Cutting Hair! Not doing it!

• Hair symbolizes the strength of community: single strands are weak and easily broken, whereas a braid of many strands together is strong.
• During the period of forced assimilation of many Native American people in the USA and Canada in the 1800s, the governments of these countries forced the indigenous people to assimilate, and they removed children to off-reservation boarding schools. There they were forced to abandon their traditional clothing, languages, and their long hair. Cutting the hair stripped the people of their culture and identity, enforcing the dominance of the white government. Even today, some schools and workplaces do not allow long hair on any boys or men as part of their grooming codes – including Native Americans.
• While preparing for tribal ceremonies, much care is taken in grooming, styling, and the ornamentation of hair, and these are guided by the traditions and values of the family and the tribe, as well as creative self-expression. This includes potentially wearing one, two, or three braids; painting the hair; or adornment with beadwork, feathers, fur, silver, or other items.
• Braiding one’s child’s hair represents nurturing and intimacy. It is also common in pow-wows to see tribal members brushing and braiding each other’s hair.
• Touching the hair of another without permission is considered to be disrespectful, and even asking permission to do so is taboo, particularly for the hair of children and elders.
• Many tribes cut their hair while grieving the death of an immediate family member, or to signify a traumatic event or a major life change. Cutting the hair at these times represents the time spent with the deceased loved one and it’s ending; it can also represent a new beginning.
• Cut hair is never thrown away by Native Americans – this is considered to be disrespectful. Instead, it is treated with the respect it deserves: ceremonially burned with sage or sweetgrass, releasing the hopes, prayers, thoughts, and dreams of the owner to the Creator.