Hair(esy): Hirsute Histories, featuring Gary Waite

In previous years we have had a blog post on this site on the theme of “Hair(esy) and Heresy.” A reason for the post was to publicize Gary Waite’s essay on

• “Early Modern Hair: Religion and Ritualized Belief,” in A Cultural History of Hair, vol. 3: A Cultural History of Hair in the Renaissance (1450-1650), ed. Edith Snook (London: Bloomsbury Academic Press, 2018), 17-37, 159-62.

Reflecting on the research behind the essay, Waite writes:

My recent work on the religious and magical beliefs about hair has revealed to me that something that seems so prosaic can have much deeper meaning. From the late medieval witch with her wild hair to the naked walkers of Amsterdam to the Dutch spiritualist David Joris and to English Puritans, for a few examples, hair signified much more than fashion.

Perhaps my interest in the subject is compensation for having very little of the stuff myself?