? on girl's haircut

[Tinkermommy]

My neighbors are originally from India. They have a son who is 9 and a daughter who is 7. They go back for most of the summer so I didn't see the kids until the first day of school.

The little girl got a hair cut and it is short, as short or shorter than her brothers! She had beautiful hair. It was shoulder length when I last saw her and had just a slight curl. I am really kind of sad to see her with this extremely short hair.

I do see a lot of little Indian girls with this haircut, but they all seem to be younger (3-5 year range).

So, can anyone tell me if there is a religious or cultural reason they cut little girls hair so short?

I don't know the mom very well. She never comes to the bus stop and I don't know if I would ask her anyway so I thought I would ask the experts at the DIS.

 

[Juliegirl1]

I just read something about this the other day. Some cultures will cut off - even shave a young girl's hair (I think it was mostly Asian cultures and they did it mostly to babies) because they believe it will grow back thicker and more luxurious than it was before. However from what I recall reading it doesn't necessarily work....

 

[HM]

When something like that happens, I immediately think that maybe they had gum in their hair and had to get it cut out, necessitating a haircut, or that the child cut their own hair (she's a bit old for that, usually see it in 3-5 yr olds) and it had to be 'repaired' by a short cut.

 

[scrapquitler]

My DD had pretty long hair when she was about 6, and I cut it very short (think Tink) simply because she would not brush it or let me brush it, and it was always a tangled mess. So we cut it, and never had tangles Could be the same thing with the neighbor girl.

Or maybe they had lice and Mom figured it was easier to comb nits out of short hair (my SIL cut my nieces elbow length hair when niece got lice)

 

[luvmy3]

Maybe she wanted the pixie cut thats making a re-appearance in Hollywood. Or maybe she donated to Locks of Love, or had gum in it or lice. Or maybe it is a cultural thing, who knows.

 

[seven dwarfs]

I used to work in a salon in a mall in our town. We have a lot of clients from India. It is a cultural thing. I have shaved a many little girls heads. It was hard for me to do this and most of the little girls cried the entire time. I never understood what the purpose was.

 

[scrapquitler]

.I did some googling, and based on what I found, I think it is a religous thing:


Chudakarana
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The Chudakarana (Sanskrit: चूड़ाकरण, Cūḍākaraṇa) (literally, arrangement of the hair tuft) or the Mundana (literally, tonsure), is the eighth of the sixteen Hindu saṃskāras (sacraments), in which a child receives his/her first haircut.

According to the Grhya Sutras, this samskara should take place at the end of first year or before the expiry of the third year, but the later authorities extend the age to the seventh year.[1] The child’s hair is shorn, frequently leaving only the śikhā or cūḍā, a tuft at the crown of the head.

Originally, the arrangement of the śikhā was the most significant feature of the Chudakarana and the number of tufts was determined by the number of the pravaras belonging to the gotra of the child. Later, in northern India, keeping only one tuft became universal. But in the Deccan and southern India, earlier traditions remained alive to some extent.[2]

In tradition, the hair from birth is associated with undesirable traits from past lives. Thus at the time of the mundan, the child is freshly shaven to signify freedom from the past and moving into the future. The rite is performed as a special ceremony in most homes, for young girls and boys.

At Rishikesh, on the banks of the Ganges, there is a special chudakarana or mundana samskara. In this ceremony, along with cutting and shaving hair, Vedic mantras and prayers are chanted by trained priests, acharyas and rishikumaras. The child's head is shaven and the hair is then symbolically offered to the holy river. The child and his/her family then perform a sacred yajna ceremony and the Ganga Aarti.

 

[KathyTX]

Do a google search on "mundan"- this will explain the significance of the traditional first haircut.

Mundan (the first hair cut): This sanskara is performed typically during the first or third year of age when the child’s original, first hair growth is shaved, frequently leaving only the shikha on the top/in the back. According to the sages, the hair from birth is associated with undesirable traits from past lives. Thus at the time of the mundan, the child is freshly shaven to signify freedom from the past and moving into It is also said that the shaving of the hair stimulates proper growth of the brain and nerves.

 

[Tinkermommy]

Thanks for the info! I thought it would related to a religious or cultural ceremony.

She just seemed a little old for it and it definitely wasn't her first haircut since she used to have bangs.

I know it will grow back, but she had such thick beautiful hair.

I also got a bad short haircut when I was young and the kids at school said I looked like a boy, so I probably have some flashbacks from that as well!

 

[bookgirl]

If she was India for the summer, she might have just wanted really short hair for comfort. I think we tend to forget that in other countries air conditioning is not the norm. Also depending on how rural or what class they are, in the houseing they stayed in the water situation may have been low and water for washing long hair a luxery.

 

[JennyKS]

I work with someone from India and he goes back every other year. Every time he comes back his head is shaven.

 

[asta]

My mom worked in a school office for years and she always said that anytime a student came to school with all of their hair cut off that they all assumed that it was head lice. It is much easier to get rid of lice if you get rid of the hair.

This is probably not the case with this little girl. I seem to have read a story about Indians who shave their head as part of a ritual before visiting a special temple. The story talked about how this hair finds its way into wigs and hair pieces in this country.