Natural Hair = Christian?

[caligirl]

In the past week, I've had three different strangers come up to me and ask if I'm a Chrsitian. When I ask them why they say because I wear my hair natural (mind you, I'm transitioning, but my hair looks natural). Has this ever happened to anyone else? I don't what to say to people besides "thank you."

 

[Shatani]

um...no. thats very strange...

 

[hOnii]

hm.. thats strange. i know that some jehova's witnesses arent allowed to get relaxers, but never heard anything about christianity and relaxers...

 

[Ayeshia]

oh wow they didnt ask you if you were a lesbian, vegan, or a freak? never heard of the natural stigma being associated with christianity. i guess that would rather get that asked than the other questions i get approached with.

 

[lovelymissyoli]

hm.. thats strange. i know that some jehova's witnesses arent allowed to get relaxers, but never heard anything about christianity and relaxers...

That's so funny. I have 2 really good friends who are Jehovah's Witnesses who relax their hair religiously, but when we were in junior high school they swore up and down about how much of a sin it is to relax your hair.

IMO, God is not going to send you to Hell if your hair is relaxed, texturized, or natural! You should be more concerned about your life being right, then your hair.

 

[Isis]

No, I haven't heard that one. The majority of black female Christians I know, spanning a wide variety of religions, relax their hair.

 

[Poohbear]

IMO, God is not going to send you to Hell if your hair is relaxed, texturized, or natural! You should be more concerned about your life being right, then your hair.

I agree!!!

 

[TigerLily]

I have heard of it before. Waaaay back in the day, in the pentacostal denomination, women weren't allowed to get relaxers. They had to wear their hair natural. Makeup was also prohibited and they had to keep their arms and legs covered(no pants, just mile long skirts) and no open toed shoes. Some people still practice this today. Not many, Thank God!!!

 

[CharUK]

I've heard it.

Something about not altering something that is god given and intended.

x

 

[deedabug]

oh wow they didnt ask you if you were a lesbian, vegan, or a freak?

i have gotten the lesbian one before or am i a radical ...but wait...maybe the ur old fashioned bit relates to religion in some kinda way...i dont know lol

 

[monister]

In the past week, I've had three different strangers come up to me and ask if I'm a Chrsitian. When I ask them why they say because I wear my hair natural (mind you, I'm transitioning, but my hair looks natural). Has this ever happened to anyone else? I don't what to say to people besides "thank you."

I don't think this is common in the US. However, in Nigeria (where I'm from) it is common practice amongst a number of Christian groups that their women don't relax their hair. Thus, when a woman is seen with her hair natural, it is often assumed to be because of religious practices as most other people tend to have relaxed hair.

Monister

 

[IntelligenceisBeautiful]

This reminds me of when I was little growing up in Jamaica. In my community I remember that many of the ladies who were Christians (and belonged to a Pentecostal church) did not relax their hair because it was considered a sin. My mother who was a baptist always got into little playful fights with her bestfriend who was pentecostal, her firend use to tell my mother that she wasn't a "real" Christian because she used relaxers. My mother always responded render your hearts and not your garments (I guess in that case it would be hair). I think you're right Monister, this idea must be specific to region.

 

[toinette]

i've never heard of this in the U.S. but its somewhat common in the caribbean. i knowin haiti, the devout christians refuse to relax their hair.

 

[PretteePlease]

this is why i love this group you learn so much

 

[pookeylou]

hm.. thats strange. i know that some jehova's witnesses arent allowed to get relaxers, but never heard anything about christianity and relaxers...

Ok...that is the weirdest thing I have EVAH heard! I just asked several JW's and they thought that was STARANNNNGGGEE! They had never heard that! They attributed it to so MANY falsehoods that go around about them because they are different. One even said that some one told her (she is a JW) "Hey, I thought you werent allowed to drink Pepsi?!" She looked at them like ...where do people come up with this Bovine Excrement! they also attributed those comments to "extremist"...you know how you have those in every religion...Baptist who take a comment from the scripture to mean they cannot wear earrings and punish their daughters for wearing Chapstick. Or Pentecostals who look down on anyone who wears makeup or cuts their hair. One Pentecostal neighbor shaved her daughters eyebrows once because she went to school and had a friend arch them for her. To chastise her daughter for being "vain" she punished her by shaving them OFF!

If a religious person is unbalanced...then they will use their beliefs to justify their unbalanced behavior. But we should not say that the way that the "extremist" practices their belief is actually the doctrine of the religion. The JW's that I talked to said, "You will find no where in our literature or in the Bible where this is our belief. We do what we want with our hair as long as it does not destract from our ministry." All of those women had perms. One used to have a curl.

My own personal experience...

I am a Christian.
I have had relaxed hair.
I wear my hair natural now.
I do believe God intended for our hair to be natural...that is why it was created that way in the beginning.

But do I consider it a "sin" if you relax your hair? Of course not.

Just when you think you have heard it all.

 

[Bublnbrnsuga]

this is why i love this group you learn so much

LHCF rules!!

 

[Champagne_Wishes]

I have a stupid question: What in the world does having your hair relaxed or natural have to do with your beliefs?

 

[TigerLily]

They attribute it to some scriptures in the Bible that talk about being dressed decently and women not wearing what pertains to a man. Scriptures that were taken out of context. The COGIC denomination (Church of God in Christ. It's National and pretty huge; over 3 million members) practiced this long ago. Only those 'baptist folk' pressed their hair/wore makeup and such. They weren't considered 'saved'. There are some people who are still this way. They're much older, though. They're some right today who will find some way to include your hair, makeup and clothing in a sermon

It wasn't region specific, though. It was practiced more in the south, however, women 'up North' did it, too.

