The restroom happened to have mirrors on the ceiling and when I washed my hands, I saw the crown of my head for the first time in ages. In my late 20’s I lived in Chicago and went out drinking with a friend. My brothers all have full heads of hair, but my losses started early. I drew the short straw when it came to the genetic lottery of hair in my family. Into this cultural milieu, a bald woman appears as an imposter trying to convince you to accept what is unacceptable. An individual who lacks hair represents aging in a world that values youth over all. The attraction to a full head of hair cuts across gender, racial, and cultural boundaries. Virtually every American politician has one trait in common: they have a head of hair. The Seinfeld character of George Costanza exemplifies this caricature of a bald man. A man without hair is untrustworthy, shifty, and suspicious. By contrast, the image of a woman without hair suggests she is ill, dying, possibly undergoing chemotherapy. Since then, we see a recurring theme for both women and men, where hair represents vitality, purity, and virtue. We have to go back to ancient Egypt to find instances where men and women both shaved their heads. In the text of the Talmud, the hair of a woman is ervah, and it is improper for a married woman to display it openly. Going back even further, Delilah robs Sampson of his strength by cutting his hair. As her punishment, the witch cuts her hair, and shorn of her tresses, she has lost both her virtue and her home. The ultimate example of this is Rapunzel, embodying the ideal of virtue because she has long lustrous hair. A woman with a full head of hair is sexy and complete.Įvery storybook princess has gorgeous locks. Image by cristhianelouback0 from Pixabay To quote Jeannette Walls, “A lady’s hair is her crowning glory.”Ĭan there be a more perfect example of the way we celebrate a woman with a full head of hair? This is not just one woman’s opinion, this is an unyielding, unchanging cultural dynamic that has existed and will continue to exist.
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