A RELIGIOUS HEADSHAVE by shivampandit

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Hi, I am from India, and I belong to traditional family who still believe in old religious customs .I also have straight jet black hair . It was in my teenage in the 1990's that I was informed that I was going to have my 'upanayana'.
It is a Hindu practice which a boy has to undergo around his teenage years. It didn’t bother me much but it gave a shock when I heard from my father that one of those practice involved HEAD SHAVE. I plead not to do it as at that time a shaved head was not so popular among the teenage boys of India. But my father just ignored me and went away. Day after day my worries grew and the date of 2nd June arrived. I was very worried that day and my heart was beating fast; though I had some hope as I never saw my father talking to any barber about it.
Soon the rituals started. A priest was called in to guide the rituals; and I could judge by his facial expression that he was of a strict type. the rituals were getting over one-by-one but still my heart was beating at a fast pace .after about one hour of ritual the priest said “ call the barber now for the next ritual onwards his head needs to be shave” . I nearly had a heart attack after listening this.
Soon a young barber carrying his kit filled with all his equipments came in. I soon recognized him being the new employ of our family barbershop. I was then instructed to go my yard where a chair was placed in the middle . as instructed I sat on it touching my precious hair. The cruel barber took out a straight razor scraped it on a belt to make its blade sharper .then suddenly he was stopped by my father . I felt that my hair can be saved and there was still some hope left. But it proved to be even worst . my father said “ a sikha is to be kept” ( sikha is a hairstyle for Indian Brahmins where the whole head is shaved and a small tuft of hair is left at the back side of the head) it’s a very embarrassing hairstyle and I strongly resisted about it as I imagined myself with a shaved head with a strand of hair dangling at the back . but my father scolded me and alas! I had no choice other than bearing it.
The barber began wetting my hair and soon he placed the sharp edge of the razor on my head and started scraping of my wet hair . he then pulled some strands of hair at the back of my head making it the sikha and shaved the sides of the tuft making the sikha . Soon my back head was as light as cotton and I felt the cool gentle breeze touch the newly shaved scalp. After backside he shaved the left side then the right was shaved and finally the front and middle part. Soon I was left with no hair except for the tuft at the back. I saw about all my hair on the green grass of my yard and felt sorry.
I bathed and I touched my shaved scalp. Without saying a single word I completed all the rituals.
I didn’t talk with anyone that day but later on realized my scalp and somewhat starting to feel good
And thus from that day onwards I gradually became a hair fetish.
{for viewing the picture of a sikha type ‘sikha hairstyle’ in Google images.}

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