Quote:
Originally Posted by OP_Carl
If you observe an older man who has no hair, does he look unnatural or just like an old bald man?
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by OP_Carl
(no offense to you testosterone-fueled chrome domes out there)
If you observe a woman who has no hair, it looks unnatural. Your first thoughts are along the lines of 'burn victim' or 'chemotherapy.' And her first thoughts are to get to the wig store.
It is in a woman's nature to care for and attractively arrange her hair.
It is in a man's nature to ignore his hair, or keep it out of his way.
It is unnatural for a man to consider his hair to be an important part of his public presentation of himself. Most men look at Grandpa and realize that they had better not become too emotionally involved with whatever little hair their creator has been bestowed upon their heads, for this, too, shall pass.
From the dawn of time militaries have recognized the disadvantage of long hair in combat, and have proscribed short hair on soldiers.
In many cultures, men with carefully arranged or longer hair are/were prostitutes, homosexual, or both.
|
Actually, no to both statements.
In most ancient cultures the warriors would let their hair and beards grow uncut until the fighting season was over (wars were usually fought on a seasonal basis).
The Nazarite vow in ancient Israel was for holy warriors. The warriors would let their "locks" grow until the campaigning season was over. This is why we read of Absalom getting his hair "polled" just once a year. Judges 5:2 (the Song of Deborah) starts with the memorable phrase, "When locks hung loose in Israel..." though the KJV tidies that up.
Paul appears to have taken a Nazarite vow at one point and then presented himself with a cleanly shaven head at the temple in Jerusalem.
The Philistines famously wore their long hair into battle mixed with lime to appear as if they had feathered headdresses on. Their Celtic cousins (a relationship based upon the reasoning that the Philistines and "Sea Peoples" were a part of the same Dorian migrations that placed the Celtic Galatians into Anatolia) similarly wore their long hair stiffened with lime.
Samurai, Korean (Cho-sun) and Han warriors were all known for the "Que" or long ponytail that they wore (though the Samurai wore a different style and called it something else). Greeks all the way into the Hellenistic Age boasted of their fine 'dos anointed with olive oil. The Indian Vedic warriors all sported long hair. For Native Americans, the sign that a man was "truly a man" was his long hair.
During the American Civil War many if not most of the Confederate troops would not cut their hair as long as they were in battle. In parts of Missouri and other border states, even today, someone with long hair is said to have
"Bushwacker curls." The Bushwackers were the irregular cavalry that raided Union sympathizes and troops in that part of the country.
The close cropped hair and clean shaven faces that we see in many of today's militaries was a Roman innovation. In fact, the Muslim Mujahedeen deliberately grow their beards and hair when in battle so as to not look like Romans or Westerners.
I know of just 2 religious organizations that require their clergy to wear short hair and clean shaven faces: the Roman Catholic Church and the UPCI. In the case of the Roman Church, it's actually been spelled out since the time immediately following Gregory the Great that as a "sign of submission" to the Pope, all Catholic clergy are to be clean shaven (see the article on Beards in the Catholic Encyclopedia). Catholic clergy who sport beards today (mostly "liberation theology" proponents and other "radicals") do so to show that they are deliberately rebelling against Rome.
** Added - I have forgotten to mention how that Luther and Calvin and their followers grew beards to show their break from the Roman Catholic Church. Sporting a beard was a sign that a clergyman had made the life threatening decision to preach the "Evangelical Gospel."
The clergy in the Eastern Churches purposefully wear longer hair and beards to show two things: 1) That they are in fact practicing the more ancient custom, and 2) That they are not under submission to the Bishop of Rome.
For the record, and to my knowledge, I was the first person with a beard ever to be approved for a UPC license. I may be wrong about that - does anyone know of any others? I know of a Spanish pastor who had a mustache when he joined the UPC but later shaved that off as a sign of "submission" to the heirarchy.