Green’s Dictionary of Slang

clippie n.2

[SE clip, i.e. they still cut their hair rather than let it grow into long dreadlocks]

(W.I./Rasta) a young man who identifies with the Rastafarian movement but is not fully committed.

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[WI]L. Barrett Soul-Force 188: They are known as ‘clippies.’ These are the young men from the middle-class section who are attracted to the movement through frustration, yet are not ready fully to identify with it. They clip their hair and shave their beards but wear some identifying symbols. [...] These ‘clippies’ are held in derision by the older Rastafarians, who accuse them of conforming with ‘Babylon’ to avoid the accusations of men.