Okay, I did it. I admit it. I cut my hair and my daughter’s hair. I can still remember the first time I cut my hair. We were probably about six years into the United Pentecostal Experience, when I was sitting on the toilet and fearing my hair was going to go in, I grabbed a pair of scissors, sat back down and cut the tail end that could get wet. I don’t remember feeling guilty or that it might not grow after anymore. This fear of hair not re-growing after trimming had been expressed to me by another woman in the church. Yes, Pentecostal women talk about cutting their hair. Oddly, her hair was only shoulder length. I guess it was due to the teasing, etc. that goes into maintaining the elaborate hairdos she wore. I also remember while sitting in a restaurant one lady sighing “if we could only get enough grace to cut our hair.” This woman was one of a group of older women in our church who resorted to wearing those Gibson Girl style wigs all the time. Honestly, I think they just got tired of dealing with all that hair!
As time went by, I was blessed with a little girl who had beautiful hair. Again, I confess! I did not want her to have long stringy, scraggly hair, so while she was a toddler to probably age 6 or so, I kept it shoulder length. I stopped trimming it when she got older; when she told me someone said something to her about it. No one ever said anything to me about it; however, there were those who were spying out my liberty! (Gal 2:4 NKJV) Ha-ha, there is no such thing as liberty in the UPC holiness standards. By this time, it was the late ‘80’s when the super curly hairdos were in, and frankly, you could cut your hair as much as you wanted and no one could tell. Those pink sponge rollers, along with the concrete mousse it took to set those curls, could take off five inches of your hair length!
My second daughter was born six years later and while still an infant she developed a health problem. She was a precious baby but she had a mind of her own! She was not going to dutifully wear the barrettes and other hair restraints young Pentecostal girls are forced to wear to hold their hair in place, due to the rules for no cutting or trimming of their hair. She would pull out everything I put in her hair and along with the restraint, out came a handful of hair. When she had pulled out enough hair to create a bald spot on her head, I took matters into my own hands. I did not consult with my husband or anyone else. I found the best children’s salon and had her hair cut, along with (gasp!) bangs. I brazenly took her to church that Wednesday night, not thinking anything of it. I thought she looked adorable! I would do anything to help my poor, precious baby! No one said anything to me about it that night except my husband who said, “You know they will ask us to step down.”
To be continued…
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Once you leave and lose the fear, it all seems so silly . . . . . .I cut my hair to a page boy as a teen and being a PK, since my dad said nothing, no one else did either- at least to my face. Then at Bible school I quit cutting it and absolutely hated it until just a few years ago when we escaped the UPC cult. You bet a hair cut was one of the first things I did and I love my hair!
Thankful you are free! And yes, it seems silly because it is. As if any of these external laws have anything to do with the condition of our hearts!
I didn’t grow up in the UPC but in a non-affiliated Pentecostal Church that had just as strict if not stricter dress codes. I was 28 the first time I wore a pair of jogging pants and my Granny thought I had “backslidden”. It took me to almost 40 before I cut my hair and for awhile I felt almost guilty until I realized that I was no longer living in bondage and it was not sending me to hell. Even though I had grown up hearing all those things. I now live in complete freedom from the weights others have put upon me!
It was harder for me to put on a pair of pants! No one can can tell if you cut your hair if is put up. The pants thing – oh my, what if someone sees me??? These externals ar just an artificial kind of piety; now loving your neighbor as yourself, that’s can only happen by being controlled by Holy Spirit. I am so thankful you are free!!!