What is it about hair? References to our “crowning glory” abound in our historical and cultural experience, a shared consciousness about what it means to have, or to not have, this most outwardly evident portion of our human anatomy. So why is hair so important to us, what is its significance and why do we universally care so much about it? Well, let’s examine some of these questions.
For one thing, it is so obvious. Rarely concealed by clothing, it is one of the first characteristics that other people notice about us. When someone asks for a description of an individual, here’s what usually comes to mind: “He’s a tall, blond guy, with long hair like a Viking”… “she’s a beautiful brunette”… “Medium build, dark, curly hair”… “an impressive shock of thick, white hair”… “light-skinned, with dreadlocks or cornrows”… “fat and balding”… “she’s a real redhead!”… “he was cute, with poofy hair like an ‘80’s rock star”.
Notice something common to all these descriptions of obviously quite different people? Sure, it’s the hair. Before eye color, nose shape, sometimes even before height and weight, people comment on hair: length, color, style, or the absence thereof. This is a large part of what we present to the world, like it or not. It is also inevitably present in our concepts of beauty.
The impact is powerful. We know that people with “outrageous” hairstyles considered outside the mainstream may have difficulties functioning in society at large. Our hair speaks to our social, professional, cultural, and/or religious affiliations, and is an important element of our self-expression. What is less well known is that bald or balding men are often regarded by society as older, weaker, more ineffectual, and are more likely to be passed over for promotions or raises than their peers. They are often seen as less desirable as potential mates, lacking in virility, and less capable of providing for a family. Even more significantly, balding men have lower levels of self-esteem than their peers, suffer more from depression, are less sociable, and are less likely to succeed in life (British Journal of Psychology, 1995).
Hair is inextricably woven into the fabric of our culture. Consider our common mythos: Samson and Delilah, Cleopatra, Prince Valiant, Rapunzel, Goldilocks; hippies, skinheads, mods and rockers, the Beatles (those ‘loveable “moptops” from Liverpool!’) Hair and hairstyles define entire eras (the 1960’s) and cultural movements. Likewise, religion and spiritual disciplines often consider hair, or its absence, of singular significance. Many sects of monks or nuns require shaving of the hair as a demonstration of withdrawal from “worldly” pursuits into the spiritual world. Conversely, Sikhs and other religious groups prohibit any cutting of the hair at all.
So in our society, and in most others, there is an enormous symbolism attached to our hair. There are very few bald members of the United States Congress, many fewer than would be expected from a normal cross-section of our population. Our only truly bald president in the past 50 years was Eisenhower, who was enormously popular as a war hero. Imagine our cultural icons, our celebrities, even our animated Disney heroes: thick, luxuriant heads of hair are the desired norm. Why the great emphasis?
Consider the birds of the field (and the snakes in the grass, for that matter). Feathers, and scales, like hair, are appendages of the skin, similar modifications in different species. Brightly colored and obvious plumage and scales are important in mating and courtship rituals in the animal kingdom, are they not? They are expressions of gender and availability. We all smile at the image of the “strutting cock of the walk”, but in the rooster’s world, he’s the king! In our world, hair, an external form of living clothing, expresses much about us to the world. Our choice of styling, color, and length are, to some extent, outward signals of our innermost desires and deepest feeling about ourselves. The loss of this instrument of expression may, for some men and women, be devastating.