What does shorn mean? What does shaven mean? Does this mean that we can never cut our hair? Even a trim?
Great Treasures defines to be shorn as "shearing or cutting short the hair of the head". To me, this reminds me of shearing a sheep -- how the person cutting the wool off a sheep goes as close to the skin as possible. That is what I think of when I hear the word shear. Shaven is also another way to say shorn because shaven is cutting short the hair as well.
Does this mean we cannot trim our hair? I have the position that we can trim our hair. I know this is a debate to women who are new to this passage and those who have been raised with the headcovering passage. My thoughts are that trimming could be taken too far if there was a youth that wanted to cut her hair and instead said she was going to have it "trimmed"; however, generally, a trim means two inches at most...but usually just enough to get the dead ends off. I also look at it as my body is a temple for God, He gave me my body and the hair on my head. I am to take care of my body, so why should I not take care of the hair which He also gave me? We tell people who self-mutilate their body is a temple to God and they should not be harming something God gave them, we cite that as a reason not to get tattoos as well. Why then would we allow our hair to die and neglect to take care of it, not treating it like it is God's temple?
Maybe I take it too far, but this is my personal belief. That if I am to take care of my body because God gave it to me, then I ought to take care of it all, hair included. Yes, this does mean an occasional trim of an inch or so to keep my hair healthy.
Blessings in Christ,
Hi Chelsea. We trim our hair. Sometimes even cut it! (normally when I've gone waaaayy too long between haircuts and we all have about 5" of dead hair!) Right now I'm at the point of wanting the girls' hair to be "long". Whatever that may mean!!! I'm enjoying your blog. Blessings in your journey of covering!
ReplyDeleteHi Chelsea,
ReplyDeleteThe Amish believe that this means no cuts at all (including arm hair, leg hair etc.). But I do not see the problem with getting a trim or shaving etc. I do believe they keep it a no cutting rule (and others too) for the reason you stated, someone will always want to take it too far. This to me seems like a personal conviction for the person reading the passage not a flat out yes/no answer (like covering is). The only thing though is you made it sound like those who don't cut their hair are doing harm to their "temple"...I don't see that really. Some of the Amish girls have better hair than I do and I've cut (before conviction otherwise) and trimmed for years. They haven't cut it at all their whole lives so it's really beautiful...at least to me. Also they wear kapps so you never see their hair anyway unless we're putting it back up again or something. This is just my take on it...I still trim my hair every so often but haven't "cut cut" it for about 5 years now. It's up to you and God :-)
Kate
Hi Kate,
ReplyDeleteSome Amish do actually shave their legs and underarms. The Swartzentrubber are the only ones I know for sure do not. But I believe out here the Old Order do as they believe that is part of personal hygine.
The way I see it in my mind as doing harm to God's temple is that if we let our hair die, which is what happens when it gets split ends, then we are letting part of what God gave us die because we are not taking care of it. Yes, He naturally allows our body to shed hair, but sometimes that isn't enough to get rid of the dead ends. That's just how I see it. I know many people would disagree with me on that :)
I last cut cut my hair two years ago when I donated it to Pantene ProV's real hair wigs program (similar to locks of love but they accept lengths of 6" or more instead of 8" or more for locks of love). But since then it's just been trims.
Blessings,
Chelsea
Hi, I am of the conviction that my hair is given to me by God and it is up to Him to control if/when one falls out or breaks off. It is my God given glory, why would I want to cut any of it off? Just my thoughts~
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Chelsea. My personal thoughts on lengths of hair are that hair should be long enough to clearly identify women from men. Therefore a man shouldn't have long hair just as a woman shouldn't have short hair. "Short hair" though in my belief is hair that makes a woman look like a man.
ReplyDeleteMy conviction is similar to Mountain Home Quilts. When I started wearing a head covering my hair was in a very short bob hair cut but I felt OK with that then. Now I want the hair to be about mid chest but not longer so I do plan to cut once it gets longer and I have bangs as well which I definitely want to keep. I learned how to cut my own hair when I was surviving on student loans in college so I do not need to spend money and time on going to the hair dresser at least.
ReplyDelete