Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Psychic Haircuts

Our strange blog name has a personal history, but it has come to my attention that the two words are related in another, far more interesting, way. The name Psychic Haircuts originally came from my childhood entrepreneurship, when I wrote on a piece of poster board: "Psychic Readings or Haircuts - 25 CENTS."
However, when I searched for the blog name on google, I stumbled across this article. The basic idea is that your hair is an extension of your nervous system, and if you remove your hair, you remove some of your sensory signals. The example the article uses is Native American trackers in the Vietnam War, and how when they were forced to get buzz cuts, they could no longer access their tracking skills.
Other examples of this occur in mythology. In Sampson and Delilah, Delilah cut Sapmson's hair and he was defeated in battle for the first time ever. Nisus, king of Megara was invincible as long as his magic locks were intact. When his daughter Scylla, who was in love with his enemy King Minos, cut them while he slept, his powers vanished and he was captured by King Minos. Apollo means "golden haired" and "never shorn". In the book series A Song of Fire and Ice by George R. R. Martin, the Dothraki only cut their long braids when they have been beaten in battle. In black magic, a lock of hair is enough to cast a spell in the right direction. Berenice gave her hair to Aphrodite so that her husband might survive battle, Aphrodite accepted and placed them in the sky. Rapunzel's hair symbolized her purity and in the Disney version, used it to heal.
Even today when we leave a bad relationship we have a strange urge to cut off all our hair, as if it will help us to forget. Wearing your hair down symbolizes loose, independent power, and a tight bun means you're in control. Many magicians use their hair to weave spells into, braiding the incantations strength. And after discovering the mythos of hair, I feel perhaps there is something to these psychic haircuts.

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