To Hair or Not to Hair?

I've been growing my hair out recently. Or, not so recently, depending on how you look at it. Since about April of last year, or around 9 months now. "Out" is also a very apt term, since my hair doesn't grow long, it just grows out. And up. It looks vaguely like a character from a 70's movie that I can't remember the title of. The lead character is this dorky kid who makes friends with the bully and helps him rebuild a motorcycle, or something like that. Anyway, he cries a lot. My hair looks like his. Which is good, or bad, depending on how you look at it.

If you look at it like me, which is in the mirror generally only once or twice a day, it seems fine when it's still wet from the shower and I leave the house. Then, when I return home after a day of meeting with important people, giving lectures and some very intense personal discipleship to the students, and take the time to look in the mirror whilst brushing my teeth, I have a moment of "What the heck is that on top of my head?"

So every night I swear I'm going to shave it all off, then every morning I think "Eh, not so bad."

Lydia steadfastly refuses to comment on this issue. She will neither say yea or nay to the hair, probably because I have her trained that it is my one (ha!) area of insecurity and that I'll break down and cry like the aforementioned 70's movie character if she says it doesn't look good. So she's no help.

While we're on the topic of hair, Lydia is talking about getting dreadlocks. Which is fine with me, she can do what she wants. I merely pointed out to her that I have not ever seen a white person with dreadlocks that look good on them. Ever. She doesn't seem fazed. I'm still in denial about it.

So what am I to do? Randomly stop people in the middle of a conversation and say "Do you think my hair looks good? Or should I just shave it all off?" What if they expect me to return the favor and I'm forced to squirm uncomfortably, look at my shoes and say "Looks fine to me..." I don't think I could handle that kind of pressure.

So the hair stays. Or maybe not. No, no, it's definitely going.

Maybe.