I heard that in the 70s, Singapore made backpackers cut their hair!! Does anyone remember this or instances in other countries where backpackers were 'unwelcome' or hindered in traveling?
SC


I saw a thing on tv were there was a traveler fromBritain and he backpackd from france all the way across the continents of europe and asia,
when he got to thailand he had grown a huge bushi beared, and the picture on his passport looked totalli different
so they made him cut his beard off, to make sure it was him
that was in the60's i think

That never happened-it was all media bullshit back in the days before they could be shown quickly to be the slime they are.

Morisey#1
That was common place on Polish/GDR border in the 70's. The East Germans were strict like hell. And the beard didn't have to be huge. You'd have to look exactly like on your passport photo.
I do remember that Singapore did have some crazy laws for a while OP, and banning long hair was one of them.

Dunno for sure, but a a lot of 70s backpackers from Australia got their hair cut short just in case. The story was that you'd be refused entry with long unkempt hair but offered a chance to get your hair cut.
It became badge of cool, along with those stupid shirts made out of flour sacks that they got in other parts of SE Asia
