髪 - Your HAIR Is a Longtime Friend

Readings & Meanings:

かみ

ハツ

hair

Common Usage:

髪

散髪

金髪

Examples:

昨日長い髪の女の人を見かけた。

月に一度、散髪に行く。

金髪のことをふざけてパツキンといったりもする。

Translations:

Yesterday, I saw a woman with long hair.

I get a haircut once a month.

Blonds are also sometimes called "patsukin" in jest.

Radical:

髪 is ALMOST its own radical. To be more exact, 髟 is the radical, which comes from the squished form of 長 and the pattern element, 彡.

髪 adds 犮 (the phonetic). 犮 later changed into 友 in the kanji, though.

References:

http://www.kanjinetworks.com/indices/radindex.html
http://www.thejapanesepage.com/node/kanji/7.htm