There were three general methods of removing hair. In ordinary practice any one might be used, but because of certain religious beliefs one way was sometimes used to the exclusion. of others. The first, and perhaps most natural way to remove hair, was to pull it out. It was a severe test of a warrior's courage to have his excess hair pulled out one hair at a time, but it was not half as bad as to have it yanked out by the fistful. Just how it did feel was told me by my Wichita interpreter.
He had been courting two sisters and could not decidewhich he liked the best, as both were tall, powerfulwomen who could work in the fields and cook in thelodge with great excellence. For many moons he hadtested their cooking, until at last they grew wearywith suspense. Finally they decided that the youngman had wanted food more than he had wanted a wife.This was wrong; the man was not a natural warrior.It must be his hair that was to blame; it was not cutin proper style. With this belief, when the youth hadcalled one evening and proposed to each maiden withequal ardor, both girls rushed upon him and knockedhim down. Then they literally sat upon him. One cushioned herselfupon his thighs where she could pummel his stomach and the othersat upon his chest, from which vantage point she began to pluck outhis hairs one by one, calling upon him to be brave like his ancestorsand not wince at having his hair cut in ancient style. When all wasfinished he looked like a warrior indeed, and he had blood in hiseye. All ardor had left his heart and he turned his back on the maidenswho had so kindly trimmed him. "It hurt most mightily awful," he said. And his remark explains how every warrior felt when his hair was plucked out. Some have said, however, that when the custom is kept up from childhood, the nerves become accustomed to the shock and little pain is experienced.
For plucking out hair the Indians had tweezers of wood or pinchers made by the shell of a fresh-water mussel, which had a natural spring hinge. This was easily held in .the hand and its sharp lips would cut into the hair at its roots so that it was easily "gnawed off."
True cutting, or rather shaving, was done by means of flint or obsidian (volcanic glass) knives and razors. These were long flakes chipped from a cylindrical core. They were very sharp and cut with great efficiency. The obsidian razors of the Mexicans were particularly useful, and as many as twenty to forty might be struck from one cylinder. They had the advantage of having a rustless edge. Those that have been found cut as well to-day as when originally made. When they became dulled through use (by having the edge nicked and smoothed by the hair) they could not be resharpened, but were thrown away or reworked into small arrowheads.
Another method requiring greater skill was sometimes employed. This was burning the hair from the head by use of tapers or hot stones. The eastern woodland Indians often used this way of getting their hair "cut."
The singeing process was aided by the use of a comb, much as it is by modern barbers. The comb was shoved under the hair and the taper applied. The singeing-stones were long flat pieces of rock that would not explode when heated to a dull red. The cool end was wrapped in a piece of skin and the hot end rubbed over the hair. Where the hair was long it was grasped, held upright and the stone applied as near the roots as was comfortable.
After cutting or singeing hair, the scalp was rubbed with oils and even perfumes. Bear oil was the 'standard' hair dressing in many localities, though buffalo fat, sunflower oil, and deer tallow were not despised.
From the Indian How Book by Arthur C. Parker
