Here, There, or SomeHAIR in Guatemala

12 months of hair growth

Starting from scratch, last fall.

I wore my head bald for 30 months and have been re-growing it now for 12. This means that I haven't had a haircut for three and a half years. At least, not a scissor cut. 

The first couple of months weren't all that difficult, I could purchase a local hair-slick product down here called, "Monkey Snot" and make it look intentionally spiked or tightly smoothed down. But then came the awkward months.

My hair is very fine and has a tendency to stick straight up like bristles on a wire brush. When it was around 2-3 inches long, this was very un-cool. I would paste it down with Monkey Snot and sneak some of Kellie's hairspray in an attempt to tame my blow-fish look, but by lunchtime I was in full chia pet stage.

Soon after it this was the sideburn stage. The hair in front of my ears was ridiculously long and untrimmed, but not long enough to tuck behind my ears. This gave me the appearance of a short cropped girl with a really bad haircut. The students I worked with took great joy in telling me I was a chica. When I tried to explain that I was growing it long enough to put behind my ears they would click their tongues, shake their heads, and say, "Nah. You need a haircut."

Thankfully, over the summer months it finally became long enough to stay behind the ears with a little product help (thanks Shawn & Kayci Roh). This past week I was preaching to the senior high students in chapel when I was suddenly asked if I could "turn around." When I turned back, the students told me that I looked like Brad Pitt... "from behind!" Weirdest comment I've ever received.

So, I'm not sure why I started this series on the blog about my hair, but it inexplicably is my most read series ever. I'm not really happy about that. I suppose it is interesting to see a man go bald and then go long-hair? Honestly I don't know too many who have done this.

For whatever reason, I seem to like the addition of a bow-tie with the extra hair. I learned how to make a bow-tie out of a regular tie, and so now I wear nothing but the bows. I feel like I need a six-shooter on my hip, but Guatemala frowns on foreigners with guns.

And so here I am, some-hair in Guatemala, you know... that preacher with the long hair and earrings. Oddly, God has blessed our work, and we are thankful to be taking these steps of obedience. The student ministry is exploding, our church is growing, we're successfully booking short term mission teams for 2015, and we're kicking off a new internship program as well.

Somehair in Guatemala... who knew?