Suddenly that Bowl Haircut Makes Sense.

February 2, 2008

Note: Thanks for those that read this and told me about some much needed corrections!

For the last few Kazak lessons, my tutor and I have been discussing Kazak culture and how it differs from American Culture. This is great because I am able practice my speaking and listening skills, and at the same time we have an interesting cultural exchange. Yesterday, one thing that came up was the traditional Kazak haircut that I like to call the “locket.” It involves shaving the kids head except for a single lock of hair on the back of the head for boys or two locks of hair on the sides for girls. According to my tutor, the reason for this haircut was that it helped protect the child from illness. The only time you still see this haircut is in movies about Genghis Khan, but in the old days people actually believed that if someone looked at the face of a beautiful child too much, the child would become sick. Thus, they cut their hair this strange way so that the person would look at their hair and not at the kid. At first I thought this idea was rather strange. After all, even if they are only looking at the haircut, they are still looking the kid. I realize now though that we have a similar haircut in America, the bowl cut. What other explanation for that horrible haircut can you come up with? If easiness and convenience were the issue, why not just give the kid a buzz cut. No, the fact of the matter is those parents were trying to protect their children from “eye energy.” I am pretty sure that x-ray vision only exists in the comic books, but regardless, I am glad that my mom did not give me a protective haircut. I understand and appreciate the cultural traditions and belief behind the “locket,” but for kids, risking sickness from the evil eye is much less harrowing than the risk of ridicule from their peers.