{"id":7479,"date":"2018-08-22T07:00:48","date_gmt":"2018-08-22T07:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fightfastvideos.com\/blog\/?p=7479"},"modified":"2021-04-01T16:23:25","modified_gmt":"2021-04-01T16:23:25","slug":"hand-scalping-by-mark-hatmaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fightfastvideos.com\/blog\/2018\/08\/22\/hand-scalping-by-mark-hatmaker\/","title":{"rendered":"Hand Scalping by Mark Hatmaker"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Let's Talk About Hair-Pulling<\/h4>\nThere is a surprisingly long history of hair-pulling in combat history, both sportive and on the battlefield. Today we'll confine ourselves to sportive instances of what we now perceive to be unsportsmanlike behavior.\n\nCombat hair-pulling, or pugna capillos trahens<\/em>, if you'd like to gussy it up a bit with Latin, or even get a bit more primal with the Comanche tso'ya naraut'u<\/em> (literally \"hair fight\") was permitted in more than a few organized endeavors, and in some cases, out and out encouraged...\n

A Quick Aside<\/h4>\nBefore we continue, if anyone doubts the efficacy of hair-pulling in sportive combat, please stretch the memory back to UFC 3 with the iconic match between the up-to-that-point mighty dominant Royce Gracie and the pony-tailed behemoth that was Kimo Leopold. Royce gamely takes the \"W\" in that match, but if anyone thinks that would have been the outcome had not that handy pony-tail been available, I suggest a second look and re-evaluation of opportunistic handles.\n

The History of Hair-Pulling<\/h2>\n

In Ancient Greece<\/h4>\nIt seems the early Greeks prohibited hair-pulling from Pankration, except when it was permitted. That is, just as early boxing and wrestling went through negotiations for ad hoc rules, \"This is in, but that ain't\"<\/strong>, et cetera, pankration seemed subject to rule-bending and compromises. We're told by Pausanias that the rules drifted a bit between regions, and Lucian refers to Pankrationists being called \"lions\" by the fans, not because of their leonine fighting nature but because of their propensity to bite, which was also prohibited.\n\nThere are various mentions of hair-pulling in combative accounts throughout history, but it is not until the 16th to 17th century that we begin to see more and more mentions made of it.\n\nNow whether this is because the practice increased, or simply because cheap printing and rising literacy made available more accounts of combat clashes we can't say for sure. My guess is that it's the latter: more scribblers to document a practice that was already in full bloom.\n

In 1700s England<\/h4>\nMany English boxers in the 1700s sported shaved heads, not for fashion's sake, but to remove the follicle handle. Jack Broughton, the \"Father\" of the English school of boxing drew up a set of rules in 1743, no handles below the waist were permitted, but no specific mention is made of hair-pulling and we continue to see shaved pates, so we can surmise that it was still a tactic in play.\n\nWe know for a fact that it continued as a kosher gambit for as late as 1795 Gentleman Jackson used a bit of hair control to gain the English championship from the formidable Daniel Mendoza.\n

In the Early United States<\/h4>\nLet's cross the pond that was the Atlantic Ocean to the young United States. Fighting, both sportive and unsportive, was the coin of the realm. What is astonishing is just how vicious even the sportive aspects were.\n\nOrganized matches of rough and tumble play, or all-in fighting, held few rules\u2014 hence the name \"all-in.\" No holds barred refers to just that in the wrestling aspect, if you can grab it you can have it. All-in means anything goes in all respects. We are talking about an era when sporting a single-eye because you lost the other to an eye-scoop was a badge of honor. A time when suffering from \"Lumberjack's Smallpox\"\u2014 that is bearing facial scars from being stomped by caulked boots\u2014 marked you as a man.\n\nReferences to hair-pulling are frequent, vicious, and never an eye is batted as if the tactic were unsportsmanlike. Perhaps in an era where scalp-taking was practiced by Native Americans and European interlopers alike, mere hair-pulling seemed like a walk in the park.\n

Additional Reading & Information<\/h2>\n

Overview<\/h4>\nWe've discussed and demonstrated rough & tumble informed hair-pulling tactics in our book No Second Chance<\/strong> and in our 3-volume street-defense series but here's a brief overview of hair-pulling mechanics.\n\nHair pulling can be used:\n