I once told my roommate that I wouldn’t be her friend anymore if she chopped all her hair off, so you know I’m not kidding when I say that hair is important to me. It’s important in real life, and it’s important in TV. The other day I was having a discussion with some internet friends, and somehow or other we got onto the subject of hair and television characters, which always leads to the same place for me: good hair is extremely important for a TV character. It can make them or kill them. So when my friend Heather asked me who my favorite TV characters were, “according to hair,” I couldn’t pass up the challenge. Please keep in mind the following list is solely based on hair alone:

10. Joan Holloway (Mad Men)

I will fight you if you try to tell me there is a better character on Mad Men than Joan Holloway, and then I’ll fight you some more if you try to convince me that any other character in the history of television has ever had classier hair than that wonderful 60s broad. Joan Holloway’s hair IS Mad Men. (Also, Don Draper’s pants.)

9. Turanga Leela (Futurama)

She may be a cartoon-cyclops-mutant from 1000 years in the future, but Leela and her purple ponytail Hi-Yah-ed their way into my heart faster than you can say “Good news, everyone!” There was also that one time that alternate universe Leela came over and had red hair instead, and that was equally as awesome, if not more so.

8. Dana Scully (The X-Files)

For about the first three and a half years The X-Files was on the air, Dana Scully was a disaster. Then she got cancer and everybody was sad, but magically her hair got better, and so everything was okay. Then she also beat her cancer AND had good hair, so everything was AMAZING.

7. Hugo “Hurley” Reyes (Lost)

Lovable, loyal, down on his luck Hurley was the most liked citizen of Craphole Island for six years, and I’m convinced a large part of that was his Hurley-mane. So long, so flowing. Probably the other part has something to do with his soulful brown eyes, and the way he said “dude” all the time.

6. Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

It must have been killer for James Marsters to bleach his hair that blonde for almost five years, but I’m so glad he did. Whoever made that costuming decision should be kissed on the mouth as a thank you. No other hair color would have gotten across that particular flavor of badass, laced with cheap booze and British swears.

5. Felicity Porter (Felicity)

You probably all saw this one coming as soon as you read the title of this post, but I just couldn’t leave her off. Felicity’s hair and subsequent disastrous haircut was one of the top three things people talked about in 1999, right alongside Y2K and the death of JFK Jr. More importantly, Felicity is on this list because of the brilliant way her frizzed out mane reflected the craziness within (and there was A LOT of crazy).

5. Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Everybody always talks about how Buffy is this awesome role model for girls, and how the show is empowering for women, and the writing is so witty and fresh and wonderful, and yes all of that is very true, but what nobody talks about is how one of Buffy’s Slayer superpowers was having super good hair all the time. Every day, of every week, 24/7. The world is ending, falling to pieces around her, and she’s perfectly coifed.

4. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

You might think this is a joke, but it is not. There is just something about this man’s head that is so appealing. Something to do with him being so smart and nerdy? Or the fact that his hobbies are playing a small flute and reading about archaeology? I can’t really figure it out. My point is, you shouldn’t judge me.

3. Jack Donaghy (30 Rock)

There is no man on primetime television, past or present, whose hair is more important to his sense of self than Jack Donaghy’s is to him on 30 Rock. This is the man who once said, ”I get my hair cut every two days. After all, your hair is your headsuit.” This is the man who once yelled at God, “God, are you punishing me because my hair is better than yours?”

2. River Song (Doctor Who)

Let’s get one thing straight: everybody on Doctor Who has great hair. (And when I say everybody, I mean everybody.) But nobody, NOBODY, has better hair than the mysterious River Song. That hair, “it just doesn’t stop, does it?” River Song wouldn’t be River Song without that crazy wild mess sitting on top of her head. (If you guys haven’t jumped on the Doctor Who bandwagon yet, please do, as quickly as possible. You don’t know what you’re missing.)

1. Laura Roslin (Battlestar Galactica)

Laura Roslin is the president of the last remnants of humanity, but she is also the president of having the best hair ever in the history of the universe. Laura Roslin’s hair is the reason the phrase HBIC was coined. When I look at Laura Roslin’s hair, I am overcome with love, and also jealousy. It’s a complicated feeling.

Obviously, this is a completely biased and subjective list, so I’m curious: who are your favorites? Sound off in the comments.

Tags: 30 rock, alec baldwin, alex kingston, battlestar galactica, buffy summers, buffy the vampire slayer, captain jean-luc picard, Christina Hendricks, dana scully, doctor who, felicity, felicity porter, hurley, jack donaghy, james marsters, joan holloway, jorge garcia, keri russell, laura roslin, lost, mad men, mary mcdonnell, patrick stewart, river song, sarah michelle gellar, spike, star trek: the next generation, the x-files