 

[pookeylou]

Just an additional question (for my own enlightenment...) if a natural presses their hair...is that considered a sin too? Or is it just applying a chemical to your hair? Both get the same result...straight hair! So is one process wrong and another not?

I would really love someone who has this belief to comment.

I dont want to come off as making fun of someones beliefs, but I would like to know the specific scripture (if they use the bible) or the specific principle (if they are of a Non-Christian/traditional belief).

I really would like to understand this belief if there are members here who think that.

 

[Poohbear]

Just an additional question (for my own enlightenment...) if a natural presses their hair...is that considered a sin too? Or is it just applying a chemical to your hair? Both get the same result...straight hair! So is one process wrong and another not?

I would really love someone who has this belief to comment.

I dont want to come off as making fun of someones beliefs, but I would like to know the specific scripture (if they use the bible) or the specific principle (if they are of a Non-Christian/traditional belief).

I really would like to understand this belief if there are members here who think that.

Me too! and is it a certain Christian denomination that has this belief?

 

[MeccaMedinah]

Another question... can we wear our hair natural because it is considered unattractive as opposed to straight and seductive?

 

[Daisy'sHair]

Sort sounds like a step up fromthe regular adages, Like being lesbian, millitan, a feminist, cheap, or some other asinine sterotype. I have to say I have never heard of te natural hair/christian classification, however I know a lot of Christians who wear their hair natural.

 

[Sweet C]

Just an additional question (for my own enlightenment...) if a natural presses their hair...is that considered a sin too? Or is it just applying a chemical to your hair? Both get the same result...straight hair! So is one process wrong and another not?

I would really love someone who has this belief to comment.

I dont want to come off as making fun of someones beliefs, but I would like to know the specific scripture (if they use the bible) or the specific principle (if they are of a Non-Christian/traditional belief).

I really would like to understand this belief if there are members here who think that.

My best friend's boyfriend's grandfather is the pastor of a church in NC who believes that women shouldn't relax hair, no makeup, skirts down to the floor, etc. (they also believe that funerals are worshipping the dead, yet will come and eat afterwards). My friend said that when she walked in the church and she said she honestly believed that she was in the color purple. She said in his sermon he said that he knew we were living in the last days b/c women were wearing pants suits to church and makeup and he used 1 Timothy 2:9-10 and De 22:5. At that point, that would have been my cue to exit, before I would have busted out in laughter hysterically. Maybe he thought Jesus wore a pants suit. LOL

 

[Enchantmt]

Wow, this is a first. I learn something new everyday.

 

[Vintagecoilylocks]

I think it has to do with where you live. I have had it said to me several times by black woman. I never see natural hair where I live and when I am out some times a black lady will say " Oh you have your natural hair. Are you one of those Menonites? (Not that I dress anything like them) or you must be a Christian. There are alot of Mennoites around. Amish too. I have long hair and its in a bun. When I asked a lady why she thought this,(Though I am Christian) She said with all that hair you must be and not be wearing it relaxed and styled. Well I didn't presume she was not just because she had relaxed hair. One does not see natural hair on black woman here and they just group you in a strange way if you are different.

 

[blessedangil03]

In Haiti, most Pentecostal women don't relax their hair, the Christians that do are "modernized". Even in the States, the majority of the Christian women that used to wear their hair natural in Haiti, apply relaxers to their hair.

 

[Jenai]

Ok...that is the weirdest thing I have EVAH heard! I just asked several JW's and they thought that was STARANNNNGGGEE! They had never heard that! They attributed it to so MANY falsehoods that go around about them because they are different. One even said that some one told her (she is a JW) "Hey, I thought you werent allowed to drink Pepsi?!" She looked at them like ...where do people come up with this Bovine Excrement! they also attributed those comments to "extremist"...you know how you have those in every religion...Baptist who take a comment from the scripture to mean they cannot wear earrings and punish their daughters for wearing Chapstick. Or Pentecostals who look down on anyone who wears makeup or cuts their hair. One Pentecostal neighbor shaved her daughters eyebrows once because she went to school and had a friend arch them for her. To chastise her daughter for being "vain" she punished her by shaving them OFF!

If a religious person is unbalanced...then they will use their beliefs to justify their unbalanced behavior. But we should not say that the way that the "extremist" practices their belief is actually the doctrine of the religion. The JW's that I talked to said, "You will find no where in our literature or in the Bible where this is our belief. We do what we want with our hair as long as it does not destract from our ministry." All of those women had perms. One used to have a curl.

My own personal experience...

I am a Christian.
I have had relaxed hair.
I wear my hair natural now.
I do believe God intended for our hair to be natural...that is why it was created that way in the beginning.

But do I consider it a "sin" if you relax your hair? Of course not.

Just when you think you have heard it all.

Thank you!!!

 

[lavendarlover]

I have been a Christian for almost ten years, and involved in Church all of my life, and NEVER have I hear this one. It is amazing the things that people will infer. I have often seen a group of women with long dreeses and no makeup and thought, Wow, they must be Pentacostal, but I have since learned to change that way of thinking. Maybe they just like long dresses. People need to be careful about stereotyping others.

 

[caligirl]

Wow, it's amazing how much your hair says about you!
I think the religious connection may be about not wanting to alter the way God made you. That's my little two cents.

 

[Champagne_Wishes]

They attribute it to some scriptures in the Bible that talk about being dressed decently and women not wearing what pertains to a man. Scriptures that were taken out of context. The COGIC denomination (Church of God in Christ. It's National and pretty huge; over 3 million members) practiced this long ago. Only those 'baptist folk' pressed their hair/wore makeup and such. They weren't considered 'saved'. There are some people who are still this way. They're much older, though. They're some right today who will find some way to include your hair, makeup and clothing in a sermon

It wasn't region specific, though. It was practiced more in the south, however, women 'up North' did it, too.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....Well whatever works for them.