Health and Hygiene

A haircut had to be done on an anointed day. Two siblings would not have a haircut on the same day. A barber would come to the residence of the person who had called for a haircut. In the house they would move to a secluded location and a towel would be wrapped around. The barber would carry a kit containing all necessary equipment which would serve his purpose. Joint families had their own haircut-kits.   

Once the haircut was done, the cut hair was collected and disposed very safely by the hairdresser himself. After it was over, the person who had the haircut was not supposed to touch anything. They would have to go directly to the bathing area or bathroom and wait for some family member to come, pour water thrice on the head of the person. In the bath area, he would have to make a run-through his head and clear off the remnants of the cut hair in the bath area. Then, gargle his mouth with clean water. 

When the person becomes completely wet, the family member would leave the bathing area for him to have a thorough bath. The person would have to remove the clothes and rinse them separately to remove the left-out bits of cut hair and put it in a corner. Once again, the person must have a clean bath with thorough hair wash. After bathing, the person would have to directly go and pray. 

In those days, the hairdresser would be paid in cash with kindness. There were families which would give a gold coin to the barber & family for every Diwali. Also, there were other families which would give him a sack of rice, clothes, or cash. The barber was an important person in the society. 

There were not many styles of haircut during those days. Usually, when people visit a barber, he would normally shave the hair in the front which would allow them to tie a pigtail with the remaining hair behind their head. The style of haircut was dependent on the societal requirements or the geography of a region. Generally, people don’t have haircuts on festival days, auspicious days and on Fridays. 

The health and hygiene were given importance and this was their main reason for having haircuts.