Crown of Glory

 

     

              

Hair plays such an important part as to how your overall look is presented. As a small child I was very blonde. It wasn't until first grade that my shade started going brunette, which seems the common hair color changes in my family. Throughout my life. I have been a chameleon when it has come to my hair. Always cutting and always coloring it. I seriously started dying my hair at the age of 28, when I noticed I had eight hairs on the top of my head that were white as snow. Thus the dying up until this day saga started. It's been so many colors. I've permed it and used so much hair product for styling, I'm surprised I still have any hair at all. There was a time, when my thyroid was malfunctioning that my hair fell out in clumps. That was scary.

As a teenager, I remember my Mom buying me a bottle of Sun In as my hair used to get blonde streaks through it over the summer months. So me and my wise idea to make it lighter. I ended up with auburn hair by the time the henna or whatever is in Sun In took over my brunette pigmentation. In my twenties, I had tried going blonde and hated it. I immediately put my brown color back on my hair. There were two times I was nearly bald. In 6th grade and during the Covid stay at home duration in 2020.

Let's talk about sixth grade. By the time I was in sixth grade I had hair down to the middle of my back. It had the natural blonde streaks of summer. I was also a pretty little girl. I had gone from 2nd grade to 6th grade at the same elementary school and had made a large group of friends (even with my odd quirks). In fact, by this time, I had become very popular with the boys. I was always the one being chased around the school yard. All us girls just used to think we were the cat's meow and would end up toward the end of recess in the bathroom to groom ourselves and put on lipgloss before returning to class. It was not a big deal to pass our brushes and combs around to each other. Can you guess where this is going? Over a couple of months, I kept telling my mother that my head was itching like crazy. She attributed it to me not rinsing out the soap well enough after a shower. Until one day as she was parting my long hair to braid it, I heard her guttural moan and the next thing I know, my mother was tearing into my head with a pair of scissors. I was traumatized. I asked her what the heck she was doing. She just kept telling me to hold still and proceeded in demon like rhythm to tear into my long hair, which was now shorter than a boy's haircut. As I sat there crying and traumatized by the experience, she kept informing me that I had so many bugs in my hair that was our only recourse. In my mind, I was saying -- WHAT THE HELL?  Then came the best part, her walking into the living room with a tray and on it was my Dad's shaving cream and razor. She proceeded to shave my head bald!! I told her look what she has done. I'm a freak. I couldn't understand how she could be so evil (I learned later in life just how off the charts she could become.) I was devastated. She tried making me feel better by cutting her hair into a cute pixie cut -- please!?! After not going to school for a week, she made an appointment with a beautician who stylized a wig to fit my small child sized head. It was a cute shag wig, but here is where it gets good. Prior to me returning to school, my Mom had called everyone in my class to let their parents know that I had contracted lice and that everyone should check their child's hair. I was the culprit in everyone's eyes. Not only was I deemed lice head at this point, but kids would wait after school to chase me to try and pull my wig off my head. I had the sweetest teacher in the world who recognized my trauma and would then wait until it was safe for me to walk home without the threat of being chased. This went on from after Christmas Break until near the end of the year for 6th grade graduation. By then, I had grown enough hair to take off my wig for the 6th grade graduation ceremonies. I had to endure bullying until 8th grade, when my parents transferred me to another school for a year. In 9th grade when I returned to these cruel peers, I had had enough of one girl calling me lice head from across the school yard, that I approached her and gave her words that hit her soul and she never bullied me again. But it is amazing how fast you can go from a very popular child to the one everyone despises. That was my life until I was transferred out and confronted my bully. On top of all this hair trauma, this was during those years of a family member sexually abusing me. It was a very dark period in my life. Remember at 12 years old, my life changed with going to church and being baptized. Outside of church and one year in church school, I endured bullying and isolation. I had a couple friends, but it wasn't a good time for me overall. My beautiful cousins made life bearable -- I should add.

Second bald or shall I say butch haircut time, was my error. It was during covid and I wanted to see what color my hair was at this point, so I wanted to cut off all my color off my head and let my hair naturally grow out. However, I had grabbed the wrong size razor head of the haircut trimmer and started in the front by my middle scalp and shaved a line down the middle of my head. The damage was done. I had to sport the short buzz cut in my early 60's. My church friends were too funny. They said only I could rock the buzz cut at that age. The results of growing my Crown of Glory out above was short lived. I felt and looked so old. So I dyed it three different colors and ended up settling on blonde. Which now, I wonder why I hadn't settled on blonde years sooner.

In the Bible, there are stories about hair and the crowns of glory. There is the story of Samson the Nazarite where it is perceived in some stories that his strength came from his hair length, but was his actual vow to God that gave him his strength. There is also reference made in 1 Corinthians 11:15 where a woman's long hair is her glory and her covering. And here was my mistake by reading Proverbs 16:31 that says "The silver-haired head is a crown of glory, if it is found in the way of righteousness."

In 10th grade, I had very long hair to the middle of my back. I had started experiencing head aches and my Mom attributed it to the length and weight of my hair. So a day before Homecoming, I cut my hair just under my ears and have never had long hair again. Today, my hair is shoulder length, which is the longest I have had it since that time. I have always loved long hair. In fact, I have a sister who has the most beautiful long hair I've ever seen. As a teenager, I was attracted to the young men with long hair as well. I'm hoping that when I get to heaven, I will finally have the long hair I have always desired.

Jesus is always portrayed with long hair and a beard. In my mind,  he is a dark man with dark long hair and a beard with dark eyes. In fact, on a recent Sunday there was an exhibit on the Shroud that is believed to be the one that wrapped Jesus before his resurrection. Dr. Jeremiah Johnston had an AI enhancement of what may be what Jesus looked like and I immediately sat straight up and said that is how I imagined him to look!! It was a surreal moment.