I really hadn't thought about CW short hair being a style choice - just thought illness. Long hair is a real pain when you're stuck in bed, that's for sure. It's killed every roller brush in every vacuum cleaner I've ever had - I'm worse than the cats and dogs!
Native hair was brought up. Like CluckJD says, cutting by somebody else was to let that person know who was in charge. That was the first thing done when kids were brought into a boarding school, especially the boys. The hair has spiritual power and, at least in our tribe, it was made into many things used for religious purposes - like the Ghost Dance belts. They were usually made of the hair of someone who had been killed and, it was hoped, would be resurrected by the dance. Whenever anybody cut it for mourning reasons, it was braided and kept in a special basket. Some of the Ghost Dance belts were made of horse hair, too - if the warrior is coming back, he's going to need his horse!