Hair Care

How attached are you to your hair? Whoa, wait, hang on now....before you start discussing your hair loss problems with me, here’s a spot of clarification.....what I meant was, just how much do you love your hair? If I should hazard a guess, I’d say a whole lot! Well, atleast I do.
I’m blessed with thick dark hair and even as a child, I have loved my hair with all my heart. While all the princesses in my fairy tale books (including the very memorable Rapunzel) had looooooooooong, flowy locks, it was the bane of my young life that my mom didn’t seem to see things the same way. No long hair for princes to climb over for her. As far as she was concerned, long hair meant more washing, scrubbing and combing. So every month (with monotonous regularity because my hair grew like the dickens), I’d be dragged off, heels digging into the dust.......to the barber’s saloon.

No, don't re-read that....it was the barber's saloon alright, not a beauty parlour, but the barber’s saloon! My parents are a very practical couple and they didn’t see why a 7-year old had to be dragged all the way to a beauty parlour in the city when the chopping can happen just as efficiently in the friendly barber’s parlour just next door. Ok, so I wasn’t grooming to win any local beauty competitions, but still, a barber’s parlour? You guys may not think it’s such a big deal….but I’m the one that had to sit on a hard wooden seat every month and watch my lovely locks getting pruned off me like a lamb before the shearers!

And inevitably, I would return after every haircut with a jubilant father, visibly relaxed at escorting back a quiet and withdrawn child who on the way to the torture chambers had been a tornado of teeth and feet, biting, dragging and kicking all the way! And beside this victorious man would walk a solitary tearful little figure – me, drooping, wilted, staring watery-eyed at a tiny fist clutching little clumps of my massacred hair that I’d surreptitiously managed to salvage from the barber’s chair!! Yeah people, I loved my hair that much! Don’t feel too sorry for me though, ‘cos I invariably got my revenge. Now my mom wants me to have long, plaited braided hair like a traditional Tamil girl and what do I have? Shoulder-length layered cut! Hee hee!

By this time, you probably have a lifted eyebrow and a “And your point is?” look on your face. Ok then, here’s my point. Sure, I loved my hair enough to take home the remnants, but my grief lasted only a few fleeting minutes. An enticing lollipop from my mom’s mysterious candy cupboard would have had me forgetting my barber shop woes in seconds….after all, it was only hair (Tamil readers, you’ll probably get my gist!) and mine grew like someone fed it Super-Gro anyways! But the Word of God says that the Lord considers even this most superficial part of me, something precious. He cares so much about my hair that He keeps daily count - knows just how many new hairs grow and how many we lose on a daily basis! Now isn’t that awesome? I mean, like why would anyone really bother? But He does bother! Anything that has anything to do with me is His concern, however unimportant it may seem to the rest of the world.

Mothers are known for being hawk-eyed and fiercely protective. They know exactly when baby has popped a stone into his mouth and they know exactly where to hunt for the lost pacifier, stuffed animal or shoe. But even they couldn’t stand up to the attention you and I get from God! He’s constantly watching us as we trudge through life trying to do things our way (consequently messing them up), ever ready to come to our rescue even when we push Him away, planning out a future that we usually toss in the bin and simply seeking our hearts with a yearning to feel His love reciprocated!

Look at it this way people. Here we are worrying about everything from dandruff to death while God’s working quietly, calmly, unruffled and at His own pace. From the top of your head to the tip of your toes, He’s got it ALL covered! So let your hair loose (pun intended) and know that you’re loved….more than you can ever comprehend….yeah, even those of you going bald right now….it’s ok…atleast you’re making it easier for the Lord to keep count!

Matthew 10:30 - And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.