What is the meaning of cutting someone's hair when he gets baptized?

What is the meaning of cutting someone's hair when he gets baptized? (May '01)

As with any liturgical action, its meaning can best be discovered by studying the prayer which accompanies the action.  In the Euchologion (the book containing the texts of all the Sacraments and special blessings), we find the following two prayers which accompany the tonsure (that's what this ritual cutting of the hair is called):

Prayer #1
"O Master, Lord our God, who didst honor man with Thine own image, fashioning him with a rational soul and a comely body (that the body might serve the rational soul); for Thou didst set the head in superiority, and didst endow it with the greater number of senses, which, nevertheless, impede not one another; and Thou didst cover the head with hair that it be not injured by the changes of the weather, and, according to need, didst join together all its members, that by all of them it might render thanks unto Thee, the Great Artisan:  Do Thou Thyself, O Master, Who, by Thy chosen vessel, the Apostle Paul, hast commanded us to do all things to Thy glory, bless Thy servant (Name) who is come to make the first offering by the cutting of the hair of his (her) head, and with his (her) Sponsor; and grant unto them all that they may exercise themselves in Thy law, and do those things that are acceptable unto Thee.  For Thou art a merciful God, and the Lover of mankind ...  Amen."

Prayer #2
"O Lord our God, Who, through the fulness of the baptismal font, hast, by Thy goodness, sanctified them that believe in Thee:  Do Thou bless the child here present, and may Thy blessing come down upon his (her) head.  And as by Samuel the Prophet Thou didst bless David the King, so also bless the head of Thy servant (Name) by the hand of me, a sinner, visiting him (her) with Thy Holy Spirit, that he (she) may increase unto maturity, and in the grey hairs of old age may send up glory unto Thee, and may see the good things of Jerusalem all the days of his (her) life.  For unto Thee are due all glory, honor and worship ... Amen."

After these two prayers, the priest cuts the hair of the newly baptized (actually little snippets of it are cut from the brow, the nape of the neck and above each ear -- forming, as it were, the Sign of the Cross on the head of the newly baptized), saying, "The servant of God (Name) is shorn in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen."  The hair is then either burned in the baptismal candle or censer, or is placed in the baptismal font.

Looking at the prayers, we find that the tonsure is the very first offering made to God by the newly baptized.  It is his (her) first gift/sacrifice made in thanksgiving to God and to His glory after becoming His child by adoption through the grace of Holy Baptism.  And, when you think about it, what else does a person have to offer that is really his except his hair?  Everything else which we may possess (money, talent, strength, etc.) comes to us from God as His gifts to us.  And in those instances when we offer such to Him, we merely offer unto Him what is already His ("Thine own of Thine own we offer unto Thee...")!  Remove from me all that has come to me from God -- strip me naked (as we all are when we are baptized!), take from me my wealth, my talents, take ALL my earthly possessions -- take even my health, my ability to see, to hear, to speak, and what am I left with that I can offer to God as a concrete symbol of my love for Him and my thanksgiving to Him?  My hair.

Secondly, we find that the tonsure brings a blessing upon the one who is tonsured in the same way as a blessing came upon the holy Prophet, King and Psalmist David through the hands of the holy Prophet Samuel when he "took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward" (I Samuel 16:13).

So now, after a looooooooong (but important) introduction I can answer your question thusly:  The tonsure is the symbol of both AN OFFERING of the newly baptized TO GOD and A BLESSING of the newly baptized FROM God.