Is your hair long for religious/spiritual reasons?

[insideitall]

sedonia, you seem to have misunderstood me a bit.

I said the agenda disgusted me. Specifically the radical one, hence the *choice word* I used (which I'll admit was untactful). Nowhere did I say that I thought women should not be able to have jobs, or vote, or inherit (etc). Nowhere did I say women had to have hair of a certain length - in fact, I said that "long" can mean different things! For example, women in the 50's had hair roughly shoulder length; my point was that they looked different than men, and compared to men's hair, theirs was considerably longer.

::shrugs:: (and no, I wasn't brainwashed or anything.. learned some interesting tidbits about all the things I wasn't learning while in college, talked to people, read lots of stuff, and decided certain ideas were not what I wanted to be associated with)

again, I didn't mean to personally attack you or anyone else, and I'm sorry you interpreted it as such.

[bunnii]

ClareDee - Yes she was and probably still is a beautiful woman, I remember when she made a comeback and had quite long hair and it just didn't suit her

[KiwiLiz]

bunnii -- I agree that short hair on a woman can be very attractive. Sinead O' Connor is one woman who famously had extremely short hair, and is very beautiful.
Having seen pictures of her with longer hair, I can honestly say I thought she looked evern more beautiful with a shaved head. And maybe it's because she has such big eyes, but she certainly looks like a woman to me. I challenge anyone to watch this video of her singing, and say she's not beautiful

She does look beautiful, she has a beautiful shaped head, it would be a shame to cover it up!

I don't have long hair for traditional religious reasons, no. If the religion I grew up in required me to have long hair I think I would have cut it off in spite of it :P

I have long hair for me, I sort of feel like it's celebration of me. So I guess its sort of spiritual in way, but not really, I think.

[trolleypup]

*mod hat on*
Please keep it cool and consider carefully your use of inciteful/hurtful/harsh words.

Thanks.
*mod hat off*

[Curly Carl]

Your question is very interesting and the answers are even more fascinating.
Wel...I think our hair is a gift from god like our life is. And like in our life we should do everything possible we can do with our hait, because we have only this hair in this life

[Eirinn]

Hmm hair as an object of idolatry.... interesting

I'm a Christian myself and I wanted to ask those of you who belongs to Apostolic church why this long hair is required?

[ChloeDharma]

I was so enjoying this thread, i should start by saying that i feel hair length, gender presentation, and "sex changes" are all very personal and not really something to be imposed or judged....and in the case of sex changes very VERY complicated and if not understood then best either kept quiet about or respectfully inquired about.

Ok, as for spiritual reasons.....for me, yes definately. I really relate to the posters who said they felt it connected them to women of the past. I'm actually so glad to hear other people say this because it's something i've been giving alot of thought to recently.
I always realised that my desire for long hair came from a connection to the feminine spirit, but the extent that it made me feel connected to women of the past is a fairly new revelation for me...linked in with a belief in reincarnation that i wont go too into now.
The poster who mentioned combing hair out by the fire really struck a cord with me and scalp massage and brushing/combing i see in a similar way. The spiritual connection to growing my hair long goes further than just growing it for me, it's also my reason for wanting to use only natural products, preferably those i can make myself. Ideally i'd take this to the level of growing all the ingredients too but that's just unrealistic for me right now.
I feel that by using methods used by women ancesters (i don't just mean women i'm genetically linked to, but all women who have lived before) it somehow as i say connects me to them and their spirit but also honours them and the wisdom they passed on.
I do also feel that hair contains spiritual energy, almost like a reserve, and ideally i would like it to be untrimmed....unfortunately that hasn't worked out for me and i have had to go back to trimming, but i intend to now use lunar trimming as a method which to me creates a reverance which is in keeping with my spiritual expression, then hopefully in the future i can try going uncut again.

[kunibob]

I suppose my hair growth is for spiritual reasons, because it was something I was inspired to do when a beautiful young woman passed away recently. She had always seemed like a goddess to me with her vivacious spirit, great beauty and her long, healthy hair, and I felt that this was a way to keep alive a spark that had touched my life. This is my way of mourning her and celebrating her all at once.

If I ever do decide to cut my hair after growing it long -- probably many, many years down the road -- I will donate my length to a needy soul to pay forward the kind essence of her spirit.

While my religion does not encourage or dissuade long hair, I can understand where some religions are coming from on this, because hair growth does feel like a spiritual experience. I have friends who do not cut their hair or beards for religious reasons, and I had always wondered how that equated, but I think I understand now.

[MadHatter]

My hair isn't long for religious reasons. I don't allow for any religious teachings to govern what I do (obviously, since I don't belong to any religions, lol). I'm the ultimate authority on my actions, I answer only to myself, and I aim to please only myself.
I've always thought long hair was beautiful. I always wanted mine long, but didn't even make it to waist until very recently (though I cut back to even my hemline out). Now, just why I think it's so beautiful isn't exactly clear. I'm trying to open my mind to ideas of 'spirituality', so maybe there is some spiritual aspect to it.

[Samikha]

I suppose my hair growth is for spiritual reasons, because it was something I was inspired to do when a beautiful young woman passed away recently. She had always seemed like a goddess to me with her vivacious spirit, great beauty and her long, healthy hair, and I felt that this was a way to keep alive a spark that had touched my life. This is my way of mourning her and celebrating her all at once.

If I ever do decide to cut my hair after growing it long -- probably many, many years down the road -- I will donate my length to a needy soul to pay forward the kind essence of her spirit.

That is really beautiful, kunibob. If there is an afterlife, I think your friend is proud. It has occurred to me of late that if I ever encounter a great grief - like losing one of my parents, or another family member, or something like that - I'd probably chop my hair, because it feels right to me. I could keep track of the length and the time of passing in the same way. A mark and reminder of loss and change. It would be very symbolic, and I think it would be appropriate to me as a visual person to have a visual display of grief. But I like your way too!