Finding Your Shape

by Gina Welborn

I got a haircut last week.

Fascinating, you say. No, not really, I answer. However I will admit that it'd been 18 months since my last haircut so I was rather in need of one.

I'd been thinking about getting my hair cut for about four months. The problem is, well, was that I really wasn't sure how I wanted my hair cut, so what was I to say to the beautician. Just a little off the ends? A 2012 Rachel? Surprise me?

Well, after we had a yard sale three weeks ago, in frustration (or maybe exhaustion), I cut four or five inches off the length. Not too shabby of a job I might say . . . as long as I kept my head at a slight angle. Take it from me, keeping one's head at an angle leads to odd questions from one's family. Usually the question is, "Mom, why are you looking at me like that?" Oh, honey, I'm awed with how you've grown. Then I'd smile.

Gullible children, sadly, do not make up for having uneven hair. Plus you can only smile so many times before people start asking what you're smiling about. Hello, questioning everything isn't a spiritual gift.

So after another week or so of pondering what hairstyle I wanted, I did some googling on "fabulous haircuts for women in their 40s." Armed with knowledge, I went to the salon and told the beautician, "Oh, surprise me!" No, really, I did. Uggh. Choosing a haircut is so difficult. That's why it took me 18 months to get another one. During my googling, I came across a fascinating webpage that the writer in me bookmarked.

According to Imagio Salon and Spa, "When designing a hairstyle, the goal is to create the illusion of an oval shaped face (the most perfect). The hair style we choose should fill in where needed and take away where not. Profile is another key factor when choosing a hairstyle. There should be balance from side and front view. Body shape works the same, our goal is to create the X shape and to also consider the size of the head if reference to the size of the body and height."

I immediately studied the pictures of face shapes. Which one is me? The only way to really tell is to pull hair back from face and observe. My first guess was chubby but chubby isn't a face shape. (Curse you, politically correct face shape definers!)

As I studied the shapes, what struck me was how no face shape seemed the perfect one, despite what so-called experts decried.

Confucius said, "Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it."

After the Oscars, I read commentary not on the winning performances but on the gowns. What was she thinking?! Please, sweetheart, go back and buy the other half of the gown. What saddened me the most wasn't J-Lo's "wardrobe malfunction," but the fact she established her importance on how sexy she looked. Each year she has to top (no pun intended) the last year's look. Other actressses have the same dilemma.

One of the traditions at the church I attend is that the Sunday after prom (and homecoming), the girls wear their gowns. I've literally stared gap-mouth at how skimpy some have been dressed. One girl's father was an executive officer at the International Mission Board, yet her parents allowed her to wear a gown that was designed to make guys stare and stare and stare. If she didn't want guys to stare, then why wear it?

I wanted to ask her if she chose that gown because it was the only type of dress she could buy or because she didn't value her own beauty to dress more modestly.

Everytime us moms stand in front of the mirror and criticize our face and figure, what are we teaching our daughters? Somehow I don't think we're teaching them that we're fearfully and wonderfully made.

Yet we are. Even more so, we're perfect.

"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it."

You're beautiful, but do you see your own beauty? Do you see yourself as God sees you--perfect?

"Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault." ~Colossians 1:22

You are perfect. You are beautiful. Now choose to believe it.

~*~

Serious Question of the Day :: How have you learned to find beauty in who you are and not in what the world says is beautiful?

Non-Serious Questions of the Day :: According to Imagio, "Fashion and hairstyles have 5 year cycles. These cycles overlap, so, ask yourself: Do you change your look at the beginning of a new trend or do you wait until you see it on everyone before you change your look?" Gina adds, What face shape are you? (And since chubby can't count for me, it can't count for you either.) Has finding a flattering haircut been a struggle? When, really, was the last time you had a haircut that was more than a minor shape-up?

~*~

Years—okay, eons—ago, Gina Welborn worked in news radio scripting copy until she realized how depressing human tragedy was, so she took up writing romances and now only thinks “It is time for a dead body?” when she’s at a lull in her newest manuscript. This Oklahoma-raised gal now lives in Richmond, Virginia with her youth-pastor husband, their five Okie-Hokie children, and a Sharpador Retriever who doesn’t retrieve much of anything (but he can sit really well). Her first novella, “Sugarplum Hearts,” part of the HIGHLAND CROSSINGS anthology, is out now!!!! Her second novella, “All Ye Faithful,” in A CASCADES CHRISTMAS is available for pre-order.