How do you feel about wearing long hair on your head? Different times from the beginning of civilization; contemporary places around theworld; communities from the same region have held divergent and convergent opinions on hair. It has been used as a marker for sexual, social, economic or intellectual status.

In Greek mythology, the gods were distinguished by long hair and a beard, which symbolized their strength and power. During the times of ancient Greek and Roman civilizations, a disparity was maintained in hair styles of slaves from the royal family. Originally the slaves were forced to get rid of their beards as a sign of their acceptance of servitude.

Much later around the first century A.D., beard was associated with philosophers. Well, how do you remember Socrates? Yes, with the beard. The link had become so consistent that a Greek orator Herodes Atticus made an ironic statement in the second century A.D., about fraudulent philosophers, "I see the beard and the cloak, but I do not see the philosopher."

In the seventh century A.D., a traveler Yuan Tsang visited India and made an observation that the king had his hair made into a coil while the populace kept their hair hanging down. Besides the royal sentiments, significant interpretation has been linked to the hair in religious background. Jewish Elders forbade the shaving of the four corners of the face. In Muslims, one of the greatest oaths was to swear by the beard of the prophet Mohammed. Does the following sound familiar to you?

This rhyme in a popular nursery tale is suggestive of the oath upon the beard.

A Sikh maintains long hair and beard. Tidiness in keeping hair is his identity. Active participation in this world for personal enlightenment and welfare of humanity is his principle. He also uses suffix "Singh" to his name meaning "lion". A mane of hair has been the symbol for majesty and the identification of lion, the beast declared to be the king of the jungle. The Sikh lives in humility with a majestic dignity and protects honor of the righteous humble. In other parts of the world, for example in Britain, the use of bearskin helmet by British Brigade of Guards and in North America, the plumage by the Dakota Indian chief was made to represent the mane due to its association with awe.

In eastern and central Asia, the native Buddhist monks maintain clean shaven heads. They believe in renunciation. However, in the western world, the nineteenth century saw disheveled flowing hair of hippies as a mark of protest against the existing social structure.

When you see long hair on a person, how do you judge him? Do not be prejudiced. Now you know why.



Human Hair a Biological Necessity, by Dr Birendra Kaur

Hair is a characteristic feature of mammals, which are commonly known as "Hairy quadrupeds" - a group of animals that mark the climax of evolution. Also mammals are the dominant animals in the world today, due partly to their ability to regulate body temperature in the face of variations in environmental temperature. This requires regulation of heat production and heat loss by the body. Hair plays an important role in regulating the latter. Impulses from the brain (hypothalamus) cause the hair to stand on ends, thereby enclosing an insulating layer of air just outside the skin. This layer reduces the loss of heat by radiation.

Even among mammals, man marks the climax of evolution and possesses the most complex and highly developed brain as well as the longest hair on head. This feature cannot be without significance. It cannot be a matter of mere chance or a mistake by nature, because if the tail has been lost, the hair could have been lost too. On the contrary, human hair on the head region has increased manifold as compared to other mammals.

This dense and long growth of hair on the head region shows that the body is trying to increase the surface area for some particular function. Such a trend to increase the surface area is seen in every system of the body, e.g., highly coiled intestines with finger-like villi on their inner surfaces for absorption of digested food; alveoli in the lungs for exchange of O2 and CO2; glomerular capillaries in the form of a bunch, and coiled tubules in the kidneys where urine filtration takes place. The circulatory and nervous systems show extensive branching to reach every nook and corner of the body. Even the surface of the human brain has maximum fissures (folds) corresponding to its .ncreased mental abilities. The results that will be produced by decreasing the surface area at these points is easy for all to imagine!

FUNCTIONS OF HAIR: Hair perform a variety of functions. Some of these are listed below:

Trap an insulating layer of still air just outside the skin, and thereby reduce loss of heat by radiation.

Absorb harmful radiations from the sun.

- Keep out coarse dust particles, e.g., eyelashes, hair in the nostrils and external auditory canals.
- Eyebrows prevent water or sweat from falling into eyes, due to their location and particular direction.
- Axillary and pubic hair lessen friction between limbs and body, and between limbs, respectively, during locomotion.
- Axillary hair provide larger surface area for evaporation of sweat.
- Beautify the body (otherwise why do people not shave off all the hair from the head completely? Bald men are desperate, and would pay any price to get hair back on their heads).
- Beard and moustache are for differentiation of sex. Mostly males are decorated in nature, e.g., lion, peacock and other birds, deer, etc.
- Hair follicles can make androgenic hormones.
- Prevent water &om entering onto skin.
- Impart colour to body.
- Vibrissae are sensory hair, tactile in nature and useful in dark burrows.
- Defend the body in danger, by standing on their ends, thereby making the body look bigger.
- Flick off insects, when present at the end of tails.
- Help to disguise by blending with the colour of the surroundings, to escape the watchful eyes of natural enemies.

IS HAIR LIFELESS?: Hair is erroneously considered lifeless because of lack of any visible connection with the brain. But, the brain is not controlling/communicating with our body through nerves alone. Hormones, which are chemical mediators, also regulate various body functions. The immune system of the body fights infections with the help of co-ordinated action of cells, which have no visible connection with each other or with the brain. So, presence or absence of nerves alone cannot determine the connection of a particular part of the body with the brain. If hair was really dead to the brain, how does it come to know that it has been cut, and responds by growing it to a specific length again. Once the specific length has been attained, further growth ceases. Thus, undoubtedly the brain is well aware of the condition of hair, cut or uncut, even upto its tip! This is a sure sign of life. Thus, by cutting our hair, we are actually putting extra load on our body, as the energy and the raw materials (protein, etc.) required for growing hair time and again would be manifold as compared to the amount required for their maintenance only. Further, the hair, like any other living organ of the body, responds to ageing‹in its variations in length, denseness of growth, and greying. The condition of the health of a person is also reflected in the hair ‹in its lustre, shine, etc.

Lack of sensation in hair along its shaft (visible part of hair) is no indication of it lacking in life, for, even the brain shows no such sensation. There is a group of animals (phylum Porifera), which do not possess a nervous system at all. A blow to any part of their body produces no response whatsoever. Do we call these animals lifeless? Similarly, most plants do not show any sensation either.

Further, a part that we call 'lifeless' may be without sensation, but definitely not without function. Rather, its function is as important as any living part of the body, if not more. For example: