Danielle Fishel Donated Her Hair to Fans of Boy Meets World
Danielle Fishel famously cut her hair during a Boy Meets World episode — and some audience members were lucky enough to take home a piece of her locks as a memento.
“You might be surprised to learn that we handed out portions of my hair,” Fishel, 44, shared on a recent episode of “Pod Meets World”, featuring “Office Ladies” hosts Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey.
Fishel remembered that it was customary for the Boy Meets World cast and crew to distribute items such as “signed scripts” and “props” to their live studio audience. During the taping of the episode “Hair Today, Goon Tomorrow,” some fortunate fans left with strands of Fishel’s hair, which she personally cut.
“I genuinely cut my hair. It was not a wig,” she clarified. “This was definitely my hair.”
In the episode that aired in 1996, Fishel’s character Topanga impulsively cuts her hair to illustrate to Cory (Ben Savage) that appearance isn’t everything. However, Topanga’s bold move backfires, as she begins to wrestle with her own insecurities.
Although Topanga’s hair-cutting decision seems spontaneous, the idea for Fishel’s new look was planned ahead of time. She had previously sought permission from the producers to cut her long hair.
“I genuinely wanted to cut my hair. I had only had one haircut my entire life, and that was when I was 2,” she reminisced. “From the time I was 2 until now, my hair went down to my butt, and the ends had little ringlet curls. One day, my mom decided I needed a trim, and they just cut off those curls, and I never had another haircut until that moment.”
Fishel noted that she was “eager to get rid of it.” However, there was some initial resistance.
“I requested to cut my hair, and [creator] Michael [Jacobs] initially said, ‘No, absolutely not,’ but I persisted,” she explained. “Eventually, he agreed, saying, ‘Okay, but let me write an episode about it.’”
Fishel admitted feeling “a little bummed” at first due to the long wait between her request and when she could finally chop her hair.
“I asked in June, but we didn’t resume production until August. I had to wait, and who knows when in the season it would happen,” she elaborated. “Fortunately, early in the season, we got to shoot the haircutting episode.”
In addition to the wait, Fishel had to negotiate with Jacobs regarding how short she could go.
“Right before I was about to cut it, Michael, our executive producer, said, ‘Show me where you plan to cut it,’ and I pointed to my hair, saying, ‘Here,’” Fishel recounted, noting that Jacobs preferred a “longer” style. “It became an actual negotiation, and there was a lot of tension regarding whether I would follow his suggestion because he knew I had all the power with the scissors in my possession.”
