Beauty & Grooming  Discussion Forum

Dear all,

I am Kalpana from small town of Maharashtra. I am doing my P.G. in engg. I am planning to Tirupati next month, with my parents. Both of my parents are going to tonsure their heads. My mother wants me to offer my hair also. I was very scared about the whole process. But articles on this message board have given me good amount of courage. Can anyone send me picture of before & after Tonsure? I will be very grateful to you.
My main concern is Male barbers. Recently my friend went to Tirumala to offer her hair (tonsure). She had to sit in front of a young male barber. She felt uncomfortable when he was shaving near her nape. That time there was a talk of women barbers to be appointed shortly. Have women barbers appointed there?

Kalpana
rao replied. with happily remove your hair. aparna replied. dear Kalpana,
I would like to advice you not to shave head from my personal experience. iT takes atleast 6 mths to grow hair to normal state kumar replied. plese tell ur tonsure experience kalpana? rajan replied. Where are you kalpana?A month is over.You
did not post any message.Please tell your
tonsure experience after your visit. phaneendra replied. this is phani one of the new member of this group
i came to know that u r going to be shaved u r head .is it completed.
other wise when u will have that?

u r worried about the male barbers.yes i agree with u
i had seen many even though they shave the heads their looks are on other features
my sister when had gone for tirupathi last 3 months back suffered the problem.
but she had her hair shaved clean sitting before the barbour with crossed legs and getting shaved.
it is the process that when the barbour appiles some water on u r head and move the razor smoothly and clean u r hair lovely bald.it is very interesting as u had experinced never beforesitting with crossed legs before him and getting tonsured.
o.k.had a great and nice bald look.
as u get u rhead shaved u send photo to my i.d. phani_civil05@yahoo.co.in
bye
yours friendly,
phani.
ram replied. Hi Kalpana,
Your concerns are genuine to some extent. Here is what the temple authorities have in place to prevent such incidents.
1 > The tokens issued to the devotees (male / female) for geting their heads tonsured are all computerised tickets and at the entrance of the kalyana katta hall, just before the queue gets distributed to the available barbers, the computer operator sees who is requesting the token (male or female) and enters the same in the computer and so for all female devotees the token numbers will be of those barbers specially identified to shave female devotees as a priority and they take care to select the barbers based on their history (number ofcomplains) and aslo they are mostly slightly old barbers who are seasoned and its less likely the female devotees feel uncomfortable. So if you go the barber as indicated in the token you are to some extent taking are of your concerns...

2 > When people who go in groups or either family, they request for tokens in a group and that's when there is no one-to-one binding of the devotee to the barber, and since the whole family would be around the female devotee getting herself tonsured, they are okey with such arrangement...

3 > They have camera's mounted all over the place and so there cannot be too much of forcable / unwanted tocuhing of the barbers....

4 > In addition to all this people can have the pleasure of having a barber come to the cottage and shave the female devotees according to their comfort in the presence of other family members, that another way of avoiding what you just mentioned...
5 > In the current day I myself know of many girls / women getting their heads shaved in te beauty parlours and then carry the hair and deposit it in the hyundai, that is also acceptable.. In face in one of the uni sex salon I visit (Nayana), one female came to the saloon and got herself completely shaved, and she was sitting net to me and she was telling that it was a offering to Tirumala, so they took care to collect the hair in locks and give it to her, that was a smoot shave by another female barber and so that is another option... But then I notice that most females who visit the saloon prefer to have ther haircut / washed etc by male barbers when femlale stylists are available,, may be some enjoy the same and some like you might not like the same....

Hay so that's some explanation I had to share with all you folks out there.... leeme know if you what wish to share your experiences with me at ramadu72atyahoodotcom.. bye -Ram

Raj replied. Hi Kalpana,

I wish you a very happy journey and a wonderful darshan of the lord Balaji. Also hope you will enjoy your first tonsure experience :). I have plans to visit Tirupati next weekend. May I ask you the dates when your would visit to Tirupati? You may right to me at

Cheers,
Raj lavanya replied. hi ,
i am lavanya and you must have read my tonsure exp on this site.are you marathi,i know marathi very well and you can write to me on and then i will send you my tonsure photo Ram replied. Hi Kalpana,
The initiative to have female barbers at Tirumala has been canceled and this was tried during the time of T.Subrimiramareddy, but due to legacy issues at Tirumala this is now cancelled, so you officually have only male barbers at Tirumala...... Mrs Radha Devi from Chitoor was a strong supporter for having female barbers at Tirumala for two reasons 1> Discomfort fo female barbers wheile being shaved by a male barber, like you idenntified the nape area.. 2 > Employment scheme for women in the region... In any case I see a lot a UNISEX salon even in metros where women get thier ahir cut, shampoo, drying etc from male barbers, so in a holy place like tirupathi, with so many people around the barber whilebeing shaved, and also the camers for checking such episodes, there is not much to worry.. Also one barber on an average shaves 60 heads ina day and so they will be ina great hurry... Have fun and get your head shaved as planned though you might not get the female barbers.. OTher choice is you could have the barber come to the cottage and get the shaving done at the cottage in your own privacy....By the way your mail ID is wrong ... ->:)
bye -Ram
kalpana replied. sorry I forgot to give my email id.

please do email me....