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This article is about human head hair. For other uses, see Longhair (disambiguation) or Hair
File:Myself.JPG
A man with long hair.

Long hair, sometimes written as longhair, is any hairstyle which is relatively long. Exactly what constitutes "long hair" can change from culture to culture, or even within cultures. For example, a woman with chin-length hair may be said to have short hair, while a man with the same length of hair would be said to have long hair. Scientists view long hair as playing a large part in any animal species' natural selection, since hair length is frequently a sign of health.[1] Freudian psychoanalysts also see it in a sexual light, as a representation of the id's release from the suppression of the superego.[2]

Culturally, long hair typically signals a separation from structures and rules,[3] although there are exceptions, such as the the Thai people.[4] Ways of life often viewed as more rigid, such as religious cultures, often have rules regarding hair length. For example, one passage in the New Testament of Christianity contains passages forbidding long hair for men, while approving of it for women.[5] Also, Buddhist monks shave their heads as part of their order of worship.[2] Even outside religious structures, cultures often connect long hair with ways of life outside of what is culturally accepted. Subservient cultures, for example, are sometimes detected by their rulers through hair length, as was the case with the Irish under English rule and the Moors under Spanish rule in Medieval times.[6] During the cultural revolutions of the sixties and seventies in America and across the western world, long hair remained a strong symbol of rebellion against the cultural norm.[7] Again, though, there are exceptions to these rules, notably among the long-haired and religiously devoted Nazarites of the Hebrew Bible (Samson being a famous example)[8] and among the Sikhs.[9] Modern non-western cultures such as Islam and China see long hair as a western influence.[10][11] The Taliban of Afghanistan punished its male citizens for western long hairstyles at times.[12]

Among women, the signal is reversed. Long hair becomes an acceptance of culture, while short hair signals a rebellion from it. Long hair is traditionally accepted as a female characteristic in western cultures. Feminists and women's rights activists have long debated whether to advocate long hair as a solely feminine trait, or to call for short hair in opposition to a stereotype.[3] Asian cultures see long, unkempt hair in a woman as a sign of sexual intent or a recent sexual encounter, as usually their hair is tied up.[13]

Meaning

Exactly what "long hair" is can change from culture to culture, or even within cultures. For example, a woman with chin-length hair may be said to have short hair, while a man with the same length of hair would be said to have long hair. The traditional definition of "longhair" in English meant, roughly, someone artistically knowledgable or wise, an aesthete.[14] As a descriptive term, it has been applied to Merovingians and classical music enthusiasts, as well as hippies and aesthetes.[14]

Science

Anthropologists speculate that the functional significance of long head hair may be adornment, a by-product of secondary natural selection once other somatic hair had been lost. Another possibility is that long head hair is a result of Fisherian runaway sexual selection, where long lustrous hair is a visible marker for a healthy individual. For some groups, however, short hair is the selected trait.[1] Some Psychoanalysts and Freudians argue that long hair represents the id and aggression, and that cutting the hair is thus akin to castration.[2] Hair is thus considered to be a potent sexual emblem, both for men and women, having many parallels with intercourse.[2] Further connections made with sexuality are made with the fact that historically, adulterous men would cut off their partner's hair if she threatened to reveal their secret, thus violating the role of her husband.[2]

Cultural history

Hair is one of the most important ways humans have of both presenting themselves and judging one another socially, being one of the parts of their body which is easiest to manipulate. Throughout many cultures, hair is seen as representing sexual control over oneself—those having long hair having less control than those having shorter or no hair. Also, having short, cut hair, is often viewed as being under society's control, while having long hair signifies being outside of the systems of society.[3]

Western culture

In the Bible

"She, as a veil down to the slender waist,
Her adorned golden tresses wore
Dishevelled, but in wanton ringlets waved,
As the vine curls her tendrils..."

