Hair

Like most symbols, hair has many different meanings depending on the context, but in general, it tends to represent virility, strength, and inspiration—mana, in a word.  

According to biblical history, the hair growing from the head was associated with the soul (cf. Head); at that time, both men and women wore long and well-kept hair. It was a kind of materialization of the soul and, therefore, an expression of inner strength. Having one’s hair cut off was thus humiliating and diminishing. In many cultures, people would cut their hair in times of grief and despair. At the same time, a bald person is like a newborn, an association that recurs in religious and mythological contexts. Unkempt hair symbolizes an unkempt soul, chaos and/or confusion.

Power and Strength

There is a universal belief that hair (including beards) is connected to power—or rather mana. Cutting one’s hair or beard implies a loss of strength; long hair may indicate great mana, and so on.

Vitality and Virility

Hair is also associated with vitality and life force. There has been, or still is, much superstition surrounding hair, and perhaps many children’s resistance to haircuts offers a glimpse into these archetypal notions. (Cutting nails, for comparison, usually doesn’t provoke the same resistance.)  

These associations also include virility. Thick hair, beards, and so on are considered signs of virility across the world, while hair loss is viewed as a loss of the same. (The story of Samson is probably the most famous example of this theme.) Hence, cutting or shaving hair can be associated with castration. Those who choose celibacy symbolically castrate themselves, as illustrated by the fact that monks around the world are often bald.

Baldness

To be bald in a dream can relate to the loss of virility or a fear of losing it. However, it can also signify the beginning of something new—after all, human babies are born without hair (see below).  

Baldness is also associated with aging and illness, so the loss of hair can suggest a loss of health or youth. On an archetypal level, the disappearance of hair can be compared to the sun, which loses its rays as it sets, only to regain them gradually as it rises again.  

Renewal

The symbolism of cutting or shaving hair is closely tied to scalping and flaying and is therefore connected to transformation and renewal (similar to the snake shedding its skin; see Flaying and Scalping). Shaving one’s head is often part of initiation rites into religious or mystical traditions. In a more everyday context, one might visit the barber to manifest a new identity.   

The bald head reminds us of the newborn, who arrives in the world clean and innocent. Thus, baldness can signify rebirth. A common part of the universal motif of the hero being swallowed by a monster is that the hero emerges hairless—burned away by the heat inside the belly (compare Vessel). Note also the widespread use of tonsures among monks.  

Animalism and Demonism

To be very hairy on the body can symbolize that the animalistic aspect of a person is prominent; hair is, after all, a product of the body. For instance, Merlin, in some versions of the tale, is described as excessively hairy—so much so that midwives were frightened by his appearance at birth.  

The demonic is symbolically close to the animalistic. In one of the many legends of the Queen of Sheba, it is revealed that the beautiful woman who charms King Solomon has extremely hairy legs—a sign of demonism, which King Solomon pointedly remarks upon when she carelessly lifts her dress to avoid wetting it. Merlin also carries demonic traits in certain stories.  

In these contexts, shaving symbolizes renouncing one’s animalistic nature and becoming more human. It can also carry a cleansing quality. For example, a man who has lived in the wilderness for an extended period is likely to be long-haired and bearded. Upon reentering civilization, he would presumably bathe, cut his hair, and shave—becoming like a new, civilized person.  

Hairlessness – Spirituality

To clarify the above, hairlessness becomes a symbol of spirituality, whereas its opposite expresses the animalistic nature of humans. Shaving one’s hair and beard thus signifies shedding the animalistic to come closer to the spiritual. It is noteworthy that during the early centuries of Christianity, Jesus was depicted clean-shaven and with short hair, despite the historical man almost certainly having worn a beard.

Persona and Identity  

Because hair is a part of the body that we can shape, hairstyles are used as a means to reflect our personality or, more precisely, our persona. Hair and hairstyles become part of our identity and are often worn with pride. Conversely, it can be frustrating or even depressing when our hair does not align with our self-image or who we want to be.  

Because hair expresses identity and sometimes individuality, it is shaved off in contexts like prison or the military.

Cutting or changing one’s hairstyle is an expression of renewal or transformation. (See below, as well as Barber, and compare Clothing.) In dreams, discovering that you have a different hairstyle than in reality may reflect not being the person or kind of person you believed yourself to be.  

Freedom and Eroticism  

Long hair symbolizes freedom; among the Germanic peoples, it was a mark of freeborn status. Slaves and convicts were shaved. This association persists into modern times, where the long hair of 20th-century youth cultures marked a rejection of conservatism, bourgeois values, and authority.  

Long, flowing hair is associated with sexuality, particularly in women. A woman brushing her hair before a mirror has, across cultures and eras, carried erotic undertones. Historically, women almost always wore headscarves or kept their hair tied up in daily life, while loose hair symbolized freedom and sensuality. Touching or gently caressing someone’s hair is a gesture of affection and eroticism.  

Thoughts and Wisdom  

Since hair grows out of the head, it is sometimes seen as a manifestation of (unconscious) thoughts and insights. The genius with long, unruly hair illustrates his untamed world of ideas, while the young soldier, not expected to speculate, sports short, neatly trimmed hair. Consequently, the beard becomes a symbol of wisdom—after all, a young boy lacking life experience also lacks facial hair.  

Our unconscious influences our surroundings more than our conscious thoughts; hair, as an expression of unconscious thoughts and fantasies, thus takes on a spiritual, perhaps magical, quality. A beard becomes “hair flowing from the mouth,” symbolizing the unconscious “hair” streaming forth as words. (Animus and Anima in Fairy Tales, p. 19.)

In line with hair as a metaphor for thoughts and ideas, the act of washing one’s hair symbolizes a change in mindset, philosophy, or a similar shift. Conversely, cutting hair can symbolize psychological castration, a trimming back of creative output—or, to reverse the image, the pruning of wild, potentially destructive thoughts. Combing hair in this context may symbolize the process of organizing and sorting one’s thoughts.