Saturday, January 24, 2009

Holy Lucky Mole Hair!

(This image was borrowed from Matt Auld on Flickr because I'm too much of a chicken to take one myself.)

Here's something to make you involuntarily dry heave in public.
Apparently, Singaporeans (I think specifically the Chinese ones) think that moles are very lucky. And if you can grow a really long hair out of one, then you've really hit the jackpot. In this case, they grow them as long as physically possible. The cutting or plucking of these hairs will "cut" your luck or take it away completely.
So you will see them all over the country with these extremely long plaits growing off the unsightly moles on their necks, faces and so on.
I try very hard to respect the culture and appreciate it from their point of view. However, this is one that I just cannot grasp.
Do they know that these "lucky" moles are also the source of skin cancer for many people? I wouldn't consider that a lucky part of my body.
I'd like to introduce them to my friends named "fate" and "predetermined destiny"...and hand them some tweezers. Luck schmuck people. Groom yourselves.

8 comments:

Cori said...

You never fail to amuse me. :)

BTW, every time I hear of sister going somewhere together I get insanely jealous. :( Miss you.

Cori said...

I meant to say of "sisters" going somewhere together.

FISH said...

LOL... I recently moved here. Just Googled why it is. Thanks for the explanation. :)

-- Greg
http://fishdoggy.com

Anonymous said...

Its very common in Singapore ; But u are absolutely rite . its common to chinese belief to bring luck

Matt Auld said...

Cheers Megan, I took that photo in Malaysia and did not realise they left mole hair to grow because of cultural reasons! Asking him may have been a tad rude :-)

Laters, Matt

ps: thanks for the cred

Megan said...

Matt, thank you for taking the picture and not minding that I borrowed it. When I posted that, I was way too scared to photograph people over here. I've gotten a little bit braver since.

I'm so glad that you're a brave guy.

Thanks again!

Anonymous said...

I've been living in Singapore for almost a year now. In September, I moved off campus and into an HDB and have recently noticed this too....and I too am slightly disgusted by it....eww...

Anonymous said...

P.S. Don't be afraid to take pictures. In rural Indonesia, I caught them all taking pictures of me because I'm white. And here in Singapore, I had a child ask me why I'm so fat... I'm 5'8" and a size 12...not fat at home, but apparently fat here.

So who cares if you take their pictures!! :)

-Katie