Now she had liers-in-wait abiding in the inner chamber. She said to him, The Philistines are on you, Samson. He broke the cords, as a string of tow is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known.
There is some question about whether Samson, a lifelong Nazirite, was subject to all the normal restrictions on temporary Nazirites, and whether he really broke all three of the typical Nazirite restrictions. He may have only broken the one involving his hair, or he may have broken two. [Note: For further discussion see Robert B. Chisholm Jr., "Identity Crisis: Assessing Samson’s Birth and Career," Bibliotheca Sacra 166:662 (April-June 2009):155-62.] 