Symbol Watcher

The search for meaning in cultural, artistic and dream imagery

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Hair today, gone tomorrow (I hope)

 
Last night, I dreamt the following:

 I am at a hair salon, sitting low to the ground, but not on the ground. I am facing another woman, who is sitting at my level, but her back is to me. I cannot see her face. The woman has just gotten her hair done by a female stylist. Her hair is a drab, dishwater blonde color and is styled in a very complex way. It is curled and tucked and looped under and out all over her head. It is heavily hair sprayed to hold all the carefully shaped pieces in place.

 Now my perspective has changed and I am no longer eye level with the woman, but standing above her so I can see her hair from all sides. It’s from this angle that I notice the hairspray is laying on her hair in globs and clumps and so it isn’t very attractive. As I move back down to eye level, she turns toward me. I don’t think she’s very pretty. She is plain and her features are not attractive.
 
The woman tells me that she is leaving tomorrow morning to workout and she knows the hairdo will not stay in place. She’s not upset about this. On the contrary, she’s telling me in a “this-is-how-its-gonna-be” way.” She speaks in a tone that tells me her workout is more important than keeping her hairstyle. The woman goes on to tell me she’s flying to New Zealand to workout. I understand she is a frequent traveler; she travels far and is not afraid to do so. I’m a little surprised by this and I realize she is more interesting and of more quality than I first thought.

I know there is a ton of symbolism in this dream and it’s all important to figuring out the exact message my unconscious is trying to tell me. But once again, so I don’t ramble on, I’m going to focus on one of the most crucial symbols in the dream — the woman’s hair.

I imagine there are many of us who’ve had dreams of getting our hair cut short, shaved off, washed, dirtied, curled, straighted, fried, dyed and laid to the side. I know I have, but this is the first dream I’ve ever had where my hair has been styled in such a complicated way.

So what are the symbolic associations for hair on the head? Throughout history, hair has generally been thought to stand for the life force (think Sampson in the Old Testament and the fact that hair continues to grow even after we’ve died). The type of hair can also bring to mind other, more specific associations, including:

  • Shaved hair — submission to God or renunciation of the material world (as with some monks and nuns). Buddha’s head is often portrayed as shaved to symbolize a lack of vanity.
  • Long hair — charismatic holiness and physical strength. Specifically in women it meant the unmarried state, or virginity and I would say long hair still stands for youthful vitality today.
  • Scalping an enemy’s hair — removal of their power. Native American braves would leave a lock of hair on their otherwise bald heads to goad their enemies.
  • Red hair — once held demonic associations
  • Blond hair — stood for solar or kingly power
  • Black hair — denoted earthly authority
  • Dishevelled hair — signaled asceticism
  • Close cropped, curled hair — control and composure

. . . and the imagery can go on and on — especially when we think about our own, individual thoughts and feelings about hair. 

So, what does this woman represent, or say, about me? (We can be fairly certain that anyone in our dreams who is a stranger to us represents an aspect of ourselves we are not yet conscious of.)

Well, I think, she represents a part of me (and I’m embarrassed to say a very big part of me) that has allowed my life force to be shaped into an unnatural form by outside influences and conventional attitudes. That is why the woman’s hair is a boring, dull dishwater blonde color.

I have not allowed my personal power and true way of being to flow freely. As a matter of fact, I’ve allowed my vitality to be so shaped by outside influences, priorities, opinions and conjecture that, as the dream points out, it has to be held together by artificial means (hairspray). It can’t “stick” on its own because it’s not natural.  The woman knows, just like I now know, that the situation literally has to be “worked out.”  And as the workout begins, the tucked in, curled up and plastered down hairdo of a life that I’ve created is going to come undone.

–Writeye

Posted on July 26th, 2008 under Dreams, Jungian Psychology • Tags: . • Print This Post Print This Post • Email This Post Email This Post • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback

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