Popular customs, myths, ceremonials and other productions, establish hair as a phallic symbol. Strict taboos connected with cutting hair is an example. The myth of Samson who became powerless when his locks were shorn, is found with a few modifications in fables and mythologies throughout the world. A connection is often found between the plucking out of hair by mental patients and psychosexual problems, particularly the castration complex. The appearance of hair on the body coincident with sexual development is probably responsible for this cathexis. Graying hair being associated with old age and somatosexual decadence, sudden or premature graying of hair may variously express the resolution of a castration complex, unconscious suicidal ideas, identification with a parent, etc.