— John Milton's description of Eve in Paradise Lost

Men in Old Testament times often would go for long periods of time without cutting their hair to show devotion to God. They were called Nazarites.[15] Samson is one example, his strength depended on his hair length.[8] The New Testament, however, says, "Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering."[5] The statement was given in a time when hairstyles where changing from what was considered to be a normal (and longer) length, to a short-cropped haircut. Short-cropped hair and a shaven face was a pagan tradition that grew from the expansion of Rome. Paul may have got the idea because he was Roman, since there is no law elsewhere in the Bible teaching that long hair is a shame (with the exception of unkempt hair styles). There are even references in the Bible where having no hair, baldness or a shaven beard is a shame.[16][17]

Classical period

The ancient Greeks had several heroes which wore their hair long, including Zeus, Achilles, Hector, and Poseidon. Both Greek and Trojan soldiers are said to have worn their hair long in battle. Such warriors considered it a sign of aristocracy and are said to have combed it openly in order to show off. Also, in order to keep enemies from getting a hold of it in battle, they were known to cut the front short, but leave it long in the back, where it was more out of reach. Around the sixth century, however, the Greek men shifted to shorter hairstyles. Women in the culture remained with the longer style, which for them showed freedom, health, and wealth, as well as good behavior.[18] In men, it was considered a sign of false pride by this time.[19] Women in Roman times valued long hair, usually with a center part. Men's hair was usually shorter than women's, although other cultures of the time, such as Greeks in the east, considered long hair to be typical of philosophers, who were thought to be too engrossed in learning to bother with hair.[20] Strictly in the province of Rome, however the shorter hairstyle was especially popular.[19] When Julius Caeser conquered the Gauls, who favored long hair, he ordered it to be cut short.[21]

Up to the seventeenth century

In the European middle ages, shorter hair often signified servitude and peasantry, while long hair was often attributed to freemen, such as the Germanic Goths and Merovingians. Often, non-Germanic cultures such as Byzantines viewed these "long-haired men" as barbarians specifically citing their hair as proof. In Ireland, English colonists who wore their hair long in the back were considered to be rejecting their role as English subjects and giving in to the Irish life. Irishman, in turn, scolded others of their race who moved into English culture by cutting their hair. Thus, hair length was one of the most common ways of judging a true Englishman in this period. Muslims in Christian areas were ordered to keep their hair short and parted, as their longer style was considered rebellious and barbaric.[6]

A girl with long hair.

A long hair fad was widespread among English and French men in the 11th and 12th centuries, though otherwise it was considered, mostly because of church endorsement, proper for men to have shorter, and women, longer hair. The fad was largely brought about by monarchs who rejected the shorter hairstyle, causing the people to follow. Wulfstan, a religious leader, worried that those with longer hair would fight like women, and be unable to protect England from foreign invasion. (This idea can be found in later military leaders as well, such as those of the American Confederacy.[22]) Knights and rulers would also sometimes cut or pull out their hair in order to show penitence and mourning, and a squire's hair was generally shorter than a knight's. Married women who let their hair flow out were frowned upon, as this was normally reserved for the unwed, although they were allowed to let it out in mourning, to show their distressed state. Long hair in the period signified youth and courtly behavior, and some scholars even suggest that in men it shows homosexuality, though this is disputed, as it was almost solely religious monks who connected long hair with woman-behavior.[6]

In England, during the English Civil War times of 1642 to 1651, hair length was emblematic of the disputes between Cavaliers and Roundheads (Puritans). Cavaliers wore longer hair, and were less religious minded, thought of by the Roundheads as lecherous. The more devout Roundheads had short hair, although there were exceptions.[2]

Recent meanings

Beat poets during the 1950s wore longer hairstyles. The 1950s introduced the Beatles, who started a widespread longer hair fad. In the 1960s long hair, especially on men, was worn as a political or countercultural symbol or protest. This cultural symbol extended to several Western countries in the Americas, Western Europe, South Africa, and Australia.[7] Specific long hairstyles such as dreadlocks have been part of counterculture movements seeking to define other alternative cultures and lifestyles since this time.[23] Longer hair in general remained popular throughout the liberal decade of the 1960's. Homosexuals, who had adopted a long hairstyle in the early fifties, continued the trend through this decade. Clergyman and conservative parents saw the long hair fad as a threat to gender identity, cultural, and religious norms as it grew with the spread of the hippie movement in the 1960s.[7] Notably, some country-and-western performers during this period (and many fans) also sported longer hair.[24][25]

