Hair pulling in ancient literature - Part Three: Epictetus

Epictetus (AD c. 55-135) the Ancient Greek stoic philosopher made an interesting mention of hair pulling in his writings. In The Discourses, Book 3, Chapter 1 (Of finery in dress) he is concerned with human vanity and fashion. It begins with, ‘A certain young man, a rhetorician, came to see Epictetus, with his hair dressed more carefully than was usual and his attire in an ornamental style.’ What follows is a philosophical statement on human nature and an affirmation of rationality as the one aspect above all others to be cultivated in a man. For Epictetus this is to be held more dear than mere appearances, such as how a person’s hair is worn. In short, a man should be more than decoration. In pursuing this point Epictetus takes issue with men who seek be what they are not, i.e., hairless.  He argues: 

And in a man it is monstrous not to have hair; and if he has no hair, he is a monster; but if he cuts off his hairs and plucks them out, what shall we do with him? where shall we exhibit him? and under what name shall we show him? I will exhibit to you a man who chooses to be a woman rather than a man. What a terrible sight! […] Indeed I think that the men who pluck out their hairs do what they do without knowing what they do. Man what fault have you to find with your nature? That it made you a man? What then? was it fit that nature should make all human creatures women?

The message is clear: a man or woman must be content with what they are and not seek to be what nature has not intended them to be. Such advice might be of more benefit to someone labelled with body dysmorphic disorder rather than trichotillomania. But what is of note in the above passage is the idea that hair pulling can occur unconsciously or ‘without knowing’. Normal grooming is understood as a premeditated action but hair extraction that is not appears to indicate a nature at even greater disharmony with itself. For Epictetus hair pulling, and perhaps unconscious hair extraction most of all, would seem to constitute a mode of self-negation borne of deeply embedded shame towards a sexual characteristic.