More bethel stories

by darth frosty 9 Replies latest jw friends

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  darth frosty

  I was talking to a friend I was at bethel with and he mentioned something I had forgotten (for the sake of my sanity.) We were there during the 90s and that was the transition of hair styles for black men, it was going from the fade to the baldy. Now bethel would cut your hair, you just had to wait four weeks between cuts. And when it was time for your cut, you couldn't request a fade. You would say to the barber give me a fade, than the guy (or girl) would say 'do you mean a taper'. Due to their rigid need to be no part of the world you couldn't call a haircut a fade it had to be a taper.

  And once you got this taper what did it look like...a fade, kinda. Than you had the barbers who would G-job and cut your hair after hours. Here is what killed me about these guys. You would think they would charge a fair rate for someone who gets $90 bucks a month. These guys would charge $10. Ten freeking dollars is more than one tenth of my $90 allowance. As a matter of fact I pay ten bucks for a hair cut right now in 2007, and these ya-hoo's more than a decade ago were charging full rate. Here is the other side of the boot. The conditioning was so strong that even when you shelled out $10, you still did not get the true fade you were use to, just the 'taper' version.

  So needless to say with the once a month cuts and brothers (meaning black guys) not wanting to look like an extra from 'good times' thus began the rise of the bald look. Jordan had already started fashion down this path, Bethelites were just catching up. They really hated to see all the black guys with the bald look, cause it was looking more like the nation of Islam than JW's. Thing is they really couldn't counsel the 'brothers' for rocking the bald look or as some of us refered to it the 'henschel'.

  On top of all this the other fashion trend that took flight while I was at Bethel was 'brothers' wearing the bow tie. Like I said you had the bald look and now bow ties on all the 'brothers' at bethel. Once again they really couldn't say nothing because abrahamson (a bethel heavy) always wore a bow tie. Yes fashion and ethnicity at bethel nothing like it.
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  candidlynuts

  you bunch of rebels!

  of course they couldnt say anything about getting a bald cut.. jehovah might send a bear to bethel to devour them lol
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  Abandoned

  Thing is they really couldn't counsel the 'brothers' for rocking the bald look or as some of us refered to it the 'henschel'.

  LOL. Their hypocrisy is precious. They didn't want to go against the brothers on getting a bald cut since the current prez was bald, but they wouldn't allow beards even though their supposed lord and master had one. HA HA HA!
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  GermanXJW

  LOL. Good one, Abandoned. :-)
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  mann377

  I once told the barber that I wanted a hair cut like Wheelock had: One with a hole in the top!
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  blondie

  Around here black brothers were allowed to have bald cuts but not white brothers. Black and hispanic brothers could have mustaches but not white brothers. They finally relented and some congregations let white brothers have mustaches.

  At the home congregations, you would have only that congregation monitoring your grooming; at Bethel it was your congregation and everyone you knew at Bethel.

  I swear some of the insanity that ended up in the congregations started out at Bethel home of the Talmud.

  Blondie
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  orangefatcat

  It seems like Bethel wants you to be a slave, and then they have the audacity to charge 10.00$ for a hair cut, I call that pure greed. They ought to be ashamed.

  Bowties are a okay in my book and some men really suit them. I love a man with a mustache and a well groomed long beard. As far as I am concerned so long as it looked good then leave the brothers alone.

  I even have a bald head. I think bald is great.

  orangefatcat
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  choosing life

  I remember when they threatened to take away the position from a MS (who was white) because he shaved his head. He complained that the black brothers were shaving their heads without any counsel, which was true. They still said he could not keep his position if he shaved his head. He moved.

  Another time a CO stated in his talk that black brothers could not get designs or lines cut into their hair. He stated at the CA that this would be a racist thing to do. The CO was black, by the way. Interesting because many young black brothers had haircuts of that style. Nothing objectionable, just a style.

  Never could understand the beard thing. A well groomed beard is not a problem that I can see. I wonder why God had the audacity to require that certain servants of his in the past could not cut their beard such as a Nazarite.
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  darth frosty

  Just to clarify orangefatcat, It wasn't bethel that was charging $10, it was the barbers who cut hair after hours as a G-job, that would charge you $10.
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  Black Man

  ahhhh yes............remember those times well. I ended up getting my hair cut at the Nappy Roots barber shop on Fulton Ave, because of Bethel jackin' my "taper" up......