While there are a number of reasons why Dragon Ball Z is such a beloved show (the high-octane action sequences are usually pretty high on the list), one of the more obvious (but unspoken) things that fans love about the series is the characters. Specifically, they love the character designs. You’ve never seen a character that looked like Piccolo before and Tenshien has that third eye on his head that looks cool. Really, when you stop to take in some of the design choices for the characters, you can’t help but smile at how creative many of them are.
One of the longest running characters is Goku’s best friend Krillin, and his unique bald head. Believe it or not, there is a lot of questions fans have about why he is bald through most of the series. More questions arise when you realize that in later seasons (and the current Dragon Ball Super series) Krillin has a full head of hair, leaving fans to wonder why he was bald for so much of his life. There have been a couple of reasons given as to why Krillin is bald, so let’s discuss them.
Who is Krillin?
Krillin is a supporting character who first appeared in Dragon Ball. A young boy who wanted to become more skilled in the martial arts, he sought out to be trained by Master Roshi, the Turtle Master. While Roshi had already promised to train Goku, he promised to train one of them if they could one up the other one in a series of competitions. During these competitions Goku proves to be the stronger person (even doing better despite Krillin cheating during many of the tasks). When they both bring back pretty girl Launch, Roshi is so happy he agrees to train them both.
They both train together and compete in various tournaments together, and as they grow older the two become best friends. Krillin would play a major role in all the fights up through Dragon Ball Z despite him being much less powerful than the Saiyins he fights alongside. In Dragon Ball Super he is a married man and working as a cop, essentially leaving his hardcore fighting days behind him.
Krillin’s Fighting Strategy for Being Bald
In the movie Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devils Castle Goku comments that Krillin is bald and gets a good laugh about it. Krillin gets upset at Goku and claims that shaving your head is something all great fighters do. You do this to prevent enemies from grabbing you by the hair. He then points out that Master Roshi shaves his head. It is at this point that Roshi cuts in and reveals to Krillin that he doesn’t shave his head for any battle advantage and that his hair simply fell out due to old age.
The True Reason Krillin is Bald
While this is a funny explanation for Krillin being bald, it should be noted that this movie isn’t considered canon, and is a retelling of a couple episodes in Dragon Ball, so we can’t go with this as the official explanation. No, the real reason Krillin is bald is because he is a shaolin monk. Monks believe that shaving your head you “go forth” to live the life of a Buddhist reincarnate among ordained monks. The hair serves as a renunciation of worldly ego and fashion, and thus ridding your hair is something monks call Pabbajja Pabbajja.
When Dragon Ball finally shows viewers Krillins past, they find out that he was in a group of students training to be fighting monks. They were all bald and lived by the rules of Buddha. Krillin was typically bullied by other students at the temple though, as he was much shorter than the other kids, and they felt he would never make for a good fighter. Krillin ultimately left the temple but continued to shave his head, symbolizing that he still believed in the teachings of Buddha. Despite this, one of Krillins dreams throughout the series is to get a girlfriend, which is forbidden for those who wish to become monks.
Later on in the series, Krillin enters into a relationship with Android 18. After Cell is defeated, the series jumps ahead by a several years and Krillin is now married, has a daughter, and (noticeable to fans) has a full head of hair. What this symbolizes is that Krillin is no longer perusing the life of a monk, and has become a family man. This doesn’t mean that he doesn’t believe in the teachings of Buddha anymore, only that he is not dedicating his life to living the pure life. On a final note, Krillins Japanese name is a pun on his lack of hair. His Japanese name is Kuririn, with kuri meaning chestnut in Japanese and rin deriving from the word shoalin. That Akira Toriyama is such a pun-ny guy isn’t he?!