The Hair Police: Coming to a Mosque or Church near you.
 

This evening in conversing to a Christian young lady who is half Irish and half Persian ... I almost lost it.

She was relating to me her experiences about being raised in the Middle East for part of her life ...when she quipped "Then there were the Hair Police".

I did a double take when she said this ... and asked, "What did you say?"

She replied, "the 'Hair Police' are everywhere."

She then began to share various stories of how people, and particularly other women, would start yelling at her and her sisters if their hair was showing in any way. Under the law, they must keep their all of their hair covered by their veils. She said it was often frustrating for her ... as an American to deal w/ such radicalism.

I almost couldn't contain myself .. I was laughing hysterically... I knew exactly what she was talking about ... WE HAVE 'EM TOO -- was my reply ... :slaphappy

They sit in our pews during worship service inspecting every split end, bang and shoulder length hair ... state troopers from the pulpit obsess over hairstyles ... eyebrows ... hair cosmetics and more. Violators of the hair law are punished, ridiculed and ostracized.

She was puzzled.

Western Look Banned For Men In Iran

Police in Iran are cracking down on how men look, banning western hairstyles.

By FREDRIK DAHL

TEHRAN, Iran, April 29, 2007 —

http://a.abcnews.com/images/Internat..._070429_ms.jpg


Iranian police have warned barbers against offering Western-style hair cuts or plucking the eyebrows of their male customers, Iranian media said on Sunday.


The report by a reformist daily, later confirmed by an Iranian news agency, appeared to be another sign of the authorities cracking down on clothing and other fashion deemed to be against Islamic values.


"Western hair styles ... have been banned," the newspaper Etemad said in a frontpage headline.


It came a week after police launched a crackdown against the growing numbers of young women testing the limits of the law with shorter, brighter and skimpier clothing ahead of the summer months.


Under Iran's Islamic Sharia law, imposed after the 1979 revolution, women are obliged to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes to disguise their figures.


Violators can receive lashes, fines and imprisonment.


The student news agency ISNA quoted a police statement as saying: "In an official order to barber shops, they have been warned to avoid using Western hair styles and doing men's eyebrows."


Iranian young men have in recent years started paying more attention to the way they look and dress, especially in affluent parts of the capital Tehran. Spiked up hair, by using gel, is known as the Khorusi (Rooster) style and some also use make-up.


Several hairdressers for men in Tehran offer cuts in the style of Hollywood movie stars and other Western celebrities. Clients can also have their eyebrows plucked.


The head of the barbers' union, Mohammad Eftekharifard, said police had instructed it to "exercise specific regulations in barber shops that work under its supervision."


Barbers who do not follow these rules might be closed down for a month and even lose their permits to operate, Etemad quoted him as saying.
"Currently some barber shops apply make-up and use (hair) styles that are in line with those in European countries and America," Eftekharifard said.
He added: "An official order has been sent to the union ... not to apply make-up on men's faces (or) do eyebrows ... and hence the barbers are not allowed to do these things."


Since hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the presidency in 2005 promising a return to the values of the revolution, hardliners have pressed for tighter controls on what they consider immoral behaviour.

Daniel....this thread is not necessary.....



















Leave the pot stirring to me! LOL

That is what Dan Man like to do best :D

Any thoughts on the Hair Police ... their role in the Church or Mosque? Have you met an enforcer?

I am sure the hair police are out there, but we HAVE met the TV police already..... More then once.

RW, pray tell ... what were they like???

Once in Bible College, a bunch of us were out late and we got pulled over by the cops (someone threw something out one of the windows). My first reaction was, "Oh no.....my hair is down!!!" which was against JCM rules. Honestly, my first thought was that I would be in trouble with the cops for my hair!!! Then I got a good laugh out of it.:slaphappy

You were not allowed to have your hair down?
I can just imagine the thought process that went into that one....

In most cases a lot of "You know, if there was something that offended you about me, I hope you would tell me......" then there was the incident when most of us were kicked off the bible quiz team (not a great loss since we didn't even want to be ON it but it was the 'thing to do' if you were a yute back then and virtually required) for turning on the TV in a hotel room.

Some churches could use a hair police if there was enough hair to police.:winkgrin