Newborns hair shaved

[PigFaceForever]

I read in a barbers shop window a sign which said, 'newborns hair cut here'.

I googled it and in some Asian cultures they shave the newborns hair. So now I'm curious. Would that not damage the quality of the baby's hair once it grew back? If a baby was born with no hair, would that be a disappointment to the parents?

I really never knew this was a custom in some cultures and I'm now fascinated by it!

@Leilala

This isn’t an Islamic thing but cultural. Mainly Asian Muslims do it, and it’s the weight in gold to charity.

Good job we don’t- would have been an insulting donation from DS, was born almost completely bald. Was 18 months before he had hair- now he has an Afro!

It IS an Islamic practise: islamqa.info/amp/en/answers/334 but that is not to say it's exclusive to Muslims.

It’s a Hindu practice too and I think it’s wonderful

Not something we did, but I see sense in it. The first hair they are born with falls out and is replaced by ‘permanent’ hair. The new yair that comes in can sometimes be a completely different colour or texture. I remember there was always hair all over the cradle/bassinet bedding at that stage. It was like a monkey had moulted. Shaving it would have avoided this I guess.

I remember speaking to an Asian lady at mamas and papas when my eldest had just been born. He had a full head of hair from the get go (it didn't fall out), and she told me that in her culture they shave their heads when born to get rid of "womb hair". It has always stuck with me! I suppose we all have our traditions don't we!

I come from a culture that encourages shaving of a baby's head - the "cleanliness" thing is what in laws said to me - implying that the baby was somehow not clean and needed spiritual purification made me furious.

I didn't cut a hair on her beautiful and pure head. She smelled like vanilla cake. The smell of an angel. The smell that sometimes is still buried deep in her hair.

@Wednesdayafternoon

I remember speaking to an Asian lady at mamas and papas when my eldest had just been born. He had a full head of hair from the get go (it didn't fall out), and she told me that in her culture they shave their heads when born to get rid of "womb hair". It has always stuck with me! I suppose we all have our traditions don't we!

Yup this - I was told in deep earnestness by one woman member of my family that that the baby is unclean because it passes through a woman's vagina. Imagine my face.

Things is that we all come from different cultures and they have different cultural traditions. Many of the traditions around sex, marriage, birth and early childcare have elements of control of women built into them. Many women like myself who come from those traditions but who are in a position of choice, reject the customs that feel restrictive or censorious. Others will defend the customs.

@Leilala this has an Islamic aspect to it. Other non-Muslim Asian may also have this within their culture, but Muslim Asians do it because it's religious, we then weigh and give in charity. My first barely had any hair, but that didn't stop us giving in charity, we always give more than what's actually weighed due to happiness, gratefulness and the belief that charity does not decrease wealth

@ExtraPlinky

Things is that we all come from different cultures and they have different cultural traditions. Many of the traditions around sex, marriage, birth and early childcare have elements of control of women built into them. Many women like myself who come from those traditions but who are in a position of choice, reject the customs that feel restrictive or censorious. Others will defend the customs.

Oops posted before I was ready - yes many women will defend the customs that feel important to them. But ideally a woman would have a choice and not be pressured by family.

I also personally felt that the vernix needed to be preserved to help the baby's skin - and that a baby's head is a sensitive and precious area that needed cradling and the idea of anything sharp near it would have had me wrestling the hair cutter to the floor!

It isn’t a South Asian thing, it has its basis in religious purity, the head/hair is significant in a lot of religions. We do Kesi Dahi as hair is precious and musn’t be cut.

I was told in deep earnestness by one woman member of my family that that the baby is unclean because it passes through a woman's vagina.

Imagine my face.

Oh. I should have known there'd be a misogynist angle to it somewhere.

@BrambleRoses

Blimey DS was bald as a coot at birth and still is at 14 months! wouldn’t have had anything to give to charity.

Often bald babies have very luxurious hair later on ..Not sure why this is.. Just personal observation. It was a spud as a baby and so was DH..Son also barely no hair... but all of us have thick hair now {and the men no baldness at all}

So is it a myth you should have your hair cut every 6 weeks to make it grow longer?

Yes. A lucrative myth as far as hairdressers are concerned.

I remember as a kid in Australia in the 60s and 70s some Southern European migrants did this.

@PearPickingPorky

I was told in deep earnestness by one woman member of my family that that the baby is unclean because it passes through a woman's vagina.

Imagine my face.

Oh. I should have known there'd be a misogynist angle to it somewhere.

Yeah, there would be, wouldn't there?

Although I imagine like a lot of customs, the misogynistic angle is more important/well-known depending on who you ask (and some people don't realise the implications)

Same with western traditions: there will be misogynistic angles to customs around marriage, some people actively believe in these (e.g. a wife must be subservient to her husband), while others are completely oblivious to them (e.g. they just like the aesthetics of a white dress, and don't realise it's a symbol of virginity, they change their name because it's "tradition", and don't realise it means transfer of ownership from father to husband, etc.)

The hair baby is born with falls off in a very weird way in a few months time. Literally lumps or like a cat who is heavily shedding their fur!

HelloDulling is right. Having a trim every 6 weeks doesn’t help it grow. The only reason to get your hair cut is to maintain a particular style that starts to lose its shape if it grows too long or to get raggedy ends trimmed if it’s long. This 6 week thing is a fantastic way of extracting money from people who wouldn’t otherwise think to go to the hairdressers so often.

The islamic idea of the first act of charity is very lovely.

This had been an interesting read as I am white & was born with tonnes of hair. It never fell out and I had my first hair cut at a few months old. My mum was furious because whilst it wasn't shaved, her (white male hairdresser) cut it really severely, practically cropped it "to help it grow back really thick".

I do have very thick hair but I don't think that was down to the hair cut as my mum's family all have thick hair on her mum's side and it was obvious from early on I'd be the same! The hair cut probably helped it to grow back nice and even though; whilst there was lots of it before it maybe wasn't as even? DP and I both have thick hair and we both have wavy hair too. Really hope any DC inherit my mum's hair which is thicker still but naturally poker straight lucky bitch.

Why would cutting hair damage hair? Has it ever damaged yours?

@foxgoosefinch

DD was born with a lot of dark hair - it fell out around 3 months and grew back in white-blonde! I don’t know if this is widespread but the baby’s first hair may not stay anyway so it probably doesn’t make much difference to the hair itself. Certainly DD’s fell out unevenly so for a while she had blonde hair on top, a bald section and then a little ring of dark hair like a monk’s tonsure around the bottom of her head. It looked sweet but very weird 🤣

Mine was the same. Born with black hair, fell out, grew in white blonde then turned dark again at puberty