Hair

Hair grows out of you like a quiet statement. It is dead, biologically speaking — and yet it is the most alive thing visible about you. It shows you every day how you are doing. Not in words, but in shine, fullness, texture, fall. Sometimes it carries a strength you yourself no longer feel. Sometimes it hangs down wearily, long before you admit to yourself that you are weary.

The medical perspective explains hair as skin appendages, keratin, follicles, hormonal and genetic influences. That is true — and still does not explain why so many people intuitively know that hair is more than a protein fibre. It is no coincidence that in virtually every culture, hair has been linked to strength, dignity, identity, sexuality, and spirituality. From the biblical Samson to traditions in which hair is cut to take power or show grief.