Pulling another person's hair is often an expression of rage. Pulling one's own seems an expression of introjected rage or self-punishment. The hair in many cultures is very significant as a covering of the head which is sacred, as a symbol of beauty or of strength. Thus damage to or mutilation of the hair can easily be a castration symbol. Hair is also of significance in states of mourning and grief. With this background in mind, brief reports of sixteen psychiatric cases in which hair pulling or rubbing was important are presented. Depressed, dejected moods were frequent in these cases. Destructiveness, impotence, and other sexual problems were outstanding.