# Did Jesus really have long hair? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 14, 2007, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013 "2007-06-14T17:21:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/21 "2007-06-14T19:50:39Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] I looked at the tract, and I’m amazed anyone is still this worked up about long hair. [/QUOTE] It’s like they haven’t update it since 1972. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/22 "2007-06-14T20:05:49Z")
[QUOTE=Giles] They’ve made a connection with something else: So Jesus could not have had long hair because he was straight, and not gay – that’s why he never married, and why he hung out with 12 other young men all the time. Really very simple when you think about it. [/QUOTE] I always found the whole long hair = gay thing odd, since I have never met a single gay man with long hair. In fact, they generally seem to have short, neatly cropped hair. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/23 "2007-06-14T20:14:29Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] yum [/QUOTE] I’m so glad I’m not the only one that thought that. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingDragonFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@FlyingDragonFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingDragonFan)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/24 "2007-06-14T20:18:34Z")
I remember a magazine a few years ago, probably around 2000, had a cover with an illustration of what Jesus _would_ have looked like, in general, basing it on information about what Jewish working-class people from that part of the Middle-East had as physical characteristics. He was shown as having a somewhat fleshy, round face, middle-dark skin, with shortly cropped, curly dark-brown skin and a trimmed beard. I forget which mag it was, maybe _Nat’l Geo_ or _Scientific American_. Definitely not the pretty, caucasian image popular in the Bible Belt. Old Edna down in the trailer park would have definitely called the cops if she saw him strolling past her place, 'cause there’s a terrorist in the neighborhood! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/25 "2007-06-14T20:38:17Z")
[QUOTE=FlyingDragonFan] I remember a magazine a few years ago, probably around 2000, had a cover with an illustration of what Jesus _would_ have looked like, in general, basing it on information about what Jewish working-class people from that part of the Middle-East had as physical characteristics. He was shown as having a somewhat fleshy, round face, middle-dark skin, with shortly cropped, curly dark-brown skin and a trimmed beard. I forget which mag it was, maybe _Nat’l Geo_ or _Scientific American_. Definitely not the pretty, caucasian image popular in the Bible Belt. Old Edna down in the trailer park would have definitely called the cops if she saw him strolling past her place, 'cause there’s a terrorist in the neighborhood! 🙂 [/QUOTE] See the last link in post #9. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/26 "2007-06-14T20:40:17Z")
There’s a Ro,man carving that shows a clean-shaven shepherd with a sheep that some have claimed was supposed to be the earliest representation of Jesus, but I don’t see why it should be identified with Jesus – It could as easily be the Good Shepherd from the parables, if it’s even Christian. The idea of a long-haired, long-bearded Jesus is consistent with orthodox practice, which gives the idea extra weight. Add to that the fact that some people think that he was a Nazirite (who didn’t shave or ciut their hair), and there’s more. Then the “Letter to Lentulus” that **capybara** cites also describes him that way. None of this constitutes anything like a reason to think he looked that way, of course, let alone proof. In his **Gospel According to Matthew** , pier Paolo Pasolini shows a Jesus with an incredibly short beard. I think his hair is pretty short, yoo, but I don’t recall for certain. Heck, look at Matthew Garber in **Godspell** – no beard at all, and a white guy’s Afro for hair. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/27 "2007-06-14T20:43:54Z")
[QUOTE=FlyingDragonFan] I remember a magazine a few years ago, probably around 2000, had a cover with an illustration of what Jesus _would_ have looked like, in general, basing it on information about what Jewish working-class people from that part of the Middle-East had as physical characteristics. He was shown as having a somewhat fleshy, round face, middle-dark skin, with shortly cropped, curly dark-brown skin and a trimmed beard. I forget which mag it was, maybe _Nat’l Geo_ or _Scientific American_. Definitely not the pretty, caucasian image popular in the Bible Belt. Old Edna down in the trailer park would have definitely called the cops if she saw him strolling past her place, 'cause there’s a terrorist in the neighborhood! 🙂 [/QUOTE] [Here it is](http://archives.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/12/25/face.jesus/index.html) > [@](#): > > (CNN) – The Jesus pictured on the cover of this month’s Popular Mechanics has a broad peasant’s face, dark olive skin, short curly hair and a prominent nose. He would have stood 5-foot-1-inch tall and weighed 110 pounds, if the magazine is to be believed. They reconstructed this face from a 1st Century Jewish-Palestinian skull. It’s not intended to be seen as “the face of Jesus,” so much as the face of a typical Jewish peasant of the era. They gave their reconstruction short hair because of a passage in Corinthians (wher Paul says it’s “disgraceful” for man to have long hair), but Paul was a Hellenized Jew whose views on fashion probably could not be taken to reflect the realities of the Gallilean peasantry. Shaving beards was probably especially unlikely, one because it was against rabbinic law and two because it wasn’t very easy or practical for those without access to barbers. It’s hard to know about the hair. Some guys might have hacked it off for comfort. Palestine in general (and Galilee in particular), had been largely Hellenized but the extent to which the fashion, culture and language had permeated the lower classes isn’t known with a lot of certainty and the Jewish populace was notoriously resistant to assimilating foreign culture (especially _occupying_ cultures). My guess is that Jesus at least had a beard and _probably_ (but not certainly) had long hair. I think we also can’t rule out the possibility of a big-ass Jewfro. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/28 "2007-06-14T20:45:34Z")
[QUOTE=plnnr] Did you write his agent or were you able to find his home address? Is it autographed? I suspect you could get a pretty good dollar for it on eBay. [/QUOTE] It’s actually a publicity still from later in his career, taken during the “Three Days in Hell” tour. It’s not flattering. He looks half dead. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/29 "2007-06-14T20:51:24Z")
