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Summary
- In the Bible, hair is a sign of honour and of the life God gives, and what people do with it says something about what they give to God.
- A Nazirite let his or her hair grow for the length of the vow and burned it on the altar fire when the vow ended.
- Samson’s strength never lived in his hair: Judges says the LORD had departed from him, and the strength came back when he prayed.
- Proverbs calls gray hair a crown of glory when it is found in the way of righteousness, and God promises to carry us even to old age.
- Shaving or tearing out the hair showed grief, as with Job and Ezra, and a forced shave was a public shame.
- Most churches set no rule on hair length; the UPCI asks women not to cut their hair and men to keep it short.
- The veil is a separate question: the Catholic Church says that rule no longer binds, and Orthodox and Presbyterian practice varies.
- Paul calls long hair a shame for a man, yet Nazirites grew theirs, and Christians weigh the two differently.
- The Gospels never describe Jesus’ hair, and Jesus was a Nazarene, from Nazareth, not a Nazirite.
- Jesus said the very hairs of our heads are numbered, and the Bible gives no fixed meaning to hair in dreams.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations from the King James Version: Numbers 6:2–3, 5, 18; Judges 13:5; 16:17, 19–20, 22, 28; 1 Samuel 1:11; 14:45; 2 Samuel 10:4–5; Ezra 9:3; Job 1:20; Proverbs 16:31; 20:29; Leviticus 19:32; Genesis 42:38; Isaiah 3:24; 46:4; Jeremiah 7:29; 23:28; Daniel 4:33; 7:9; Matthew 2:23; 5:36; 10:29–31; 11:19; Luke 7:37–38, 44; 21:16–19; Acts 27:20, 34, 44; 1 Corinthians 11:14–15; 1 Thessalonians 5:21; 1 Timothy 2:9; 1 Peter 3:3–4; Revelation 1:14. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+6&version=KJV
- United Pentecostal Church International, 2023 Articles of Faith, “Holiness.” https://dmc.upci.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2023-UPCI-ARTICLES-OF-FAITH.pdf
- United Pentecostal Church International, “General Superintendent: David K. Bernard.” https://upci.org/general-superintendent/
- David K. Bernard, Practical Holiness: A Second Look, chapter 9, “Hair.” https://s3.amazonaws.com/mychurchwebsite/c2279/hair_-_practical_holiness_david_bernard_1.pdf
- Mennonite Confession of Faith (1963), Article 14, “Symbols of Christian Order,” as published by Skyline Mennonite Church. https://skylinemennonite.org/beliefs/confession-of-faith/full-1963-mennonite-confession-of-faith/
- Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective (1995), Introduction, Mennonite Church USA. https://www.mennoniteusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Confession-of-Faith-In-a-Mennonite-Perspective.pdf
- Matthew Poole’s Commentary, 1 Corinthians 11:14, on Bible Hub. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_corinthians/11-14.htm
- Thomas Hopko, The Orthodox Faith, Volume II, “Vestments,” Orthodox Church in America. https://www.oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/worship/the-church-building/vestments
- Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Inter Insigniores, 15 October 1976. https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19761015_inter-insigniores_en.html
- “Do women need to cover their heads in Orthodox churches?,” St. Michael Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church, Beaumont, Texas, 17 December 2025. https://stmichaeltx.org/orthodox-101/worship-services/do-women-need-to-cover-their-heads-in-orthodox-churches/
- “Head Coverings for women,” Question and Answer, Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 29 April 2007. https://opc.org/qa.html?question_id=244
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