“Sorry, I had no idea that you were only referring to tevilas Ezra.”
That was my mistake. I had only seen that one post.
He talks about the kapote in regards to how to make it such that it doesn’t require tzitzis (rounding off the back corner). That doesn’t imply one has to wear one. Most Roshei Yeshiva still do wear them, which brings me to another point: we don’t copy our rabbis every move in the Litvish world. We have a concept of differentiating (as is the case with the R”T tefillin psak mentioned before). If wore a kapote to a litvish yeshiva in which the Rosh Yeshiva wore a kapote, and the bochrim didn’t, you’d probably get in trouble.
“All this points to the fact that peyos are not new, and are not only Chasidish. ”
Who ever said they were new? They’re based in a d’oraisa; of course they aren’t new. I think the OP was talking about the families you see walking around where the father has no peyes yet the children do. It’s pretty common and perplexing.