Why don’t Sikhs get a haircut and trim their beards?

There was a case in Canada where a Sikh showed up at home clean shaven and with a haircut, and when asked why, said that a bunch of Canadians beat him up and cut his beard and hair from various places. In order to fix that he was left with no option but to get a haircut and shave. The parents went to the police, and after investigation it was found that the guy was lying, to which he later admitted.

This is the height of desperation that can be found among modern Sikhs. I’m sure hair in a turban does not feel comfortable, so the question is, why do Sikhs not get a haircut and shave or at least shape their beards properly. Is it because Guru Nanak said so. Even if he did, he was only a Guru and not a Prophet, so why does what he says have so much importance. Another question is that why are Sikhs allowed to remove hair on the body if they are not allowed to do so elsewhere. One version I have heard is that Guru Nanak said, “Take care of your ‘bal’ as in ‘bal-bachche’ (kids) and not hair. What do Sikhs have to say about this?

Is there some kind of punishment in Sikhism for getting a haircut and trimming the beard. Will Sikhs burn in hell for doing so?


58 thoughts on “Why don’t Sikhs get a haircut and trim their beards?”

  1. Dear all, I am going thru all the contents of this blog and am pained to see how the people are speaking of the Fifth International Highest scientific religion of the World (SIKH RELIGION). Kindly give a pause and try to perceive the truth. May be the person who has posted the article is a Non-Sikh who is not aware of the facts and he should be given the knowledge of the religion in a positive way ,in a Humble and submissive way so that he may realize the truth and do not speak ill of the religion.

    SIKH Religion was started by the Ist Guru Shri Guru Nanak Dev ji only when he observed that their are mythological whims and many deficiencies prevailing in the society.The religion has ten Gurus and at last the Main Sri Guru Granth Sahib which has the compilations of the teachings of the Gurus.

    Now legally to define a SIKH is that Any person who believes in the Ten Gurus and Shri Guru Granth Sahib and declares that he has NO OTHER RELIGION is a SIKH.

    Broadly their are two divisions of SIKHS one who par take the honorable AMRIT initiated by the TENTH GURU SRI GURU GOBIND SINGH JI and adheres to 5 K’s( Signs- KACH,KADA,KIRPAN,KESH,KANGA) are termed as AMRITDHARI SINGHS and others who are marching towards the above category and preparing themselves to take Amrit are all termed broadly as SEHAJDHARI SIKHS.

    SEHAJDHARI SIKHS are the often clean shaven or keep hairs but they are non-baptized Sikhs who have not taken the AMRIT.

    The AMRITDHARI SIKH is also termed as KHALSA or SINGH and he has to follow the rules of the Guru which are the transgressions- 1:He should not cut his hairs from any part of the body 2: He should not use tobacco in any form 3: He should not consume meat (Halal). He should not co-habitat with any person other than his/her spouse. These are the Bugger Kurahits or sins .If any AMRITDHARI SINGH commits any one of these Sins or transgressions he becomes a PATIT.

    Any Amritdhari Singh if becomes a Patit he has to apologise and again partake Amrit.

    Sehajdhari Sikhs are not PATITS as they have not taken Amrit. But they are the blooming buds of sikhism who prepare themselves for taking Amrit.

    Dear All I have just tried to bring out the clean picture of a SIKH any how I am a human and Human error is apologised. Kindly bear with me .We are members of the Sehajdhari Sikh Federation(SSF) which is a registered Political Party in India under the leadership of Dr.Paramjeet Singh Ranu the National President of SSF and now we are trying to propagate the mission of SIKHISM to widen the thought of Guru Nanak Dev Ji for World Peace.

    My dear Muslim Brother I hope you will not mind my words as I have a great respect for Kuran,Bible and Geeta but I worship Sri Guru Granth Sahib as I am a SIKH though Sehajdhari Sikh.

    Kindly try to understand the true feelings of the religion.These are only the vested Fascist forces which are dividing religions.Muslims have been divided into sheya’s and Sunni’s,Christians into Catholics and protestants,Sikhs into Amritdhari and Sehajdharis. We all are HUMANS first.Let us unite and be positive and create a sense of love and affection in the society this is what religion teaches us. Have a great life Thanks to all and SAT SHRI AKAL ji. AMRIT DHARI VIRO JE KOI GALTI HOVE TA KHIMA DI JACHAK HA JI

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  2. I know this thread is old but this is something I deal with, Im sikh and im only 13 😐 I havent cut my hair and usually keep it in a braid, My parents do not allow me to cut my hair. Every day I come to school I see people with nice medium length hair or short hair. I get questions alot about why I dont cut my hair. It gets annoying. At night sometimes when I cant sleep I think of what my life would be like if I cut my hair. I would do anything if my parents would be open minded and let me cut my hair. and you know what sucks? Im one out of 3 indian kids at my school! The other 2 are also sikh but they have caught there hair, oh how i envy them. But not cutting my hair hasnt ruined my social life very much. I have plenty of friends everyone knows me and school isnt so bad. But I still wish so much I could get a haircut. I do run into racists at my school who hate anyone who isnt there race and hey im an easy target 😐 My best friend is white not indian. My parents dont understand what its like, they were raised in india and had people who were more like them. I repect my faith but I have to say I really wish it was different or atleast had someone more like me to talk to about things.

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  3. Sikh women are also supposed to dress modestly, like Muslim and Hindu women. As for killing daughters is concerned, I don’t know if Sikhs do it or not, but I think it’s more common amongst Muslims than in people of other religions (honour killing, for example).

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  4. @Harjit: I know that Muslim girls are supposed to be covered. My reply was only to your comment mentioning that you don’t see Muslim girls with fashionable haircuts and skirts anytime soon. If there is news in the media that a Sikh killed his daughter, no one sits down to contemplate whether he is a true Sikh or not.

    Regards.

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  5. mohammed: i wouldn’t exactly say that, i probably know much more about what’s going on in the world than you. And as i said in my comment before, daughter’s are very precious to Sikhs and if a person claims to be a Sikh and kills his/her daughter then they’re not a true Sikh; as they are opposing the SGGSJ. And so you obviously seem to agree that having a fashionable haircut and wearing a skirt is much more important than following your religion, because as far as i know Muslim girls are meant to be completely covered and try to show the minimal amount of their flesh.
    I have no happiness in arguing with you, so this is my kind request, can you please stop repeating the same thing over and over again and THINK about what you say. Thank you. 😀

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  6. Someone here said that girls in France don’t shave their under-arm hair. I don’t think it’s true. However, I know that in China and Taiwan, most women don’t shave their under-arms (you can see their armpits whenever they wear short-sleeved dresses).

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