Happy Hair Day (date lost.)

There was a news item concerning a survey revealing that the happiest people were hairdressers, and happiest of all were Icelandic hairdressers. The paragraphs I dictated on this topic are the first that I have lost from the computer. Well there has to be a first time for everything! The date is lost in the mists of time, not to mention the Great Drain Blockage, but the topic is too relevant to be lost. Of course it was treated as a comic item with an interviewer quizzing an Icelandic hairdresser on her level of happiness, but in fact the finding is quite explicable with reference to the fact that Homo sapiens is essentially an ape. Apes groom each other's hair because this provides benefits to both the groomer and groomee: release of tension, the comfort of physical contact and closeness, security etc. The hairdresser gets these benefits, unconsciously, throughout her working day, whereas most of the rest of us are forced into a working life with little physical contact and often much tension. It was Morris in The Naked Ape I think who first suggested that gossip had taken the place of grooming for Homo sapiens and so began the obscuring and denial of the reality of physical grooming among human beings.

In many societies and cultures, past and present, elaborate treatment of the hair is a cultural norm, and usually involves interactive behaviour. It is likely that one of the reasons for the evolution of fancy hairstyles was the excuse it provided for the "grooming" activity of fixing someone else's hair. If you, my imaginary reader, would analyse your own sensations and experiences at the hairdresser (or barber) I think you'll find confirmation of my proposition.

For further discussion of this topic see under Updates and Critiques ?

Primate Psychology: Grooming and Gossip.