do you ever get asked this too?

[hermosamendoza]

I respect the women who grow their hair out for religous conviction and although I am Christian I do not want long hair because of a Biblical conviction but a personal beauty I feel. I love the feeling like a beautiful princess. I have had short hair all my life and when I got it BSL I cut it off.

I am not the thinnest woman but I do know that beautiful hair makes everyone beautiful.

Anyway one day at work I was a coworker asked why I did something to my hair and I started gushing about how I love long hair and this and that.

And he looked at me and said very bluntly "Do you just want that cause of your Bible?":confused:

He isn't the first to think I want my hair long because of a religious view. I wasn't so much offended but taken aback by his bluntness!
Does this happen to anyone else?

[Roseate]

When I used to wear it up all the time, I would get questions about whether it was religiously motivated. I didn't really mind; that's one reason someone might grow their hair, it just doesn't happen to be my reason!

[LisaButz2001]

Never, but he was totally rude.

[Gumball]

I can't say it's ever happened to me. I can't imagine going straight to that avenue of thought when someone likes long hair.

[UltraBella]

He is rude, sorry about is lack of manners.
No one has ever mentioned religion while asking me about my hair. They usually just ask if I have extensions to make it so thick. Ya right !

[skay]

No, no one has connected my long hair with a religion.

Yeah, it doesn't sound like he was respectful (of anything) at all.

[VitaR86]

I would have punched him in the balls for saying that. :mad:

That is nothing but a stupid stereotype. I used to help out at my church, back in the day. And I had all sorts of crazy colors going on in my hair. My priest actually loved it. Even joked around and asked me to do his hair. (He was bald BTW) He said I was "breaking the stereotype". I mean how ofton do you go to church and receive communion from someone with reddish pink hair? ;)

[Svenja]

Hmm, maybe it is because I am not Christian or very much into any other conventional religion, but I think he was not rude. Yes, he was very blunt, but I would not say he was rude. He realised you have started doing something about your hair and he figured it might have something to do with your religion. I think this is quite thoughtful. Much nicer than asking if your hair was full of extensions ^^. I feel very much like this is a compliment - or did he say it in a derrogatory manner?

[christine1989]

When my hair was at waist-hip in HS length I always got asked if I was a hippie. I never got the religious comments though (mostly because I wore a lot of mini skirts and stripper heels in HS). ;)

[HintOfMint]

When I mentioned growing out my hair, I was asked if I was doing it for cultural reasons (I'm Indian).

[Dragon]

I have never been asked that.

[julliams]

Have you perhaps been discussing religion at work lately? Do you have things around stating your religion? Otherwise I can't see any reason for making that kind of statement. I wouldn't have a clue what religion someone was unless they let me know or talked about it alot, or wore something that showed it.

[hermosamendoza]

No. I worked in a restaurant with uniforms, no jewelry allowed. He drinks a lot and wanted to know if my husband and I wanted to go out with him and his wife and I explained that we don't drink but that was months before. Who knows. I was just wondering the other day if it had happened to other people or if it was one weird instance and it seems it is :)

[bumblebums]

I wouldn't think it's a common question, but I think it is a reasonable one, if asked politely (which it doesn't sound like it was). Even if one knows very little about religious observances, it's hard not to come by at least some references to Sikhs and Pentecostals and other religions where uncut hair has a special significance.

[jane53]

I was at a raucous New Year's Eve party once. My hair was down, tailbone length, but I was also wearing a gold sequined bustier with lots of cleavage, very slim black pants, spiky heels, lots of jewelry, full party makeup, and red nail polish. I was also doing shots of tequila.

This idiot guy came up to me, looked at my hair, and said "You must be Church of God."

Holding my tequila shot glass to my bright red lips with my red nails, I glanced down at my cleavage barely restrained by gold sequins and said, "Uh. No."

[Sissy]

I've never had anyone connect my long hair to religion. I find it strange that he would wonder that... so many people have long hair for so many reasons.

[tinti]

No, never. But then again my hair has never been longer than it is now, and I consider that short.

