Is it a sin for women to shave?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ambasea
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
A

Ambasea

Guest
I remember reading an early church father (I think it was Aquinas) who said that it was sinful for women to shave and pluck their eyebrows? And the church father was from the year 125 AD or something close to it so wouldn’t he have been taught by the original apostles? Is this binding on women today?

(I just started OCD meds, so my questions should stop soon 🙂 )
 
Last edited:
No one here will be able to help you very much if you can’t find the original source…

If I had to guess, I would assume that shaving/plucking done in a fain manner would be sinful, as opposed to it being done to conform with societal norms.
 
Well, he was talking about women trying to make themselves look prettier… he put it in the same category as wearing makeup and dyeing hair.
 
Last edited:
Of course it is not binding.
I’m hoping we can get away from these “is it ok for women to…” threads. They seem to be proliferating.
 
I do not mean to be uncharitable, but the questions you ask are like something from outer space. No it is not a sin.
I hope you have gotten some help with your apparent scruples.
 
Ambasea, you’ve said before that you have OCD, so it’s really not a good idea for you to post threads like this. You need to address your concerns with sin with your priest and mental health professional.

-Fr ACEGC
 
Ambasea said:
I remember reading an early church father who said that it was sinful for women to shave and pluck their eyebrows? And the church father was from the year 125 AD or something close to it so wouldn’t he have been taught by the original apostles? Is this binding on women today?
Click to expand...
I personally am glad women don’t have beards. 😃
 
Ambasea said:
I remember reading an early church father who said that it was sinful for women to shave and pluck their eyebrows? And the church father was from the year 125 AD or something close to it so wouldn’t he have been taught by the original apostles? Is this binding on women today?
Click to expand...
By 125 AD I would think (and I’m no theologian) the original apostles, even if not martyred, would’ve been dead.

And if it’s binding on me today, I’ll gladly answer to it later. Freely.
 
Well, #1 thing is that Aquinas was not an Early Church Father.

Another thing, if it was true that women could not shave or pluck their eyebrows, they also could not cut their hair (since that is basically the same thing). Also, we have to ask what the reasoning behind this statement? Is it because plucking the hair from our bodies is unnatural? Then men shouldn’t shave either.

Is it because that would make women too beautiful? Then they should wear sackcloth and not wear any colorful clothes that make them look good.
 
I do know people that believe it’s sinful for a woman to cut her hair at all. Also, I know some in the early church did believe that women should only wear sackcloth.
 
Not only is it not binding on women today—it wasn’t binding on them then. Just because a theologian says something, it doesn’t make it true.
 
People in 100 AD believed lots of weird things.

Spoiler alert: leeches don’t actually cure infections.
 
I think some Pentecostals believe the former. I’ve never head the practice of women wearing sackcloth but maybe it wasn’t mandatory and women did it for penance.
 
@Ambasea, we just had a similar thread about this same topic in the Casual forum. It will be helpful for you. Tis_Bearself has a good response…it’s the first one.
40.png
Exercise...SIN?!? Casual Discussion
Is it a sin (morally wrong) to engage in practicises designed to make you look better? I’m just talking about things like exercising or trimming facial hair as examples (no plastic surgery)… I’m confused because I cannot justify grooming oneself with any other reason than to attract/impress others - and I can’t help equating this with adultery and vanity for some reason, which I know are both wrong… I know this is stupid but please bear with me
bear
heartbeat
bear
Thoughts?
Click to expand...
 
LOL! My grandmother found it necessary to shave twice a day. If she didn’t she would have had a full blown beard. She wasn’t happy about it and tried to be secretive about it. Sometimes there are biological conditions that make it necessary to 'deviate from the norm.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top