We are a people of fads and trends.  Hair is one of the most obvious examples of this societal fact.  Long hair, short hair, flat-tops, buzz cuts, French twists, bouffant, teased, straight or curly, wild colors or white gray, shaggy or precision cut.  Why do we blindly follow these fads? 

This pandemic isolation has brought the hair situation into focus for many of us.  Who’s going to cut our hair?  I took the scissors to my curly locks a few weeks ago.  My husband bought a couple of barbering sets.  Then, he chickened out of doing it himself and had me cut his hair!  What faith!

When Rich was in college, he had the nickname “Helmut” due to the way he wore his hair.  It surrounded his head like battle gear.  Hair was an ongoing bone of contention in many families.  In the fifties, when the flat-top was in style, long shaggy hair on men made fathers see red.

I used to cut my sons’ hair when they were little.  It was the “John-John” bowl cut style.  They still tease me about that trauma of their young lives.  I think that they were almost teenagers before they went to the barbershop for a cut.

What got me thinking about this topic was the “Pixie” hairstyle fad.  I remember when my sister Francine came home with that smart easy “do”.  She went from long thick hair to the short pert style of the pixie.  She looked cute and cool.  I wanted that hairstyle so badly that I insisted that I have my own long locks shorn the very next day.

Well, remember my remark above about my curly hair.  My hair was not meant for a straight styled pixie cut.  I had “bendy” hair.  I had to put scotch tape all around my face to hold the curls down, taking it off as I ran for the bus in the morning.  All this for the sake of a hair fad!  Who was I trying to please?

What is my point about this reminiscence?  We spend so much time and money trying to look a certain way, following fads and styles, some of them truly outrageous.  Why?  I am sure that there are sociological studies that attempt to explain why this is so.  Is it about love?

However, my message is that our Creator God loves us unconditionally, just the way we are!  No special hair styles needed.  No trendy jeans, no special neighborhoods or flashy cars are required to receive the love of God.  He surrounds us with His love and grace freely and abundantly.  We have only to seek Him with all our heart, and we will find Him.  (Jeremiah 29:12-13)

Terri