on when tangles appear in hair.
Fairy-locks are mysterious knots in hair, believed by some cultures to be the work of fairies or spirits. These tangles appear in the manes of horses or the heads of sleeping children. Different regions name different beings responsible for this playful mischief.
English roots
The idea appears in English literature through Shakespeare. In Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio describes Queen Mab braiding horse manes and baking elflocks into dirty hairs. He warns that combing these locks brings bad luck. The term also appears in King Lear, where Edgar ties his own hair in knots to pretend he is mad. Later writers like Charlotte Brontë used the phrase to describe messy or bristling hair.
German beliefs
German folklore uses many names for these tangles, such as Alpzopf and Wichtelzopf. The beings blamed include alps, drudes, mares, and wights. Jacob Grimm noted a link to Frau Holle, a figure who entangles hair and has matted hair herself. The word elf fell out of common use in England before returning through nineteenth-century fairy tales and modern fantasy stories.
French and Polish views
In France, the lutin is credited with creating these hair knots. In Poland and nearby areas, the condition is called Polish plait. Locals often blame witches or evil spirits for the tangles. However, this can sometimes be a medical issue or an intentional hairstyle rather than a supernatural event.
When and where
This belief exists across Europe, particularly in England, Germany, France, and Poland.
What Fairy-locks means
The tangles represent unseen forces interacting with the physical world. They serve as an explanation for random natural occurrences. Combing them out was thought to invite misfortune, showing respect for the supernatural realm.
Questions people ask about Fairy-locks
When is Fairy-locks kept?
Fairy-locks is kept on when tangles appear in hair.
Where is Fairy-locks kept?
Fairy-locks belongs to the traditions of United Kingdom, Germany, France and Poland.
See also
The BurrymanA man clad in burdock burrs walks a Scottish town for a day, bringing luck as he goes
Friday the 13thA Western folk superstition regarding the unluckiness of a Friday falling on the 13th.
Shoe throwingThe act of hurling footwear for sport, wedding luck, protest or overhead display.
MolybdomancyPouring molten lead or tin into water, then reading the shape as an omenGood reading and sources
The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Fairy-lock", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). EveryParampara rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-06.
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