“If anything is sacred, the human body is sacred.” (Walt Whitman)
Appearances speak volumes about people’s beliefs. It is a symbol of one’s roots and culture and an extension of their spirit. The Sikhs do not disfigure themselves by shaving. They keep long hair and respectfully use the word “KESH” for their hair. 
The word stands for head hair, beard and all other hair on any part of the body.
Guru Gobind Singh founded the Khalsa (1699 AD) and declared that the Sikhs would to keep 5K’s. Historical records tell us that the Sikhs started riding horses, carrying swords and began to beat drums every morning and evening. They never shaved their heads and beards and were soon declared as outlaws by Mughals.
Will of God
Hair is a part of the body’s integument system. It is one of our many lines of defense protecting eyes, ears, nose and head from foreign matter such as dust and bacteria. Leaving the hair intact is like living in harmony with nature. It is ungrateful to reject a gift so graciously given by our kind master. God has given us one face and through our ignorance we try to make ourselves another by removing the hair.
We have discussed how most religious preceptors have avoided interference in the matter of human hair. If anything, they have appreciated God’s creation with wonder. The Sikhs are firm believers in God and their Gurus have advised them umpteen times in the scripture to accept the doing of God as sacrosanct. God creates hair on the body for a purpose and removing it from the body means proving ourselves more intelligent than God.
Our body is designed by nature taking into account its needs for survival and development. God has produced nothing useless. Everything created by God has its special function, which no other animate or inanimate object can perform. True that our link with God is through our mind and that outward accoutrements do not interfere in this process but it is also true that man can never find peace by going against God’s Will. It sounds ridiculous to think that the omniscient Creator did not design humans, known as the leaders of all creation, with careful thought. If God wills our appearance to be of a certain type then be it so. If He differentiates males from females there must be some good reason behind it otherwise what logic was there in not decorating the females with beards and moustaches?
No Sikh has been permitted to alter even a full stop in the Sikh scripture (Guru Granth Sahib). Similarly no Sikh is authorised to alter the appearance of a Sikh approved and authenticated by Guru Gobind Singh, who proudly said, “I endow the Khalsa with my special form. It is through my form that I will live among them”
The Sikhs value the Kesh as a gift from their Guru; a gift which keeps them connewith Him.. He, in his infinite wisdom, called the Kesh a visible token of his affection. It proves not only the Sikhs’ indebtedness to the Guru but also their commitment to the ideal behind the creation of the Khalsa.
Some people talk of scientific proofs of the utility of hair. The Sikhs do not need any scientific proofs of the usefulness or otherwise of hair. Their belief in God’s wisdom and their Guru’s word are sufficient for them to grow the hair and desist from shaving.
The story of Samson and Delilah (Bible –Judges) clearly demonstrates that the spiritual power of the Almighty God rests in the human hair in the same way as the ability of the plants to help bring rain.
Psychologically speaking the removal of hair from the male body is characteristic of the male’s tendency towards becoming feminine. Freud and Mcdougal are of the opinion that this tendency is a remnant of the common origin of men and women and that both men and women are trying to merge into each other. If this argument were accepted then, it would be considered a violation of the Will of God who wanted them to be different in looks as well as in functions. Again if merger has anything to do with the origin then the tendency of both sexes should be to become one with God, our common origin. This is possible only if we accept and respect God’s dispensation and willingly become a part of it instead of finding fault with it. The Sikhs follow this path. For them all that God does is sacred and any supposed improvement on God’s work is unforgivable.
“God and nature do nothing without a purpose. Nature always strives to realize perfection. There is nothing accidental but everything has a purpose. It is indeed this very prominence of design in Nature, which constitutes the beauty of her creation and the charm with which even the least of them repay investigation. Nature like a judicious manager gives to each the instrument it can use.” (Aristotle by Zeller Volume 1 page 71)