Thoughts about hair and hairdressers

Who is Nat?

My name is Natalie Husk, although most people call me Nat (except my parents!). I was born and raised in Cornwall and am proud of it! I have always been involved in the church, whether going to my local village chapel in Common Moor, joining with bus loads from Cornwall at MAYC events, helping at the District Children’s Holiday or even attending Synod a few times! I am very thankful to the Cornwall District, the Liskeard & Looe Circuit and of course Common Moor chapel for being such valuable parts in my journey of faith.

Today I live in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, where I work as a youth worker for the Methodist Church. I run after school clubs, youth clubs, a youth fellowship, do outreach work and organise trips away. Not long ago I was asked by a youth group, to give them a weekly topic for reflection, an email containing something to focus them on God for the week. So every week I sit at my computer and write down my thoughts! It started quite small, with just the young people receiving them, and now lots of people of all ages find my thoughts in their email inbox!

It is a huge privilege for me to find that people enjoy and are challenged by what I have written, especially that I can now share what God has done for me with those who walked with me at the beginning of my journey. Ultimately these reflections are aimed at the young people I now work with, but if God can speak to others through them, how great is that!!

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December
Advice
I Love You

November
38. Bald is beautiful
37. Fire
36 Sleep
35 Music

October 2006
34. Stupidity
33. Painting
32. mmm Pasties
31. Built to last
30. Phlegm

September 2006
29. Meetings
28. Crime thoughts
27. Colours
26. Unwanted guests

August 2006
25. Comparison
24. Waterproof Mascara
23. Tasty MSG
22. Helplessness

July 2006
21. Attraction
20. Hair
19. Hero
18. Laughter
17. Factoids

June 2006
16. Voiceless
15. Bruises (ouch)
14. Sunburn
13. Mistakes

May 2006
12. Arms
11. Willow Tree
10. Eurovision
9. Chicken
8. Addictions

April 2006
7. Age
6. Celebrities
5. Language

March 2006
4. Commonwealth Games
3. Decisions
2. Drizzle
1. Trelawney

Hair

Grr. I hate hairdressers at the best of times, but this week my hatred grew to pure loathing! (being made to wait 45 minutes before being seen or spoken to doesn’t rate highly on my list of fun activities!) Well, it’s not the actual hairdressers themselves that I hate – very nice people I’m sure, even if they have chosen Satan’s profession! It’s the whole experience of hairdressing (or actually hair cutting as no clothing is involved) that sends chills down my spine. Let me explain…

I’m rubbish at hair. Or perhaps I’m just rubbish at my hair – if I’d been given a small amount of thinner, straight and compliant hair I’d be ok. But I haven’t, so I sit there in the chair and tell the cutter of my hair that I have vast quantities of very thick and stubbornly curly hair, and they respond with a smile that implies I’m an idiot telling them I have 2 arms and 2 legs. Then, without fail, half way through the barnet trim they state with some shock, “my how thick and curly your hair is, and you seem to have so much of it!” Well duh! Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Aside from my own hair stresses there’s the issue of feeling like all the staff are looking down at me, judging me – ‘you wear that!’ ‘you want your hair like what?’ ‘what do you mean you don’t spend 3 hours a day on your hair!’ ‘with hair that colour, why wouldn’t you want to dye it!’ ‘are you some kind of freak?’

YES!!

Why do I care what these young girls think of me? What does it matter to them or anyone what shade of colour my hair is? I have lots of (ok, some) gifts other than the gift of the hair, so why do I get so hung up on it, sitting for the entire time tense and hardly breathing?

I reckon that church can sometimes be a bit like the hairdressers (except for the fashion / style lackage at church!). Have you ever been at church when your giftings don’t seem to fit in, who you are doesn’t seem to go with the rest of the congregation. You know what you are good at and what you enjoy, but it goes unrecognised and you feel held-back, stifled and pigeonholed into something else. Maybe it’s that your faith doesn’t quite match with what those singing in the pew behind expect of you. It feels like they are looking down at you, judging you – ‘you wear that to church!’ ‘you want to do what in church?’ ‘what do you mean you don’t spend 3 hours a day in prayer!’ ‘call yourself a Christian, I don’t think so!’

If any of this registers on your radar, I’m sorry. The church is made up of imperfect people like me and we mess it up. We all have a responsibility, as parts of the body of Christ, to make church the best place on earth to be, and quite frankly, it’s not, and so I’m sorry. But please, look beyond the church experience to God who we go to meet there. The perfect, loving and understanding God who created you and your hair. Just like the hairdressers hell (or positive experience – I hear some people enjoy it!) only lasts for a short while, the change you experienced there lasts a lot longer and is clear for all to see. So your visit to church could, because of the coming together of people to worship an awesome God, create a change in us which is far reaching and plain for all to see. Meeting with God for a spiritual makeover! So are you newly permed, recently styled and swinging your hair Timotei style, or are you in need of a trim?

love nat xxx

(please don't mention the terrible haircut if you see me - I'm still traumatised!)