His tresses had to be braided for football games so it wouldn’t get pulled underneath his helmet. He had to stand still in the mornings while his mom brushed the tangles out and styled it into a neat pony tail. Nipa’s long hair hasn’t come without inconvenience at times. “We all had bobs,” said Monalisa, an attorney. They wept as their hair fell into a large heap on the ground. That’s when her father died, and she, her mother and her 10 sisters cut their hair as part of the funeral ritual. Nipa’s mom, Monalisa, said her hair hung past her waist until March. “I never wanted to go with the flow,” he said. Still Siosaia kept his ponytail, even while preaching at the Methodist church where he is a pastor. Then he entered a profession with an even more conservative look – the ministry. He worked as a probation officer for 15 years and his colleagues gave him a hard time about his long hair. Siosaia said only love for his son could send him to the barber’s chair. “I like how it looks.”ĭuring the studio photo shoot, Nipa and Siosaia posed together, their long hair fanned around them. None of their sons had haircuts as babies but by preschool, their oldest and youngest boys wanted short hair to fit in with other kids. Their three sons and daughter were born in the United States. Siosaia and his wife, Monalisa, say in Tongan culture, hair is the crown of the body and an important element in customs. I told him as a father, I will walk with him.” “He’s going through with it, with difficulty. “I want my son to follow the rules,” Siosaia, 49, said Tuesday as the family of six gathered at Sears for a last, long-haired family portrait. Then they would donate their hair to Locks of Love, a nonprofit that gives wigs to children with cancer or other medical conditions. His dad, Siosaia, promised to chop off his grey-streaked locks that hadn’t been trimmed in 25 years. Nipa’s parents, natives of the Pacific Island of Tonga, agreed it was time for their son to get a haircut – his first ever.īut 8-year-old Nipa wouldn’t sit under the shears alone. Paul’s Lutheran School in Orange by at least 12 inches. #Longest hair men codeBut his thick, dark mane violated the dress code at St. The students’ reaction last week didn’t bother Nipa. A classmate gave him a funny look, staring at Nipa’s long, wavy ponytail draping to the middle of his back. On his first day of third grade at his new school, Nipa Tuitahi walked into the boys’ bathroom.
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