In the 1970s, the popularity of reggae music and musician Bob Marley prompted interest in dreadlocks internationally. The anti-establishment philosophy of Rastafari, echoed in much of the reggae of the time, resonated with left-leaning youth of all ethnicities — especially and primarily among African Americans and other Blacks, but among counterculture whites as well.[26] In the 1980s the view of long hair as a solitary signifier of political or counter-cultural identity was countered and parodied in films such as Rambo and many other militaristic heroes of media which challenged then-contemporary views of what was masculine.[27] Today, longer hairstyles remain popular in among heavy metal enthusiasts.[28]

Women

Women often have a stronger inclination towards long hair than men do. Some feminists have declared long hair as "irrefutably feminine," while others argue for shorter hair. Other scholars have also remarked on how, without hair or long hair, a woman cannot be a woman. Long hair symbolizes wealth, and luxury, as such hair is difficult to maintain. Often, men and women will protest the social system by adopting the hair length considered acceptable in the other sex: men growing their hair long, and women cutting it short, again pointing to the strong trend of long hair being a female commodity. Since short hair is frequently considered mannish, working women sometimes face a challenge in balancing between having hair long enough to appear a woman, but short enough to fit into the male-oriented business world.[3]

Non-western cultures

Islamic tradition maintains that the prophet Muhammad had short hair. Thus, long head hair is discouraged in Islam among men.

Islam

Islamic cultures see it as important to make clear differences between sexes. Women, for example, are encouraged to have long hair, while men are encouraged to have short hair.[10] Early Muslim missionaries considered short hairstyles "in the manner of the Messenger of God [i.e. Muhammad]" an important part of their missionary efforts. To ask a man to cut his hair was often synonymous with asking his conversion. Thus, in areas affected by Islamic teachings, short hair was often a sign that the person was a Muslim.[29] The Taliban viewed long hair as a western influence, and punished it by arrest and forced haircuts.[12] Similar strictures have also existed in Turkmenistan and Saudi Arabia and several other Islamic states.

Native Americans

American Indian men wore long hair before the arrival western influences on their culture. (In Cherokee legends, for example, males said to be handsome were often described as having "long hair almost to the ground" or similar formulas.[30]) Both men and women of these cultures have frequently struggled to maintain their tradition, but have faced heavy opposition. Many consider it a sign of giving in to western influences, to have their hair cut.[31][32] Early American settlers saw long-haired, native men as rebelling against their civilized society. Mountain men and trappers who adopted the customs were also considered amoral, and often identified by their long hair.[33] Since the cultural movements of the sixties and seventies, however, Native Americans have felt been less pressure to have short hair, as different movement have defended their cultural rights.[34] For example, several states have loosened prison regulations, allowing Native Americans to wear long hair during incarceration, along with other cultural allowances.[35] There has been resistance to these changes, however, as long hair is sometimes used to hide drugs, as well as to identify with a gang.[36]

Africans

In West African cultures, women with long hair were highly valued. Long, thick hair was seen as a sign of health, strength, and capability to bear many children. In keeping with this general theme, women who were too young for marriage would shave a portion of their heads to signal so. This tradition, however, did not extend to every African tribe, as several valued shorter hair.[37] Islamic countries in North Africa such as Egypt view long hair in men as satanic and a sign of an infidel.[38]

African Americans
Afros were originally used as a cultural statement to counter western influences on natural African hairstyles and ways of life.

