A Hair's Breadth

In the Exploring Naples blog, I wrote about a hairdressing salon and how Neapolitans hold such loving attention and detail for hair.  Yesterday, I had my haircut and wondered, again, about the power of hair.

The biblical story of Samson and Delilah, the sixties musical Hair, and the age-old tradition of long hair on women and short hair on men strongly suggest that there is some kind of power associated with hair.    Hair styles over the decades reveal its art form and as a profession that holds a key role in the fashion world equal to clothes and shoes.

A shaved head on a woman is, in the least, considered to be severe and at the most, bold and stylish, yet a shaved head on a man is la mode du jour.  Sinead O'Connor, whilst surely not the first, is one of the most controversial iconic figures in the Western world of a bare-headed woman, the ultimate rebel.  In India, widows have their heads shaved and are forced to wear white living in a compound with other widows to survive by begging on the streets.  Buddhists monks also shave their heads whilst in Jewish and Muslim cultures some women cover their hair by the use of wigs, scarves or a hijab.

When I first heard the story about Samson and Delilah I didn't question why his power was in his hair, I just accepted the unusual fact.  Upon reading the story again, Samson believed that if his hair were cut his strength would be taken from him.  Samson's power was all in his mind (as are many things in our lives).

The majority of young women, and some men, hide behind their hair which could be considered as placing power upon their hair to protect them.  People feel better when sporting a fashionable hair-do as it helps them to belong.  Hair style and colour transform the face into whatever identity we desire.  Maybe this is what hair is all about, projecting who we want or need to be to the world.

The range of hair length is intriguing to me also; the longest I have grown my hair is to my shoulders blades, many years ago, so when I see hair grown down to someones posterior I look at it as I would at someone with crazy long fingernails - interesting but not for me.  Men can feel anxiety by the loss of hair and an industry has sprouted guaranteeing that they either won't lose it or can have it replaced.

The colour of hair is an associate to hair power and draws strong reactions from some.  Hideous phrases uttered about auburn or red tones of hair is confusing to me.  Females (never males) with blond hair received dubious attention and the questioning of their intelligence.  As someone whose hair went prematurely grey to its current white, I've  receive mixed response ranging from favourable to unfair.  Brunettes have been seen as seductresses and assertive.

Without desire to offend, I find women who have long hair tend to have more traditional views about what it is to be feminine.  Years ago I did an amateur survey amongst men I knew as to whether they preferred women with short or long hair and the majority strongly favoured women with long hair.  Why?  Does long hair symbolise what it is to be feminine, for men?  Are men with long hair considered to be in touch with their feminine side, or oracles of wisdom, or perhaps need to update their style?  In fiction such characters as Tolkien's Gandalf is portrayed with long white hair, a traditional symbol of age and wisdom.

The notion that men like women who have long hair reverses the premise of Samson and Delilah that power is in hair; perhaps men in current times see women with long hair as those who can be oppressed?

Another observation is the correlation between age and the length of hair.  As we age women usually take on shorter hair styles.  Could it be that as we become more comfortable with who we are we can let go of the notion of what it is to be female in the eyes of others and allow our faces to be seen more, or that we couldn't be bothered putting such effort into our hair each morning?

Having my haircut is about new beginnings; I also like to vary my look as much as suitably possible with the use of colour as well as style.  It could be that long hair is about youth, symbolising, invincibility, freedom, uninhibited expression and the beauty of vital hair and skin and that is why some of us try to hang onto that look by imitation.  Hair is given equal fashion press as female footwear.  Could it be that the top and toe parts of our bodies are connected to our base and highest chakra's?  No doubt there are a range of views on the subject but what is for certain is that hair has some kind of power no matter what that power may be.