To leave the locks unshorn during an arduous undertaking in which the divine aid was specially implored, and to consecrate the hair after success, was a practice among various ancient nations, but the closest parallel to the Hebrew custom is found in Arabia?
There the vow was generally one of war or revenge, and, till it was accomplished, the man who vowed left his hair unshorn and unkempt, and abstained from wine, women, ointment and perfume.
At this time unshorn lambs are dipped and dosed with one of Cooper's tablets of sulphur-arsenic dip material to destroy internal parasites.
From the head of a dying person Proserpine was supposed to cut a lock of hair which had been kept sacred and unshorn through life.
On the other hand, in the earliest historical case, that of Samson, and in the similar case of Samuel (who, however, is not called a Nazarite), the head remains unshorn.