When African slaves were freed in America, they struggled to reach the social status of whites. Many former slaves tried to conform their hairstyles as part of this struggle. Women, especially, felt pressure to make their hair long and smooth like white women, rather than keeping the shorter, frizzier style they had known.[39] However, during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, African-Americans such as Malcolm X advocated hairstyles such as afros and dreadlocks, in order to express their individuality and freedom as a race, and to return to African roots.[3] Social pressures at the time were heavily influencing these Americans (especially women) to have long, straight hair, like white people did.[40] More recently, scholars have pointed out the continued pressure on blacks to have long, smooth hair. Amelian Jones points out that dolls for children, such as Barbies, buy add to this pressure, citing as an example a new, black Barbie with long hair. Blacks, she believes, should be able to be themselves without feeling pressured to "tame" their hair.[41]

Asians

Asian cultures as a whole tend to view long hair as a sign of youth and femininity. Usually, long hair is hidden in turbans or tied up in public, as long hair is associated with private life and sexuality. Asian cultures see long, unkempt hair in a woman as a sign of sexual intent or a recent sexual encounter, as usually their hair is tied up.[13] Common Buddhists have long hair, while Buddhist monks have shaved heads.[2] For Sikhs, Kesh is the practice of allowing one's hair to grow naturally as a symbol of devotion to God and lack of worldliness.[9] In Jewish and other cultures, shortening hair signifies mourning and sadness.[3]

Around the seventeenth century, Chinese men adopted a longer hairstyle called a queue, which was basically a long braid down the back. This style lasted well into the nineteenth century, when the Chinese began immigrating to America. Americans at first judged them to be poor workers because their long hair brought an association with women.[42] Both Islamic and Christian missionaries to the Chinese were strong advocates of shorter hair for their converts, but this was a small group.[43] Around the Destruction of Four Olds period in 1964, almost anything seen as part of Traditional Chinese culture would lead to problems with the Communist Red Guards. Items that attracted dangerous attention if caught in the public included jeans, high heels, Western-style coats, ties, jewelry, qipao and long hair.[11] These items were regarded as symbols of bourgeois lifestyle, that represented wealth. People had to avoid them or suffer serious consequences such as tortures and beatings by the guards.[11] More recently, long hair was ridiculed in China from October 1983 to February 1984, as part of the Anti-Spiritual Pollution Campaign.[44]