[Tiina]

I've never been asked this. Partially because my hair has not been long in my adult life and partially because neither Estonia nor Norway has significantly large religious groups that are known to favour women growing their hair long.

[jane53]

I think my getting asked that stupid question has something to do with the fact that I live in Alabama.

[In2wishin]

I was at a raucous New Year's Eve party once. My hair was down, tailbone length, but I was also wearing a gold sequined bustier with lots of cleavage, very slim black pants, spiky heels, lots of jewelry, full party makeup, and red nail polish. I was also doing shots of tequila.

This idiot guy came up to me, looked at my hair, and said "You must be Church of God."

Holding my tequila shot glass to my bright red lips with my red nails, I glanced down at my cleavage barely restrained by gold sequins and said, "Uh. No."

Gotta love the idiots....especially when imbibing :rollin:

[spidermom]

Nope - never got asked that one.

[missjessiecakes]

When I was little my hair was very very thin. Like see through to scalp thin so I wore a whole lot of bandannas so my scalp wouldnt get sun burnt. My mom often joined me so I wouldn't feel awkward and we were at the lake and people made fun of me because they though we were in some sort of religious cult. At the tender age of 7 I told them not only was agnostic but they were behaving like children and they should grow up and find some tolerance of different people or the world was going to eat them alive. Then I told them that their mothers would be ashamed of their rudeness.*

^And that is what happens when you let a child read books that dont include spot the dog, and when you the parent have 2 transgender friends that babysit and a gay best friend that enjoys drag. Or maybe thats just what happens when you have a kid that never cried and was extremely logical.


Back to what you were saying it may be a strange question and I believe it could've been asked in a more polite manner.


(*Yes I did know the word agnostic but not tolerance so that was shortened as I had to use a bunch of small words to convey my meaning.)

[Deb!]

he was very blunt, but I would not say he was rude.

I also don't understand how asking a question can be construed as rude. :shrug:

[Anje]

Never heard anyone connect my hair to anything religious. My hair's longer than most, but long hair isn't unusual around here.

[pennylane]

Never been asked that... i would hate to be asked that... :eek: I personally don't like it when people associate long hair with religious cults. :confused:

But then my hair is not extremely long, it's a little layered on the front and with a few highlights... so

[DARKMARTIAN]

Ive too have never been asked that...

However i could never get past 1 Corinthians 11;14

[Ravenwaves 88]

I was at a raucous New Year's Eve party once. My hair was down, tailbone length, but I was also wearing a gold sequined bustier with lots of cleavage, very slim black pants, spiky heels, lots of jewelry, full party makeup, and red nail polish. I was also doing shots of tequila.

This idiot guy came up to me, looked at my hair, and said "You must be Church of God."

Holding my tequila shot glass to my bright red lips with my red nails, I glanced down at my cleavage barely restrained by gold sequins and said, "Uh. No."

Oh My Goodness Jane.......hilarious! :D

My hubby jokes about me being a hippie.....but I don't mind that....hippies rock. I guess my hair isn't perceived as long yet to get those kinds of comments.

[Alvrodul]

I have never been asked that. I do not think I would care for such a comment or question, though, and would probably give an answer along the lines of, No, I am a happy heathen! :twisted:

[jane53]

I have never been asked that. I do not think I would care for such a comment or question, though, and would probably give an answer along the lines of, No, I am a happy heathen! :twisted:

That, essentially, was my reply. Using sign language.

[EdG]

I once received the comment "You must be very religious".

My reply: "Uhhh... no." :rolleyes:

That happened only once. The usual comment is that I must be a musician! That too is a wrong guess. :silly:
Ed

[Herb]

I have. Once I was asked by a close friend if I had long hair because I'm a Christian. She told me another friend of hers says she can't cut it because of her Christian faith. I thought it was odd. Maybe some churches adhere to the Nazirite vow? Who knows, who knows.

[Rennire]

I have been asked twice if I have long (black) hair because I am a witch. Once by an aunt and once by a complete stranger. I thought it was really weird...

[princessp]

This idiot guy came up to me, looked at my hair, and said "You must be Church of God."

