Is It A Must For Nuns To Cut Their Hair

[TheresaThoma]

I'm sure bad veil days happen.

 

My thoughts on cutting one's hair. I think the symbolisim is wonderful. In the Bible it is written that a woman's glory is her hair so to offer that up as a sacrifice is just perfect.

On the practical side having sorter hair is much easier to deal with. I have thick hair so washing it, brushing it, and pulling it back (braid, bun etc) can take a bit. I would much rather keep it short and not have to worry about it being presentable.

[maximillion]

I am posting this link as there are a few photos  ( page three I think) of 'le sacrifice de la chevelure' (the offering of the hair).

 

In this instance only a snippet is cut off in public - I don't know if that long hair is then shorn in the vestry where they retire to be fully clothed. Maybe so. I know that was the custom in my community.

 

http://www.icrsp.org/Pages/Photos-2013.php?nom_dossier=Prise-dhabit-bq&num_page=1

[maximillion]

You can also see it here:

 

 

 

http://tradvocations.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/reception-of-habit_22.html

[Lil'Nun]

When I first started discerning this issue bothered me a bit. I have quite long hair and I wasn't keen on the notion of having it cut off. I think that must have been vanity. Looking back I realise that if I was reluctant to sacrifice my hair, perhaps I hadn't done with discerning. Now I know that to enter is to sacrifice everything as you sacrifice your very self . So that may well include my hair. I'm cool with that. However, I do have very, very willful hair. It curls and sticks out in all directions. I have tried having it short and without daily calming, heat treating and styling it just looks like a ball of frizz. If it is long I can just tie it back and that is easier. So I would prefer, to save time, to either leave it long enough to tie back or a buzz cut. Either will be fine.

[Egeria]

While none of this is essential, I think that Lil'Nun makes an important point that short hair is not necessarily easier. It all depends on your hair. I used to have short hair before entering, but have the sort of hair that, to look half decent short actually needs more attention (of course that also depends on whether one wears veils, and the sort of veils one wears, and what sort of hair works - and does not work! - for the sort of veils that still show hair, which is another story...). The simplest thing was simply to let it grow so that I can tie it up and forget about it.

[cmaD2006]

Well the last community I entered required postulants to cut their hair off. It was done the day before entering postulancy.

The haircut was sooooo bad that my hair growth was stunted until I returned to the US and got a good cut. Oh and the pictures on my passport and my license are horrendous because of the hair!

[4LoveofJMJ]

I once asked a sister I knew if her hair was cut underneath her veil and she said that she doesn't because her hair would be too wild unless she braided it, that most of her community did not have short hair for the same reason. They had the type of veil that showed some hair in the front so she always had some wisps of hair that always broke free and stood straight up. By the end of a busy day it was quite a sight! :D So I can understand why some may forgo getting it cut. :)

Personally I think that the hair cutting is a beautiful part of the ceremony. If a girl's hair is considered her beauty then it makes her sacrifice that much more beautiful. To give up something that the world considers a beauty for the inner beauty of which only Christ can see.

[Pia Jesu]

[attachment=3232:IHM.jpg]

 

An IHM sister once told me that when they wore the old habit, their heads were completely shaved -- no snippet removed or cropped haircut -- but bald!  I also read online that certain Passionist nuns still shave their heads.  Maybe someone can verify this!

 

 

[miserere55]

In the Monastery where I was, the postulants could not cut there hair.  It needed to be somewhat long for the Clothing ceremony.  We wore bridal gowns and the nuns wanted the postulants hair to look nice.  Then at the clothing ceremony the hair was cut short to the head.  Once we professed our first vows we were required to keep our head shaved.  It was actually more practical, because it is hot with hair underneath the headcover and veil, especially in summer.

 

Probably most Franciscan communities cut hair, even if jjust a small snippet as a symbol, since St. Francis cut St. Clare's hair.

[4LoveofJMJ]

I wonder how short the communities who don't have the full on veils cut their hair. Like the dsmme, tors, sisters of life, or the daughters of st paul. Anybody?

[Sister Marie]

I wonder how short the communities who don't have the full on veils cut their hair. Like the dsmme, tors, sisters of life, or the daughters of st paul. Anybody?

 

As long as it is neat and tidy under the veil it probably doesn't really make a difference in communities where some hair is shown.  A one-size-fits-all never really works because some sisters have curly hair while others have straight or wavy... usually when hair is shown neatness is the deciding factor.

 

I'm not speaking for a particular community but as a sister who shows some hair but not all.

[sharon]

Read in the Bible what God says about long hair and stop thinking the made up human rules of catholics are from the Lord because most of them are not

[Maggyie]

Sharon, you should read in the Bible what the Lord says about binding and loosing

[Nunsuch]

Sharon, you do realize that this is a Catholic phorum? If you came here to lecture Catholics on how they are "not of God," you are going to find yourself both isolated and in a minority of one. I notice this is your first post--perhaps you should read some of the pinned posts at the top of the page?

 

[veritasluxmea]

Heh. Ignorance is bliss. 

In the community I'm discerning with, it's pretty optional. Whatever is easiest for you to manage.