Hair - extrasensory organ?

Hair, it's an interesting feature, huh?

Many Native Americans believe their hair is a physical manifestation of the growth of the spirit, and some say it allows for extrasensory or more sensitive perception, being another branch of the nervous system.

I was skeptical of whether or not this might actually be true until I met a very kind man, a man who went by the name of Arturo.

Arturo was a native curandero (healer) of the Ashaninkan tribe that I worked with in Peru. He told me that he had spent most of his life with long hair, but more recently when he spent longer time in cities he would get depressed. He wasn't aware of this belief system about the hair and had, instinctually, decided to cut his hair out of nowhere and boom, his depression went away.

This was very intriguing and caused me to want to research more about hair and the importance of it in different cultures. If the hair is truly an extra sensory organ and you make the move from the forest to a polluted city, full of negative emotions and environmental toxins, it would make sense that it could have a negative effect on the psyche.

I've always been particularly mesmerized by Taoist and Buddhist culture, so I decided to dive into these next.

The long hair usually shown among ancient taoist monks in the past was to symbolize, one - a mature, man of virtue; two - well cultivation in the "Fine Arts" as they called it. "Fine Arts" being cultivation of body, mind, qi and attaining high levels of cultivation within it through virtue and moral.

This is interesting because it is in stark contrast to what the Shaolin Monks did with their hair. To them, long hair is quite Yin, and no hair, Yang. By this, they meant lots of hair concealed the Yang. This is also incredibly intriguing because the source of all Yang Qi, which is kinetic, energizing and moving by nature, is the Sun.

By shaving the head, you allow more sun to penetrate the skin directly, which we know now enhaces mitochondrial function from a biochemical perspective. Enhancing this function enhances cellular energy production by way of the krebs cycle which produces ATP, which is certainly a Yang product.

Buddhist monks also shave their heads, but one would shave his head to signify that he has sacrificed his vanity and seeks nirvana. It is largely to signify the giving up of pleasing the ego, which I find ironic in a way because you are symbolizing it for all to see.

Anyhow, contrast this with Hindu monks who would typically have long, matted locks to signify their departure from the norms of society and it's rules. Basically the exact same concept, but with a different hairstyle.

All in all, there are certainly many different takes on hair from a symbolic and biochemical perspective, and it may be interesting to experiment with and see how you feel.