Holding my tequila shot glass to my bright red lips with my red nails, I glanced down at my cleavage barely restrained by gold sequins and said, "Uh. No."

Lol, Amen Jane!

I've never been asked this, I'm hoping most people get I'm a godless heathen :p

[Themyst]

I think some people are just buffoons no matter what the case is. I gained a good amount of weight when pregnant with my son, and after his birth, took my very good time losing it. A person who saw me before and after commented - right out in the open - that I looked great, but did I lose the weight because of an illness or something? WTH??!! I think some people do it just to be an *insert donkey synonym here* and some people are just socially clueless.

[DARKMARTIAN]

I have been asked twice if I have long (black) hair because I am a witch. Once by an aunt and once by a complete stranger. I thought it was really weird...

Ive been asked straight up if I worship SATAN before!!!

People think that just because someone has long black hair and weird eyes in some photos that your automatically some evil war monger or something.....:(

[triumphator!]

I had a roommate my sophomore year of college with beautiful 2a waist length hair, and people would say, "ohh you live with the crazy Christian girl, does she drag you to church?" and I would be all ":confused:" until they unravelled their assumed characterization of her and I happily stomped on it.

[Capybara]

I don't think that he was being particularly rude, I mean, many people do grow their hair out for religious reasons, and different religions. There is absolutely nothing wrong with following your personal beliefs. He was probably just curious. It would be rude if he said it in a derogatory way, though.

[Peter]

Nope, I've never had anyone associate my hair with a religion. Actually, until seeing topics on this forum, I didn't even know that super-long hair was associated with any division of Christianity.

[GlassEyes]

I don't think my hair is long enough for it yet--and I don't think I'd get asked this too often. I think I'll just keep getting 'is it natural' more than anything else. XD;

[Igor]

I have to agree that it was blunt, but not rude.
Maybe except for the “just” that he inserted in the question, it’s a pretty logical conclusion.
After years of LHC and reading thousands of members reasoning’s for having long hair, it’s still a reasoning lots of members give. Well, maybe not the sole reason, but definitely as a plus for them :shrug: A lot of members have a biblical quote about hair being a glory to women etc in their signature, so I would easily conclude that myself

To be honest I’m not sure if someone ever asked me this, it was definitely a weird conversation. She either hinted that it was something religious or some sort of sexual and/or f.e.t.i.s.h. thing between me and my boyfriend at that time!
I was being asked about my hair care routine and this woman asked “So the only one that ever sees your hair down is your boyfriend?”
I replied yes without thinking (Well that is the truth…) and then she winked at me with this weird “I know what you’re doing there” grin and walked away

Most of all, it made me think she was a pervert… :rolleyes:

[hermosamendoza]

well he was kind of snippy or sarcastic, I don't know how to put it exactly.
But there are several different religous groups where we live that don't cut their hair. But their hair is to their feet and mine was barley past BSL

And the reason they give for this is that in 1 Corithians it says that a woman's hair is her crown and glory and that she should have her head covered when she prays and that men should not have long hair. But back then short hair for women was shoulder length or so and normal hair for men was shoulder lengthish. Many churches use this to say that women have to wear a veil over their head inside the church so they can pray, others wear long hair and the pastors say its a sin to even cut the tips.

My husband like long hair but even he believes you should trim the ends and take care of it cause otherwise there is NO POINT in having it long. His liking long hair has nothing to do with the Bible just an appreciation for it.

[luckyduck]

I think you may have made an impression on him when you said you didn't drink, and he has been thinking about it ever since. He may not have run across many people like you two, and be is trying to figure it out.

[jane53]

Well, I have very long hair. And I don't drink because it gives me migraines. But I'm a freakin' heathen!

[squiggyflop]

um no.. no one ever really asks questions except for the odd "how long did it take you to grow it?".. and then they act like im lying when i tell them 3 years.. as if my length isnt attainable in 3 years.. ugh and then they get more unhappy when i answer their follow up "and you didnt trim it in that time?".. right about the time i say ive chopped off 21 inches during the 3 years they act all cold toward me..

but no.. no one asks if its for religion..

