Hair and Devotion in India

Hair and devotion

When looking at hair and devotion in India, I came across a few points and questions that I wanted to focus on.  I wanted to mainly look at the lengths of hair.  I read in the book that hair itself represents external beauty, and the longer the hair, the more beautiful you are inside.  I also read that different lengths of hair can represent stages in life.  For example, having short hair would represent when you were younger – almost child like.  Having long hair would represent maturity and growing older, reaching towards marriage.

 

I also learnt that it was common for men to shave their heads when there is a death in the family – it is a sign of respect.

 





Keeping hair clean and in good condition is and was important in India, and I read that a 200ml bottle of Pantene conditioner cost 75 rupees which is a days labour.  This really puts things into perspective of how we taken simple things like conditioner for granted.  As it was so expensive it was usually only used on really special occasions such as marriage.

I had actually already decided to choose India as my culture that I wanted to focus my project on.