Hair Shirt: A coarse haircloth garment worn next to the skin by religious ascetics to mortify the flesh.

Hair Cloth: A wiry fabirc having usually a cotton or linen warp with a horsehair filler, used for upholstering and for stiffening and interlining garments.

Ascetic: A person who renounces the comforts of society and leads a life of austere self-discipline, especially as an act of religious devotion.

Mortify: 1. To cause to experience shame, humiliation ,or wounded pride; humiliate. 2. To discipline (one's body and appetities) by self-denial and austerity.

Definitions courtesy of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.

For many on the Mudcat, English is a second language, so I may have provided more information than the English speakers need.

To "wear a hair shirt" is an expression meaning one is abject and apologetic about some behavior one has committed. (Definition courtesy of Big RiB).

Roger in Baltimore