[jane53]

As I've said elsewhere, I've had long hair for over 44 years. I've lived in Alabama for 29 years. In the years I lived in the northern, midwestern, and northeastern part of the U.S., I never got those religion questions about hair. Just since I've lived here. If someone in New York or Connecticut or Washington asked me such a question, I think I'd just give up and jump from Rapunzel's tower. I've come to expect the nonsense here.

[Jezerellica]

Yes, people have asked this as well as, "is all that yours?" As if it were extensions.

People can't help saying something stupid sometimes. He sounds clumsy, but I think he was admiring it. Just my opinion.

The first time I saw the Pentecostal girls in high school at a choir competition between schools. I could not help staring. I thought they were the most beautiful girls in our very large (several thousand) gathering. They won my small group catagory and deserved it completely. It has been 25 years and I will never forget it. Such beauty inside and out.


Lol, Amen Jane!

I've never been asked this, I'm hoping most people get I'm a godless heathen :p

You guys are killing me! :eyebrows:

I was raised quite conservative and think is is hilarious the assumptions people make. Great little stories!

[pepperminttea]

I've never heard that suggestion, but I think growing for religious reasons is less common on this side of the pond. I know how you feel about it making you beautiful though; I'm no small woman either, and my hair really does boost my self confidence.

[SpeakingEZ]

I think the question he asked was rude for two reasons:

"Do you JUST want that cause of YOUR Bible?"

"Just" has already been discussed by previous posts. It implies not only that there could be no other justified reason but that the reason he is implying is barely justified.

"Your," however, is the one that really stood out to me. By using the word "your" instead of "the" he implies that the OP follows it as her religious text and therefore assumes that she is religious by asking the question at all. This makes his entire question a fallacy, as if he had asked, "do you STILL cheat on your taxes?" She could say yes or no but she would still be trapped into admitting that she holds the Bible as her own. She has to choose between correcting this and answering the question.

Secondly, "your" implies that it is no one else's Bible, or at least not his. He was using his false, unwarranted assumption to put up a wall between them.
---

To answer the OP's question, though, I have been asked that before, but mostly because I wear a lot of long skirts and don't show much skin (although most of my tops are skin-tight). It's often asked in a more casual way though, such as, "are you religious?"

I got this question much more before I started dying my hair and straightened it into a short, broken mess.

I can't figure out how to delete this post

[Igor]

"Your," however, is the one that really stood out to me. By using the word "your" instead of "the" he implies that the OP follows it as her religious text and therefore assumes that she is religious by asking the question at all. This makes his entire question a fallacy, as if he had asked, "do you STILL cheat on your taxes?" She could say yes or no but she would still be trapped into admitting that she holds the Bible as her own. She has to choose between correcting this and answering the question.

Secondly, "your" implies that it is no one else's Bible, or at least not his. He was using his false, unwarranted assumption to put up a wall between them.

I don’t know about this one. There are many, many interpretations of the bible, so using “the” bible could be incorrect. “You” as in your personal relationship with your faith and your personal understanding and attitude to the bible would be a surprisingly elegant way of formulating it, but after reading Hermosamendozas description of this man I doubt it was meant like that :lol:

It’s not meant to argue against you, just wanted to make a point in extension of it. At least that’s what all my religious friends say: Faith is highly personal and no two people will agree 100% on everything related to their religion :wink:

[Gwendolene]

I mean how ofton do you go to church and receive communion from someone with reddish pink hair? ;)

I <3 that!!

[maybe sparrow]

Nope. Maybe it's my lack of modest clothing.

[SpeakingEZ]

I don’t know about this one. There are many, many interpretations of the bible, so using “the” bible could be incorrect. “You” as in your personal relationship with your faith and your personal understanding and attitude to the bible would be a surprisingly elegant way of formulating it, but after reading Hermosamendozas description of this man I doubt it was meant like that :lol:

It’s not meant to argue against you, just wanted to make a point in extension of it. At least that’s what all my religious friends say: Faith is highly personal and no two people will agree 100% on everything related to their religion :wink:


Don't worry, I don't take opinions as attacks against me! I'm actually happy someone else put some thought into it.

