I would like to know if there is anything in the Bible which would support my beliefs on hair dyeing, colored contacts, and anything else that goes along with unnatural changes. I believe that God made our hair color and eye color and everything else about us for a purpose and it’s not respectful to change it. Anyways, this really bothers me because it seems that everybody does it and I would really like some feedback. Also, is it even worth it to say anything about it or does it even matter?
If there is anything in the Bible about these things I am not aware of it. God gave us dominion over the earth and commanded Adam and Eve to subdue it and rule it, which is the foundational philosophy behind science and technology.
The more important issue, though, is the reasons people would do these things. As usual, it’s what’s in the heart, our motivations, that matter. Colored contacts are a function of technology, for instance, but there’s a big difference between donning a different eye color as a touch of whimsy and fun, or doing it as part of a scheme to change one’s appearance to avoid detection during a scam such as a bank robbery.
In terms of hair color, I think it’s worth noting that usually it’s women who color their hair, and why? Because we are both taught by the culture and we recognize instinctively that beauty and femininity go together, and making oneself as beautiful as possible is part of the feminine heart. But again, the motivation makes a big difference: a woman can color her hair to “go out and get a man” instead of trusting God to make her attractive to HIS choice of a spouse. That is very different from the woman who colors her hair to keep her gray from being an obstacle in ministering to the audiences she has been called to speak to (because our culture unfortunately values younger-looking women, even women that everyone knows are over 50.) In that case, coloring her hair is her way of living out the apostle Paul’s comment in 1 Cor. 9:22 that “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” These are very real scenarios: I’m thinking of two specific women who personally told me their vastly different reasons for coloring their hair.
So the motivation makes all the difference, and as is usually the case, we can’t know what’s going on in other people’s hearts. So the better route, I think, is to just trust those decisions to the Lord and leave them there.
Sue Bohlin
P.S. For the record, my contacts are dyed light blue to make them easier to find when I drop them on the floor, and my “silvering” hair is coming in so beautifully I could never find a color that’s better than this. 🙂
Sue Bohlin
Sue Bohlin is an associate speaker/writer and webmistress for Probe Ministries. She attended the University of Illinois, and has been a Bible teacher and conference speaker for over 40 years. She is a speaker for MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers) and Stonecroft Ministries (Christian Women's Connections), and serves on the board of Living Hope Ministries, a Christ-centered outreach to those dealing with unwanted homosexuality. Sue is on the Bible.org Women's Leadership Team and is a regular contributor to Bible.org's Engage Blog. In addition to being a professional calligrapher, she is the wife of Probe's Dr. Ray Bohlin and the mother of their two grown sons. Her personal website is suebohlin.com.
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