By Debra Birner
I Corinthians 11:15, But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.
I am starting off right at the beginning letting you know that this topic is a “hairy situation.” I am sure, for some women, this topic will not be well received – but I am just going to state what the Bible states. Here it is – Women should have LONG hair.
I believe most Christians in the circles I travel in mostly agree that a man’s hair should be short. I have heard some preachers hit that topic many, many times. And they are correct. But it has always intrigued me that I don’t hear much discussion about the length of the woman’s hair. I believe the Bible says as much, or perhaps more, about the woman’s hair than the man’s hair. Yet when I survey the crowd of Christian women, there are usually many women with extremely short hair. I believe it is a “man’s” haircut, even if it is pouffed up.
You may wonder, why is this important? The truth is, I have no idea, except that the Bible teaches it.
God wants us “covered,” and our long hair is our “covering.”
1 Corinthians 11:13-15, Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.
I have heard many reasons of why women cut their hair:
• It’s too hard to deal with when it’s long.
[Do we refuse to do other things God asks just because it’s a little “hard”? Is it really harder to have long hair? My personal experience has been that short hair required me to keep it trimmed and styled. With long hair, I can just wash and go.]
• My husband doesn’t care if it’s short. He likes it like this.
[Would your husband object to you growing it long? Would he perhaps like it like that? Oftentimes husbands go along with what we want because it’s the path of least resistance. A godly husband will appreciate you wanting to obey the Word of God.]
• I gave it to “Locks of Love.” It was for a good cause.
[There are many sinful things people do “for a good cause.” If it goes against the Word of God, it’s just “sin for a good cause.” These days, wig makers can make really nice wigs with synthetic hair – they don’t need us to cut our hair off to make their wigs.]
• It was so damaged that I had to cut it off.
[That’s a common problem after applying chemicals to your hair. Perhaps it would be better not to color and/or perm your hair if it is going to cause you to have to cut your hair off.]
Reminder here – I told you this article may be hard to take.
• I have the kind of hair that doesn’t grow long.
[I understand that our genes and our ethnicities all play into the kind of hair that we have, but God’s Word still says women should have long hair. It doesn’t say what race of women – just that women should have long hair.]
• I look better with short hair.
[Are we to style our hair according to what “looks” best or according to God’s will for our lives? And, it probably looks better long anyway.]
• Now that I’m older, my hair is thinner, so it’s better short.
[Again, I know these are real dilemmas, but are we going to obey God or not?]
Then there is the discussion of, “What is long?”
In my life, this is what I came up with. Before I was saved, I was a very frequent customer of the Hair Cuttery. At one time, my hair was so short that it was actually shaved up the back. However, there was another time that I went in and got my hair trimmed. My hair just grazed my shoulders. I was astounded when I went to pay for my haircut, and I was charged an extra fee because I had “long” hair. I said, “My hair is not long.” The cashier informed me that if it touched my shoulders, it was considered long hair!
Later, when I was saved and began reading my Bible, I recalled that experience and pondered that even the “lost world” considered that shoulder length hair was long (meaning that shorter than shoulder-length hair was not long).
Revelation 9:7-8, "And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions."
In Revelation 9:8, there is clearly something different about “the hair of women.”
There are examples of women with long hair in the Bible. For instance, the two women who wiped Jesus’ feet with their hair:
John 12:3, "Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.
Luke 7:37-38, "And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, …And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment."
Their hair was obviously longer than their shoulders if they were able to wipe Jesus’ feet with their hair.
Lastly, there is a strange mention of the woman’s hair in Numbers:
Numbers 5:18, "And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord, and uncover the woman's head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy offering …."
I have wondered why the priest had to uncover the woman’s head in investigating whether or not she had been faithful to her husband. Could it be that he was checking the length of her hair? I don’t know, but I wonder.
What I do know are these things:
• It is a glory to me to have long hair.
• In my own life, when I was lost and rebellious, I just couldn’t leave my hair alone. I cut it, I permed it, I colored it, all while my husband continually said, “Just leave it alone.”
• As I observe others, I have noticed that often when a woman is having marital problems, she cuts her hair off. I don’t know why this is, but it is an observation I have made.
I don’t know about you, but I have chosen for myself to obey God and obey my husband, and just leave it alone.
May the Lord bless you abundantly as you make these choices in your life.
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