To clarify, I'm not religious and don't hold one religious text over another.

I guess if he said "religion" instead of "Bible" I would have taken it differently. I've been taught to relate "Bible" to Christianity, in whatever form although the word is used for Judaism as well. It seemed that by using this word he was being rather specific.

However, I could be using my own preconceived notions that people around a longhaired person would see her/him as the "crazy Christian," as a previous poster put it!

[florenonite]

I was at a raucous New Year's Eve party once. My hair was down, tailbone length, but I was also wearing a gold sequined bustier with lots of cleavage, very slim black pants, spiky heels, lots of jewelry, full party makeup, and red nail polish. I was also doing shots of tequila.

This idiot guy came up to me, looked at my hair, and said "You must be Church of God."

Holding my tequila shot glass to my bright red lips with my red nails, I glanced down at my cleavage barely restrained by gold sequins and said, "Uh. No."

:spitting:

That's hilarious!

[Sunsailing]

I don't think the question was rude. But maybe the way it was worded could've been better.

People probably think the opposite of me, because some of those same faiths want men to have short hair. They would probably be surprised to discover that I am a KofC. (Even more surprised to see this long haired guy walking around with a sword ;) )

[Unzadi]

I've had the mirror image version of this; while chatting with the clerk in a local donut shop, she asked me if I was pagan. I said no. She asked if I was sure. Umm, yeah, pretty sure. I was on my way to church at the time, actually. But...but...I had long red hair and was wearing a black t-shirt and broomstick skirt and sandals and funky jewelry. Uh huh. Normal attire for me.

Different time, similar outfit, at an RWA meeting. New prospective member comes in, and as I was hospitality chair at the time, greeting was my job. Walk over and say hi. She is also wearing a long black dress and funky jewelry, also long haired (curly and black.) We clicked immediately, and I showed her how to help stuff the gift bags for an upcoming event, chattering the whole while. We felt pretty comfortable sharing personal information, and she asked if I'd ever felt unwelcome in a group because of my religion.

Since I had recently left a writing group partly due to that reason (I have friends of many different and no faiths, but that particular group had some stinky things to say about a very important part of my life, so buh-bye to them) and shared my experience. We had a good laugh that she was talking about being Wiccan and getting guff from Christians and I was talking about being a Christian getting guff from Wiccans and stayed close friends until her hubby got new orders and was stationed elsewhere.

Oddly enough, I've never had someone assume I am Christian b/c of my long hair. I am Christian and I do have long hair, but those are independent facts.

[rags]

Yes, I've gotten this question quite often. It's because we have quite a large Pentacostal population in this area, and my normal attire is ankle to floor length skirts, and a fairly modest top (ie., no tank tops usually in public). I am a Christian, though I have left the church (yep, it was one founded on Pentacostal beliefs), but that's not why I have long hair now. I don't find anything wrong with the question unless they do ask in an insulting manner, as the OP said her questioner did. That would bother me too.

[jane53]

Yes, I've gotten this question quite often. It's because we have quite a large Pentacostal population in this area, and my normal attire is ankle to floor length skirts, and a fairly modest top (ie., no tank tops usually in public). I am a Christian, though I have left the church (yep, it was one founded on Pentacostal beliefs), but that's not why I have long hair now. I don't find anything wrong with the question unless they do ask in an insulting manner, as the OP said her questioner did. That would bother me too.


Speaking from Alabama, and having gotten the question, I'd say it's a southern cultural assumption.

[Sunsailing]

Speaking from Alabama, and having gotten the question, I'd say it's a southern cultural assumption.

I'm up here in the North. I'd say it was an assumption up here too, because there are a good variety of religions here.

It's more of an observation. When I see extreme long hair and a skirt, then the odds are good that it is connected to religion. Thus far in a couple of decades of teaching, there has been a 100% connection between a student who always wears a skirt with long hair and that family's religion. And there is nothing wrong about that!

[henna4grey]

Anyway one day at work I was a coworker asked why I did something to my hair and I started gushing about how I love long hair and this and that.

