Why Don't Sikhs Cut Their Hair?
Shabad is by Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of the Sikhs in Raag Raamkalee on Pannaa 941 of Guru Granth Sahib, Scripture of Sikhs
ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਰੋਮਿ ਰੋਮਿ ਹਰਿ ਧਿਆਵੈ ॥
Guramukh Rom Rom Har Dhhiaavai ||
The Gurmukh meditates on the Lord with every hair of his body.
Why Do Sikhs Keep Hair
For Sikhs, the hair, is a part of the Sikh uniform and one of the Five Ks. The practice of keeping one's hair and not cutting it started with the founder of the Sikhs, Guru Nanak Dev Ji, and was institutionalized by the rest of the Ten Gurus and finally by the tenth master Guru Gobind Singh Ji. Hair is a natural part of the body and a gift from God that is not to be cut.
Sikhs believe in preserving the human body as given by God. Hair is a part of the natural life. Some may question why Sikhs would cut their nails, but Sikhs only remove the part of the nails that are now not a part of the body. This is similar to combing the hair.
From RealSikhism.com
Q: Why do Sikhs keep hair?
A: This question is frequently asked, “Why do you keep hair?” Hair is a gift from God, therefore why should anyone give it away by cutting it? Hair is one of the five articles of faith for Sikhs. Sikhs live the way God made humans and never cut their hair. For Sikhs hair is the symbol of love for God and the respect for everything He has given us. The way God made us is the most beautiful of all. To Christians, even the Bible says, “God loves us and cares so much about us that even all the hairs of our head has well counted” (Matt.10:30).
Scholarly Sources
Historically, contemporary poets from the time of the tenth master Guru Gobind Singh have made it clear that the Guru had told Sikhs not to cut their hair. Cutting of the hair is one of the taboos of Sikhs, including taking part in intoxicants (such has Hookah or Tobacco), extramarital relationships, eating Halaal meat, and cutting of the hair. A contemporary Sikh poet of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, named Chandra Sain Sainapati, writes in his work Sri GuruSobha, which is even accepted as a contemporary account by so-called "Western historians" who call themselves "skeptical scholars"
ਚੌਪਈ
ਹੱਕਾ ਤਿਆਗ ਹਰਿ ਗੁਨ ਗਾਵੈ
ਇਛਾ ਭੋਜਨ ਹਰਿ ਰਸੁ ਪਾਵੈ
ਭੱਦਰ ਤਿਆਗ ਕਰੋ ਰ ਭਾਈ
ਤਬ ਸਿਖਨ ਯਹ ਬਾਤ ਸੁਨਾਈ
ਮਾਤਿ ਪਿਤਾ ਮਰੇ ਜੇ ਕੋਈ
ਤਉ ਭੀ ਕਰਤ ਨ ਭੱਦਰ ਹੋਈ
ਮਾਤਾ ਪਿਤਾ ਗੋਬਿੰਦ ਹਮਾਰਾ
ਏ ਸੰਸਾਰ ਝੂਠ ਪਸਾਰਾ
Sikhs rejected useless practices such as Bhaddar where one would ritualistically shave their head off after a family member would pass away. Sikhs do not believe in uselessly cutting of the hair when it is a part of the body.
Sikh scholar, Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha, in his Sikh Encyclopedia writes: ਸੰ. ਕੇਸ਼. ਸੰਗ੍ਯਾ- ਸਿਰ ਦੇ ਰੋਮ. "ਕੇਸ ਸੰਗਿ ਦਾਸ ਪਗ ਝਾਰਉ." (ਗੂਜ ਮਃ ੫) ਕੇਸ, ਅਮ੍ਰਿਤਧਾਰੀ ਸਿੰਘਾਂ ਦਾ ਪਹਿਲਾ ਕਕਾਰ (ਕੱਕਾ) ਹੈ. ਦੇਖੋ, ਮੁੰਡਨ। ੨. ਕ (ਜਲ) ਦਾ ਈਸ਼. ਵਰੁਣ. ਜਲਪਤਿ। ੩. ਫ਼ਾ. [کیش] ਕੇਸ਼. ਤ਼ਰੀਕ਼ਾ. ਰਿਵਾਜ. ਦਸ੍ਤੂਰ। ੪. ਆਦਤ. ਸੁਭਾਉ। ੫. ਧਰਮ. ਮਜਹਬ। ੬. ਖ਼ਲੀਜ ਫ਼ਾਰਸ ਵਿੱਚ ਇੱਕ ਟਾਪੂ.
This means hair is one of the first of the Five K's and is part of the Sikh spirituality.
Professor Puran Singh, a major Sikh poet and philosopher writes in his book, Spirit Born People in a passage entitled Under a Hank of Hair
The Guru has buried the disciples under heaps of grass. He has concealed His handicraft in a hank of hair. Very irrational, they say. Possibly very superstitious. but superstitions preserve the life sparks more effectively than the reason of man. In the fleecy clouds is lightening. In our superstition of hanks of hair there is truth of His burning bosom divine. Christ in his Bride-braids is certainly more beautiful even as a man, as a woman-born, than a cleanshaven modern American face which is more in the image of the Dollar than of the sweet Jesus who is the comfort of so many distressed souls. The pendulum would swing. Fashions would give way to Love again. God would replace the Dollar, or elsewhere shall be the Man's Art, which is more of that lyrical leisure divine, of soul, of love. This haste, this machine-like man is far removed from His self, the Great Guru love. Our truth, unlike that of the old Brahman, is not of any mathematical balance of an endless denying of things. Our Truth is not a problem solved. Our Truth is but a lotus and the bee buzing about, the cloud and the rain-bird crying for that pearl-like drop of life, the swan and the lake, the child and the mother, the cow and the calf. Our hymns centre round these metaphors and all human suffering is vindicated in a moment of this transitory Union, even if it be after ages. Meeting Him dispels all sorrow, but it is all sorrow without Him. His absence is as holy as His presence.
