"The number of Amish have tripled since 1984. They have been identified as one of the fastest moving communities in America. This has occurred for two reasons." - WRNews
“A new Ohio State University study of Amish communities in the United States and Ontario, Canada, shows explosive growth taking place…”
“The beard is a key symbol of masculine Amish identity,” said Donald B. Kraybill, a sociologist and expert on the Amish at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. The women view their long hair, kept in a bun, as their “glory,” Dr. Kraybill said, and shearing it was “an attack on her personal identity and religious teaching.”