And he looked at me and said very bluntly "Do you just want that cause of your Bible?":confused:



I do think his question was rude. Hermosamendoza "gushed about how she loves long hair," and IMO his question meant to put her words in doubt; that is, he was indirectly saying she was lying.

[FrannyG]

I've never been asked such a question, and I would be very surprised to hear it. It's just not an assumption I've ever heard made where I live. We have such a variety of cultures and religions that very few people make such assumptions.

[Paniscus]

I don't think the question in and of itself is rude at all. Curiosity and asking questions and learning about things in life is what makes the world spin. Of course, if he had that snarling, ick tone to his question, then maybe. I have a friend who is missing his legs, and he said the worst thing people do is NOT ASK what happened, and ignore him instead. He said he would rather talk about it and educate people than pretend it doesn't exist.

Nope, never been asked the question. I wish I would be!! Might open up some interesting dialog, and I'm always up for that!

[senorasunny]

Nope, although my hair is not super long yet (just about BSL). Some people need a mouth filter!

[princessp]

Speaking from Alabama, and having gotten the question, I'd say it's a southern cultural assumption.

I'm not in the South and we actually do have quite a few religious folks around here too. I try to avoid them like the plague, but they find me. Don't worry I am kind, but it seems the fundamentalists here love to corner me and attempt to convince me to believe their horribly discriminating and divisive religious ideas (run away!) :run: So I am often harassed by them, but luckily I am never mistaken for them.

ETA: As for me, I would be offended by the question because I happen to think the presence of organized religion (of any kind) is one of the biggest obstacle facing contemporary civilization and our planet. I am not talking about religious/spiritual people or the belief in the divine, I am talking about institutionalized religions. Since this thread is not necessarily about religion I won't go into detail. But I imagine this is why many people would be offended if someone implied that a choice was made based on anything but personal preferences.

[Othala]

Due to my ethnicity/race, people ask me if I have long hair because it's an "Indian woman thing"....nope.

[paperwhite]

Nope, I've never been asked about my religious convictions in respect to the length of my hair. I wear it up constantly so the length isn't seen much, but even whit wearing it up all the time the question has not arisen. Not to my face, anyway ;)

[evampr18]

you know what? here in miami people love long hair. if anyone complains about someones long hair its jealousy. when i talk about growing out my hair my family throws in my face that i used to have long hair and screwed it up. i had almost hip length hair at 18 years old and then cut it to a short bob. and now 2 years later its only bsl. psh.

[Dars]

No, this is the first time I've "heard" of long hair being associated with that. Then again, I live in Ausland.

[ibleedlipstick]

I have been asked twice if I have long (black) hair because I am a witch. Once by an aunt and once by a complete stranger. I thought it was really weird...


Ive been asked straight up if I worship SATAN before!!!

People think that just because someone has long black hair and weird eyes in some photos that your automatically some evil war monger or something.....:(



I had an acquaintance from my parent's church come up to me when I was out shopping one day, and said "So your pagan now." Not a question, simply stating a fact, like there was no doubt. I had actually left the church because I had been an atheist for years, and had reached the age where my parents couldn't force me to go any longer.

I, however, replied with this: "No, actually, I'm a Satanist, and I am offended by your assumption. Please, go educate yourself."- immature, yes. But the look on her face was worth it at the time.

Seriously, I make a change in my style and it instantly has to be related to my religious beliefs?

I am somewhat ashamed about it now though....

[eiwonob]

It happened to me today. One big friend of mine was playing with my hair and said "oh, your hair is so long!"... i told her "yes, and i want to go longer :)"... she replied, "oh noo... don't do this, you will look like one of those christian girls *disgusted face* ".
I'm sad that such estereotypes exist, and even more of their derogatory meanings. :/

[slythwolf]

Only one person has asked me if I have long hair for religious reasons. It was not polite of me, but I burst out laughing. She couldn't have known I was an atheist.

[Gypsygirl]

My aunt once asked me whether my hair was "that long" because of "any of those Neo-Pagan ideas" of mine. Made me smile... ;)