 To mark the new era , on 20 January 1970 , the couple shaved off their shoulder @-@ length hair , an act that Britain 's Daily Mirror described as " the most sensational <unk> since the Red Indians went out of business " . Lennon and Ono pledged to auction the shorn hair for a charitable cause , having similarly announced on 5 January that they would donate all future royalties from their recordings to the peace movement . Also while in Denmark , the Lennons , Cox and the latter 's current partner , <unk> Kendall , discussed the concept of " instant karma " , whereby the causality of one 's actions is immediate rather than borne out over a lifetime . Author Philip Norman writes of the concept 's appeal : " The idea was quintessential Lennon – the age @-@ old Buddhist law of cause and effect turned into something as modern and synthetic as instant coffee and , simultaneously , into a bogey under the stairs that can get you if you don 't watch out . " 
