The Wikiness

The 1964 photograph shows mom’s hair appropriately covered on her way into church. Once seated next to my father in the pews, all the ladies surrounding her will have their heads similarly covered.

Later, in the late 1960s, I notice some women wlll daringly sport lace doilies pinned on their heads–coverings in-name-only, for one totally saw the woman’s hair beneath. Bible-believing women knew that only a hat or scarf’s more complete coverage was in accordance with scripture. 

The apostle Paul tells the Corinthians how worship should intersect with head covering: “Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head,” Paul writes in verse 4 of first Corinthians 11. “But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered,” he tells them in verse 5, “dishonors her head—it is the same as having her head shaved.”

Yikes. Having a shaved head, you may remember from Deuteronomy 21, is a most dishonorable state. It is how the Lord has the men of Isreal process the captive women they take to wife. Shave them. The chapel that Mom is entering bases all its important decisions, its male board of elders will tell you, on the Bible. 

Mom would be seen as a proper Christian woman in this assembly. She has come on this Spring day in an outfit. Pink gloves and necklace match her hat, which covers all but the edge of what Paul in that same chapter of Corinthians calls “her glory,” her hair. In the Sunday morning sun, an arc of copper-toned hair peaks out under her hat. 

Mom’s natural color was “dirty blonde,” so perhaps she was influenced by the 1964 Miss Clairol ad, the one that slyly asks, “Does she or doesn’t she?… only her hairdresser knows for sure!” 

Mom was not above using cosmetics to accentuate her beauty. She was like many pre-feminist American “housewives” of her time, kept ignorant and afraid of aging and disappointing her husband, whose legal and financial privilege superseded hers well into the 1970s, and whose professional life was strictly demarcated from “women’s work” and the home. 

Mom was the perfect target for the ad’s insinuating question:

What does your hair do for you? Is it the most becoming shade it can be? Maybe you’ve hesitated because you have a thing about naturalness. Many women do until they realize that with Miss Clairol they can not only brighten their own shade but go lighter or darker and still have color that seems completely natural. That’s because with Miss Clairol, the color is always soft, ladylike, lovely in every light. And the hair itself seems shinier, full of bounce and body. What’s more, Miss Clairol completely covers gray. Does it so beautifully that many women tell us after using Miss Clairol they can no longer tell where the gray was. Why not try it yourself? Today. So quick and easy, you’ll love it. 

Poor mom. Under her dyed locks she has a lot on her hands. She holds my two-year old  sister Sarah in her left arm, and with her pink-gloved right, she pulls a reluctant me toward the church doors.

My father must have been amused by my futile rebellion. Under my crew-cut hair, my three-year old face looks hopeless and pained at being dragged here against my will. 

Dad turned with his Minolta 35 mm and captured this snapshot: