Friday, March 20, 2015

Bad Hair Day

I had just finished brushing my hair into place after my shampoo and drying routine.  I looked at the soft bristles of my new brush and noticed with resignation the several strands of hair glistening in the bright bathroom light. I suppose it's to be expected that hair would thin at my age, but that doesn't make it any easier to accept, especially since I'd grown up with and had exceptionally thick hair most of my adult life.  

Stylists used to like to thin my hair a little, but they haven't done that in a long time.  I've read that it's normal to lose up to 100 hairs a day, and I didn't count that many in my brush; but if it's only a cycle, I'm ready for that cycle to stop!  Thank goodness for hair products that volumize and thicken, and hairsprays that add body!

The Bible says a woman's hair is her glory, so surely God understands our feeling about our hair!  We are even told that the hairs of our head are numbered!

"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye  not, therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows," Matthew 10:29-31.

That seems hard to understand, but today's science has taught us that each single strand of hair is coded (numbered?) with a genetic code!  If an unidentified body of a person falls to the ground and is found, God has seen to it that it can be known by its DNA, located in hair or any of the millions of cells in the body.

As if hair fall is not distressing enough, especially to the feminine psyche, it is accompanied by that other dreaded harbinger of age--graying! Most women do not go gentle into that phase, fighting it tooth and nail with hair color products. Alas that they never achieve the results of the ads, which picture cascading, shimmering hair reminiscent of the locks of Solomon's dearest.  He clumsily describes the beautiful sight of flocks of goats descending from the mountain, their shiny coats no doubt reflecting the sunlight in undulating waves.

"Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold thou art fair; thou hast doves eyes within thy locks: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead," Song of Solomon 4:1.

Gray or white hair, among men or women,  is spoken of as a mark of honor in the Old Testament.  May we who have lived long enough to be in this category learn to say with the psalmist in Psalm 71:17-18, "O God, thou has taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.  Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength to this generation, and thy power to everyone that is to come."  That is our responsibility!

No comments:

Post a Comment