In Southeast Asia and Indonesia, long hair was valued in until the seventeenth century, when the area became subservient to outside influences including Islam and Christianity. Invading cultures enforced shorter hairstyles on men as a sign of servitude, as well. They were also confused at the short hairstyles among women in certain areas, such as Thailand, and struggled to explain why women in the area had such short hair. They came up with several mythical stories, one of which involved a king who found a long hair in his rice and, in a rage, demanded that all women keep their hair short.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Watson, James. Darwin: the Indelible Stamp; the Evolution of an Idea. Philadelphia: Running Press, 2005. pg. 1042 ISBN 0762421363
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Leach, E. R. "Magical Hair." The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. (July 1958) 88.2 pgs. 147-164
  3. ^ a b c d e f Synnott, Anthony. "Shame and Glory: A Sociology of Hair." The British Journal of Sociology 1987-09 38.3 pgs. 381-413
  4. ^ a b Reid, Anthony. Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450-1680. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988. pgs. 80-84. ISBN 0300047509
  5. ^ a b KJV 1 Corinthian 11. 14-15
  6. ^ a b c Bartlett, Robert. "Symbolic Meanings of Hair in the Middle Ages." Transactions of the Royal Historical Society (1994) Vol. 4 pgs. 43-60
  7. ^ a b c Bronski, Michael. The Pleasure Principle. City: Stonewall Inn Editions, 2000. pgs. 95-96. ISBN 0312252870
  8. ^ a b Judges 13-16
  9. ^ a b Fowler, Jeaneane. World Religions: an Introduction for Students. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 1997. pg. 352. ISBN 1898723486
  10. ^ a b Joseph, Suad and Afsaneh Najmabadi. Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures: Family, Body, Sexuality and Health , Volume 3. Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, 2005. pg. 35 ISBN 9004128190
  11. ^ a b c Law, Kam-yee. [2003] (2003). The Chinese Cultural Revolution Reconsidered: beyond purge and Holocaust. ISBN 0333738357
  12. ^ a b Rashid, Ahmed. Taliban. City: I B Tauris & Co Ltd, 2002. pg. 219. ISBN 1860648304
  13. ^ a b Maynard, Margaret. Dress and Globalisation. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004. pg. 104. ISBN 0719063892
  14. ^ a b Oxford English dictionary
  15. ^ Num. 6: 5, 18-19
  16. ^ Meeks, Wayne and Jouette Bassler. The Harpercollins Study Bible. London: HarperCollins, 1993. ISBN 0060655801
  17. ^ ex.2nd Sam;10:4-5, Judges; 16:19, 2nd Sam 10:4, Lev 21:5, Is 22:12, prov 16:31, S of S 5:11, Is 3:24, Hos 7:9
  18. ^ Irwin, M. Eleanor. "Odysseus' "Hyacinthine Hair" in 'Odyssey' 6.231. Phoenix. (Oct 1990) 44.3 pgs. 205-218.
  19. ^ a b Nicolson, Frank W. "Greek and Roman Barbers." Harvard Studies in Classical Philology. (1891 2) pgs. 41-56.
  20. ^ Bartman, Elizabeth. "Hair and the Artifice of Roman Female Adornment." American Journal of Archaeology (Jan. 2001) 105.1 pgs. 1-25
  21. ^ Felt, Joseph. Customs of New England. New York: Burt Franklin, 1967. pg. 187. ISBN 0833711059
  22. ^ McManus, Howard Rollins. The Battle of Cloids Mountain of Virginia, 1864. University of Michigan:1989 pg. 35
  23. ^ Maynard, Margaret. Dress and Globalisation. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004. pg. 104. ISBN 0719063892
  24. ^ Bogdanov, Vladimir et.al. All Music Guide to Country. San Francisco: Backbeat, 2003. ISBN 0879307609
  25. ^ Tuleja, Tad. The New York Public Library Book of Popular Americana. New York: Macmillan, 1994. pg. 157 ISBN 0671899872
  26. ^ Gossai, Hemchand and Nathaniel Murrell. Religion, Culture, and Tradition in the Caribbean. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000. pgs. 181-190. ISBN 031223242X
  27. ^ Lu, Hsiao-Peng. Transnational Chinese Cinemas. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997. pg. 229 ISBN 0824818458
  28. ^ Weinstein, Deena. Heavy Metal. New York: Da Capo Press, 2000. pg. 129. ISBN 0306809702
  29. ^ Reid, Anthony. Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450-1680. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988. pgs. 80-82 ISBN 0300047509
  30. ^ Kirk, Lowell (1999). "Cherokee Myths and Legends". Retrieved 2007-09-09.
  31. ^ Ferris, Jeri. Native American Doctor. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, 1991. pgs. 32-33. ISBN 0876144431
  32. ^ Kilcup, Karen. Native American Women's Writing, C. 1800-1924. Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers, 2000. pgs. 314-316. ISBN 0631205187
  33. ^ Cavallo, Dominick. A Fiction of the past. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. pg. 90 ISBN 0312235011
  34. ^ Nagel, Joane. American Indian Ethnic Renewal. Oxford Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1997. pg. 191. ISBN 0195120639
  35. ^ French, Laurence. Native American Justice. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2003. pgs. 113-117 ISBN 0830415750
  36. ^ Fontana, Vincent. Municipal Liability. City: Aspen Law & Business Publishers, 2003. pgs. 241-242 ISBN 0735513759
  37. ^ Byrd, Ayana and Lori Tharps. Hair Story. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2002. pgs. 2-5 ISBN 0312283229
  38. ^ Heper, Metin. Ismet Inonu: the Making of a Turkish Statesman. Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, 1998. pg. 153 ISBN 9004099190
  39. ^ Byrd, pgs. 25-49
  40. ^ Taylor, Paul C. "Malcolm's Conk and Danto's Colors; Or, Four Logical Petitions concerning Race, Beauty, and Aesthetics." Journal: The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. (Jan 1999) 57.1 pgs. 16-20.
  41. ^ Jones, Amelia. The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader. New York: Routledge, 2003. pg. 343. ISBN 0415267056
  42. ^ Prasso, Sheridan. The Asian Mystique. City: Public Affairs Press (NY), 2005. pgs. 115-116 ISBN 1586482149
  43. ^ Reid, Anthony. Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450-1680. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988. pg. 82 ISBN 0300047509
  44. ^ "Olympic crackdown on China's bad habits". BBC News. August 6, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-09.
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