ABSTRACT In this essay, I am going to examine the material dimensions of hair, both human and animal. The question at stake is, ‘why does hair matter?’ Why, for example, does Orestes leave a lock of his hair at Agamemnon’s tomb in each version of this scene, as staged by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, respectively? Instead of focusing on the ritual and/or symbolic significance of such hair-offerings, I propose that at least part of the answer to why hair matters consists in its unique material properties. Most notably, hair is unlike most of the rest of the human body in that it can be detached without causing bodily harm, but close attention to the physical specificities of hair will also reveal the other features that make hair unique and therefore uniquely suited for Orestes’ purpose in offering it to his dead father. Hair, I will argue, is radically indeterminate: it is both a part and not a part of its human source, it is both human and animal, and it is both a sign of human vitality as well as in possession of a vitality of its own.
Amy Mars (Wed,) studied this question.