Good morning…
“It looks like your Mom and I need to get to Atlanta so we can have our hair cut,” my dad texted this weekend from Ohio, joking about the controversial decision by Georgia’s governor to reopen some “essential businesses.” Hair and nail salons. Tattoo and massage parlors. Restaurants, movie theaters, and bowling alleys.
Sequestering for several weeks, my own wild hair growth inspired me to google: “How long does donated hair have to be for Locks of Love?” (Locks of Love is an organization that makes wigs for cancer patients out of donated human hair.) The official answer? “Ten inches measured tip to tip is the minimum length needed for a hairpiece. Hair must be in a ponytail or braid before it is cut. Hair must be clean and completely dry before it is mailed in.” We will need to sequester much longer for my hair to reach donation length.
Since we began “sheltering in place,” I have cut the hair of my husband and our twenty-five year old son, I have FaceTimed with a special friend who is currently hairless due to her chemotherapy treatments, and I have watched an interesting Netflix series based on the book Unorthodox, a book chronicling the life of a Hasidic Jewish woman fleeing an arranged marriage in Brooklyn to start a new life in Berlin. The actress playing the main character has very short hair since she is forced by tradition to shave her youthful hair the day after she weds.
Our hair is a defining part of us, expressing our personality, our life stage, and our human tug-o-war with pride and humility. Hair, a symbol of our identity, is linked to Eros, life-giving energy, and a change in hairstyle can indicate a growing desire for a fresh new direction. French fashion designer Coco Chanel says: “A woman who cuts her hair is planning changes in her life.”
Cut away from our old comfort zone by this Coronavirus, we are likely planning changes in our lives. Ponder with me: “From what past priorities might I cut back as I move forward into a fresh new future?”
Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight (1 Peter 3:3-4, NIV).
…Sue…
