MennoNet.com

We've had headcovering thread, threads on tattoos, threads on wearing jewelry... not to mention dress codes and so forth.

I was in a discussion with a few co-workers regarding coloring of hair, specifically women when they get older and the gray starts coming out. I know of a handful of women in semi-conservative settings that did (COB, KMF, BMA, etc) and it became evident recently when all the salons where shut down! Ironically, most gave up and just rock the gray. I also work with some men that obviously color their hair to appear younger than they are.

The poll question is more in line of trying to maintain the natural look of a person's youth, not going from a blonde to redhead or trying a "new look." Poll is open to everyone to vote and discuss as needed.

I prefer being real, natural. I could probably pass for being younger if I died my hair and beard, but why do I need to look younger?

My mom died her hair, so I'm used to it. When I was young I commented to my mom about a lady in church who was quite elderly but had bright blond hair that it looked odd. My mom said she recalled that decades later and quit dying her hair when her face started becoming quite wrinkled.

The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness. -Proverbs 16:31
I suppose if you aren’t “in the way of righteousness” anyway, then dye the hair purple.
There is a natural respect within us for people older than us, and older people white hair is a sign of age. We should wear it. When we color it we are trading this “crown of glory” for a feeble attempt at keeping what cannot be kept, to please people who do not care. To follow a youth worshiping, shallow, society that has no respect for wisdom and the signs of wisdom.

Is it wrong? Why not ask, “ Is it best”, or “why would I want to do this“?

When I was young, growing up in the MB (Mennonite Brethren), it was forbidden. (They quoted the verse about how you cannot make one hair of your head white or black. - Just thought of this, I guess that proves to all of those "Blond Jesus" fans that he was not blond.)
But it is rare that it doesn't show if someone does. (Almost) No one's hair is really all the same color, and so if it's all exactly the same shade, it doesn't look natural. But who's going for natural now-a-days in the dye my hair crowd? I saw a really strange one a couple of days ago here in Berlin. The outside was some sort of blond, and all of the underneath hair was some unnatural shade of red. Weirdest thing on earth.

I watched all summer as some female co-workers hair went from their died color to the natural gray. Most are leaving it that way now. I had to wear the "rona cut" all summer until my barber opened again. I think I may have more gray in my beard than my head, but my wife insists I keep the beard trimmed pretty tight. So I do. The things us men do for love...

steve-in-kville wrote:.... I had to wear the "rona cut" all summer until my barber opened again. ....

The only time I've ever even been in a barber shop was when I was on a crew helping to finish out the interior of a new one.

I did once try to sell my hair when I was a poor college student - they didn't take afros.... But generally during that time I would make it bounce as a walked past those places, smiling at the people inside.....

Only people who have ever cut my hair: my mom (many many times), my sister-in-law (once), my former college roommate's wife (once), myself (a few times, usually just to trim the afro around my eyes enough so that I could "see out"), another guy in the college dorm (once, just to get the back, where I couldn't see to do it myself), and my wife (many times). (My wife threatens to stop doing it, and I threaten to "just let it go" if she does.)

I know a person who has been graying prematurely, and who dyes her hair to look like her natural color, which is jet black. I have often wondered how long she will sustain this, because at a certain point, there is something really strange about a sixty year old with jet black hair. In my store, I occasionally see a 70 or 80 year old without any gray hair, and it looks pretty odd. It seems like coloring your hair to cover up gray hair kinda paints you into a corner.

I have friend who dyes her hair, and the comments she receives concerning her choice on the matter are really weird. As far as I am concerned, dying one’s hair is a personal choice same as, how different women comb their hair, (these days some of the young women choose hair styles that look like they rolled out of bed and then pinned their little veiling on the back). Dying ones hair is no different than the choices men make on what kind of haircut they receive or whether they grow a beard or not. Even the styles of beard differ.

People seem very free to tell her what they think of her dyeing her hair, yet these same people probably wouldn't tell someone"that their hair style looks like they didn't bother combing after getting out of bed". Nor would they tell a man, that he doesn't have enough facial hair to grow a beard, that his beard looks scraggly, sparse, or looks like a billy goat beard. But let a woman dye her hair.....Whew....how awful !

This friend lives in a rather common home, does not drive the latest and greatest vehicles and her and her husband have chosen to not keep up with the Lancaster County high and mighty lifestyle. She purchases her hair dye at Wal-Mart costing about $3.00 a month and does it herself. I am always amazed at the people who live in expensive houses, redecorated every few years to meet the current decoration styles, drive new expensive SUV’s, yet have the audacity to “fuss” about her spending $36.00 a year, because she has grayed prematurely and now dyes her hair.

The question is what the Bible says about it.

Incidentally, once someone in Chick-Fil-A approached my older sister and told her she should dye her hair because it’s too grey. There are a lot of worldly pressures to maintain an unnaturally youthful appearance, instead of letting a woman in her 50s look like a woman in her 50s.

Grace wrote:I have friend who dyes her hair, and the comments she receives concerning her choice on the matter are really weird. As far as I am concerned, dying one’s hair is a personal choice same as, how different women comb their hair, (these days some of the young women choose hair styles that look like they rolled out of bed and then pinned their little veiling on the back). Dying ones hair is no different than the choices men make on what kind of haircut they receive or whether they grow a beard or not. Even the styles of beard differ.

People seem very free to tell her what they think of her dyeing her hair, yet these same people probably wouldn't tell someone"that their hair style looks like they didn't bother combing after getting out of bed". Nor would they tell a man, that he doesn't have enough facial hair to grow a beard, that his beard looks scraggly, sparse, or looks like a billy goat beard. But let a woman dye her hair.....Whew....how awful !

This friend lives in a rather common home, does not drive the latest and greatest vehicles and her and her husband have chosen to not keep up with the Lancaster County high and mighty lifestyle. She purchases her hair dye at Wal-Mart costing about $3.00 a month and does it herself. I am always amazed at the people who live in expensive houses, redecorated every few years to meet the current decoration styles, drive new expensive SUV’s, yet have the audacity to “fuss” about her spending $36.00 a year, because she has grayed prematurely and now dyes her hair.

Does she paint her fingernails and wear lipstick also?