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Sampson was a biblical character, a Nazarite, last of the Judges. He could slay a lion and massacre an army of Philistines with only a donkey’s jawbone. But mostly he had great hair. Countless artists have offered their best guess at Sampson’s great hair and while historians may quibble over the details of the exact stylings, everyone thought his hair was great. Just great. Then Sampson lost his hair and strength. Everyone was sad.
I was thinking about Sampson recently because I overheard some heartfelt advice imparted from one generation to the next. An older, wiser man whispered to a much younger man: With great hair comes great responsibility.
Of course, I was familiar with the quote. It was Cicero. Or maybe Spiderman. Either way, I can tell you that it’s high time we consider hair.
Albert Einstein understood the power of hair. You could see his approach to hair right there on his head. Gandhi, on the other hand, walked away from all material things, none more consequential than his hair. We still remember his timeless words of non-violence: a hair for a hair makes the whole world bald.
But most of us live in what Madonna would call “the material world”. Which is maybe why there was a thing called hair bands. Not the elastic things that go in your hair. I’m talking about bands who make music that were known – not for music, but for their hair! Motley Crue, Ratt, Def Leopard, Poison, Twisted Sister, and Whitesnake spring to mind. It was a thing to behold. Or skip. Either way.
The musical “Hair” was also a thing. I never saw it, but I understand that the most famous scene has the cast in the nude. Hmm. Look, I’m no theater critic but… if you put a cast on stage without clothes on, it might detract from their hair. On the other hand, I hear the central theme is essentially older folks yelling at younger folks to “get a haircut!”. That seems pretty timeless.
In the literary world, a lot of authors were known for their hair. Twain, Poe, and others were prone to unkempt/unruly locks. Leo Tolstoy had pretty good hair – but most was on his chin. Fredrick Douglas might win the category. In addition to a streak of off-center white, his hair reached for greatness in both height and width.
The best Hollywood movie about hair has to be “Barbershop” starring Ice Tea. Who could forget the line delivered by Cedric the Entertainer: Your daddy believed that something as simple as a little haircut could change the way a man felt… on the inside. Okay, fine. I guess a lot of people forgot that line. But it’s still great. And still true. (And I do think it’s a great movie.)
Moving on… I generally try to avoid generalizations. Why paint with so broad a brush? Everyone knows that could get a man into trouble. That said… it seems the people who seem to take hair the least seriously are the people whose job is to name hair salons.
I mean, if you took hair seriously would you really name your salon “Hair today, Dye Tomorrow”? No, you wouldn’t. Nor would you name it “Hairs the Place,” “Sheer Delight”, or “Mane Attraction”. I have begrudgingly come to not instinctively hate the well-placed pun. And yet a man can go too far. So, it seems, can a salon.
Skeptics may wonder if this column isn’t just a thinly veiled way to promote my own hair. Alas, alack, no. Would that it were. I am but a man. With a mane, sure. But time waits for no mane. No, no. My best hair is behind me. Sure, those days are glorious memories, cherished by one and all. But these days the best I can do is mix it up.
In closing, let’s remember a passage from J.R.R. Tolkin’s “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”. The exchange is between a heavy-hearted Frodo Baggins and a wise, sympathetic Gandalf the Grey.
Frodo: I wish it need not have happened to my hair.
Gandalf: So, do I. So do all who live to see such hair. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the hair given to us.
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