[QUOTE=FlyingDragonFan] I remember a magazine a few years ago, probably around 2000, had a cover with an illustration of what Jesus _would_ have looked like, in general, basing it on information about what Jewish working-class people from that part of the Middle-East had as physical characteristics. He was shown as having a somewhat fleshy, round face, middle-dark skin, with shortly cropped, curly dark-brown skin and a trimmed beard. I forget which mag it was, maybe _Nat’l Geo_ or _Scientific American_. Definitely not the pretty, caucasian image popular in the Bible Belt. Old Edna down in the trailer park would have definitely called the cops if she saw him strolling past her place, 'cause there’s a terrorist in the neighborhood! 🙂 [/QUOTE] [That would be this picture.](http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/research/1282186.html) ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/30 "2007-06-14T21:07:23Z")
[QUOTE=KneadToKnow] It’s actually a publicity still from later in his career, taken during the “Three Days in Hell” tour. It’s not flattering. He looks half dead. [/QUOTE] Yeah, his publicist really screwed up letting that one out to the public. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/31 "2007-06-14T22:16:28Z")
[QUOTE=toadspittle] I always found the whole long hair = gay thing odd, since I have never met a single gay man with long hair. In fact, they generally seem to have short, neatly cropped hair. [/QUOTE] A lot of southerners believe “earring = gay” and debate “which ear is the gay one?”, which I find ironic because most of the gays I know stopped wearing earrings altogether when they became fashionable and overdone. BTW, the “What did Jesus look like” link I had above also has the reconstruction of the 1st century Palestinian. Apparently the answer “A Young Yasser Arafat” didn’t please a lot of people as in Christian art I’ve seen recently he’s still the same looking guy. Until Kirk Cameron makes a pronouncement though we won’t know for certain. ---
**Author:** ![Pithy\_Moniker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8dc957/32.png) [@Pithy\_Moniker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pithy_Moniker)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/32 "2007-06-14T22:35:35Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] Anyway, here’s the obligatory Wiki article: [Depiction of Jesus - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Images_of_Jesus) [/QUOTE] [This picture](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:39bMandylion.jpg) makes me think of the ghosts in Pacman. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/33 "2007-06-14T22:47:58Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] Heck, look at Matthew Garber in **Godspell** – no beard at all, and a white guy’s Afro for hair. [/QUOTE] Victor Garber, actually, who 30-odd years later would become famous with a new generation as _Alias_’s Jack Bristow. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2007, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/34 "2007-06-15T00:59:10Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] Victor Garber, actually, who 30-odd years later would become famous with a new generation as _Alias_’s Jack Bristow. [/QUOTE] I was thinking just yesterday how much [Garber](http://victor-garber.com/images/home/VictorGarber.jpg) resembles [Houdini](http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~ken/houdini.jpg), and Christ was a Jew who escaped from death… odd. Victor Garber is divine and I never knew it. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2007, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/35 "2007-06-15T01:37:07Z")
[QUOTE=toadspittle] I always found the whole long hair = gay thing odd, since I have never met a single gay man with long hair. In fact, they generally seem to have short, neatly cropped hair. [/QUOTE] You’ve never met my friend Stefano, then. He’s got the long-haired bearded gay hippie thing down perfect. And he’s a Christian, too. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2007, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/36 "2007-06-15T01:41:23Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Are you kidding? Looking like Jesus is practically a \*prerequisite \*to being a neo-pagan male. [Take my husband (please!)](http://new.photos.yahoo.com/rhiannon_dreamsnake/album/576460762347124853/photo/294928803711587629/9) [/QUOTE] I guess I was still in the “separating myself from the default culture” phase. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2007, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/37 "2007-06-15T03:03:52Z")
Ok, I can’t believe this thread has gone on long enough without anybody commenting on the following subjects: a) Jews were not allowed to depict people, no? I’m not expecting that many romans to chisel the likenesses of random jewish carpenters in stone, so I wouldn’t expect any depictions of any lower class jews from the period to show up. b) Not cutting one’s hair was part of the [sacred Nazirite vow](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazirite) and it’s not clearcut whether Jesus was a Nazirite or not. My WAG? Jesus had a jewfro 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2007, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/38 "2007-06-15T03:50:20Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] Eunuchs— have him scrubbed and sent to my chambers. Give him a ruby anklet. And some type of musky fragrance but not too bold. [/QUOTE] Wow! I impressed **Sampiro**! And **gigi** and **Antinor01**! 😃 [sub]Pity that pic is 15 years old. Ah, if I only knew then what I know now…[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2007, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/39 "2007-06-15T04:51:17Z")
[QUOTE=groman] Ok, I can’t believe this thread has gone on long enough without anybody commenting on the following subjects: a) Jews were not allowed to depict people, no? I’m not expecting that many romans to chisel the likenesses of random jewish carpenters in stone, so I wouldn’t expect any depictions of any lower class jews from the period to show up. [/QUOTE] Right. It was considered idolatry. Still, I have to imagine that the gospels would have said something if Jesus’ appearance was too far from normal. My total WAGs about Jesus’ appearance are that he almost certainly had a beard. Perhaps some historians on this board could enlighten me here, but I’ve always suspected that most people aside from the Greeks and Romans probably thought of shaving as being, well, kinda gay. (“Why do those grown men try to make themselves look like little boys? :dubious:”) Plus, it’s a major pain in the ass which is really done strictly for vanity’s sake, and first-century peasants didn’t have that kind of free time. As for his hair, Jesus may have gotten it cut occasionally, but a working-class man like Jesus probably tended to let it grow. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2007, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013/40 "2007-06-15T10:25:45Z")
I think Jesus was bald and wore a really bad toupee. Or he looked like [this…](http://www.poker-babes.com/bio/chris-ferguson/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jesus-really-have-long-hair/408013.md?page=3)