I’ve often seen a picture in various groups on Facebook. Most of the time it’s with the comments of “creepy”. The concept that women would grow their hair as long as what was shown is foreign to most modern viewers. They are sometimes known as the “Slipshod Sisters” but this was revealed to be fiction. Nothing is really known about the models. The woman on the left could be my Mamaw. She *looks* like my Mamaw.

When she was young her mother did not believe in “taking shears” to hair. Nanny would take her fingers to the length it needed to be and place the match beneath the strands. I’ve often looked in the Bible to find a particular verse endorsing the burning of hair but nothing expressly warrants it.

There are several superstitions regarding the burning of hair:

Throw into the fire a few threads of your hair and if they burn slowly, you will enjoy a long life.

-A love charm! Pluck a thread of your hair, including the root, then burn it and mix the resulting ashes in a beverage for the person you want to love you.

The native tribes also had their beliefs around long hair, as many of their beliefs are tied to the earth and nature. The long hair has symbolic significance tying them to mother earth whose hair is long grasses. Many Native Americans believe their hair is a physical manifestation of the growth of the spirit, and some say it allows for extrasensory perception and connection to all things.

My Mamaw would comb out her beautiful hair every night and then would place it in a neat bun every morning. It was her ritual, and one of the most lovely things I remember among so many precious memories of her. The very opposite of “creepy”.