Let's face it – our hair is important for many reasons. It gives us confidence, keeps our heads warm, allows us to express our own styles, serves as a status symbol, attracts people to us, represents our age, and even offers a glimpse into our personal health. Throughout history, and even in today's modern world, hair has played several roles and represented different social and cultural symbols. Similarly, hair loss has represented various symbols or ideas over time. Let's look at a few examples.
In the Bible story about Samson and Delilah, hair played a vital role in the outcome, and symbolized Samson's strength. At an early age, Samson took the Nazarite vow to never cut his hair. He believed his strength came from his full head of long hair. Samson fell for a woman named Delilah, who was secretly working for Philistine rulers, and told her about his hair as a source of strength. She used this information against him, and arranged for someone to shave seven braids from his head while he slept.
He awoke feeling weak and powerless, and was forced into slave labor by the Philistines. His hair, however, began to grow back, and ultimately rejuvenated his strength. Powerful again, but still in captivity, Samson used his bare hands to bring down the temple from within, killing him and all his enemies inside.
Was the hair really his strength, or was it a symbol for his physical power and faith? We don't know for sure, but anyone who has had successful hair restoration treatment can relate to the feeling of rejuvenation and power that comes from a fully restored head of hair.
The Bible didn't leave out women when it came to hair symbolism, either. 1 Cor. 11:15 states that "if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her." Long hair on women was often a symbol of beauty throughout many different cultures.
Fairy tales also use hair as symbols or important elements of the plot. Rapunzel famously used her long hair to help a prince climb to see her, and when her witch captor found out, the witch cut off Rapunzel's hair – and her purity and innocence. The blonde, curly hair worn by Goldilocks also gave her story about her encounter with three bears its name.
A common rite of passage in Chinese, Egyptian, Indian, and some European countries histories was to shave children's heads, save for a few locks. Then, when the child reached the appropriate age, the lock was cut off, symbolizing the entry into adulthood.
Native Americans (and Hollywood) made scalping famous. The scalps served as a trophy of war, and also as a life force for a warrior. Some also believed that taking the hair of someone who had murdered a member of the tribe was a symbolic way to replace the murdered tribe member.
Some modern day parents keep a lock of hair from their child's first hair cut for good luck. Other societies or religions dictate whether men (or women) should have long or short hair, with penalties ranging from weird looks to physical punishment. Hair is often used scientifically in DNA tests; it is a living record of your body's history. From a fashion perspective, both men and women can wear long or short hair, depending on the facial features, current trends, and overall look or style.
Clearly, hair has played many roles throughout our history and literature. It typically symbolized purity and strength, and cutting off someone's hair was often a punishment or symbol for losing innocence or power. Losing your hair, however, is no fault of yours, and is easy to combat with Avacor Physician's Formulation®, an FDA-approved hair restoration and re-growth product that has been clinically proven to revitalize hair follicles in as little as two months. And that's no fairy tale.
Stay tuned for the next post, which will discuss the growth cycle of the hair follicle.
