# Why Do The Women On Christian Broadcasting Have Such Big Hairdos? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 28, 2003, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-women-on-christian-broadcasting-have-such-big-hairdos/191441 "2003-07-28T14:53:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-women-on-christian-broadcasting-have-such-big-hairdos/191441/21 "2003-07-28T22:03:18Z")
Although I’m not particularly religious, those pictures of [Jan Crouch](http://www.surefoundation.org/index_19980602.jpg) _did_ cause me to exclaim, “Dear God!” So, whatever it is, it must be working. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-women-on-christian-broadcasting-have-such-big-hairdos/191441/22 "2003-07-28T22:15:56Z")
Whenever I’m flipping through the cable channels and come across Jan, I instinctively stop and stare. It’s like a traffic accident or a dead animal – you don’t want to look, but you can’t turn away. But the real reason I popped in is to say that [Lisa Ryan](http://cbn.com/700club/behindthescenes/lisaryan.asp) is a babe! Grrowwwl! I see she’s from Nashville, I need to figure out where she buys her groceries so I can stalk… I mean, look for her. ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-women-on-christian-broadcasting-have-such-big-hairdos/191441/23 "2003-07-28T22:35:29Z")
I understand the big hair, but what about the make-up? What is the reason that teenage girls are forbidden to pile on the cosmetics but the older women trowel the stuff on? Aren’t there passages in the Bible railing against looking like the “Whore of Babylon”? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-women-on-christian-broadcasting-have-such-big-hairdos/191441/24 "2003-07-28T22:55:50Z")
**medstar** – Haven’t you ever heard? The book says “God is my foundation…” ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-women-on-christian-broadcasting-have-such-big-hairdos/191441/25 "2003-07-28T23:20:07Z")
That Jan Crouch chick looks like what you’d get if you chucked Rupaul through a wormhole. ---
**Author:** ![SnoopyFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@SnoopyFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnoopyFan)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-women-on-christian-broadcasting-have-such-big-hairdos/191441/26 "2003-07-28T23:50:41Z")
Psst: that’s not Jan’s real hair. It’s a wig! Other televangelists with normal hair: Joyce Meyer: [http://www.joycemeyer.org](http://www.joycemeyer.org) Paula White: [http://www.paulawhite.org/](http://www.paulawhite.org/) Serita Jakes: [http://www.thepottershouse.org/BJ\_serita.html](http://www.thepottershouse.org/BJ_serita.html) Juanita Bynum: [http://www.weaponsofpower2003.com/index.cfm](http://www.weaponsofpower2003.com/index.cfm) Darlene Bishop: [http://www.darlenebishop.org/](http://www.darlenebishop.org/) **Many of these women believe it’s to the glory of God if they are as sexually attractive as possible.** That is complete and utter BS. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-women-on-christian-broadcasting-have-such-big-hairdos/191441/27 "2003-07-29T00:18:57Z")
**SnoopyFan** I retract that sweeping generalization. By “many of these women” I actually meant “many women I have known”. I believe Jan Crouch represents a “type”. But that “type” is not Fundamentalist Christian women in general, or even televangelist women in general, as you’ve shown by your links. Sorry. By the way, I love Joyce Meyer. ---
**Author:** ![SnoopyFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@SnoopyFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnoopyFan)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-women-on-christian-broadcasting-have-such-big-hairdos/191441/28 "2003-07-29T00:28:06Z")
Joyce rocks. I also really like TD Jakes. He’s so realistic. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-women-on-christian-broadcasting-have-such-big-hairdos/191441/29 "2003-07-29T00:29:43Z")
An interesting and perhaps relevant article “Becoming His Beauty” from a Focus on the Family website: [http://www.family.org/married/romance/a0021894.cfm](http://www.family.org/married/romance/a0021894.cfm) ---
**Author:** ![deblopbee1010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a4c791/32.png) [@deblopbee1010](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deblopbee1010)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-women-on-christian-broadcasting-have-such-big-hairdos/191441/30 "2023-05-12T20:17:03Z")
It’s been 20 years since your post, but I felt maybe you should know that I know the reason Jan Crouch wore “big hair” wigs. She had cancer and suffered with it for years, having lost her natural hair from literally years of chemotherapy & radiation, and in & out of remissions. She said once in an interview that she loved big hair and wanted to wear wigs like that because it made her feel good. Being she was dying, I feel it was okay for her to do that. The heavy makeup was due to her paleness and splotchy skin from the cancer treatments. She had no eyebrows or lashes. It was a miracle from God she lived as long as she did, and because of her & her husband’s faithfulness and hard work, TBN is now spreading the Gospel in virtually every country in the world and in 32 languages, as well as having built hundreds of hospitals, schools, homes, clean water wells, feeding stations, agricultural education for starving people, etc., etc., and have won millions of souls to Christ Jesus. I just thought you should know, I’m sure you didn’t know at the time you wrote your post. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-women-on-christian-broadcasting-have-such-big-hairdos/191441/31 "2023-05-12T21:46:59Z")
I have been blissfully unaware of the tribulations of TBN over the years, but a check of several sources re Jan Crouch doesn’t reveal the medical history you describe. According to Wikipedia: “In March 2012, Crouch was accused by her granddaughter, a former employee and chief finance director of the network (a registered charity), of misappropriating network funds to spend on a lavish lifestyle. Expenditures included expensive homes, private jets, massive custom wigs, and a $100,000 air conditioned mobile home solely for her dogs. _The New York Times_ wrote that Crouch, for nearly two years, rented adjoining rooms for herself and her two Maltese dogs at the deluxe Loews Portofino Bay Hotel while she was building the Holy Land Experience theme park in Orlando, Florida.[” More on Crouch (who died following a stroke at 78) and other family figures here: > **[Did TBN ministers Paul, Jan Crouch cover up 13-year-old granddaughter’s rape...](https://www.ocregister.com/2017/05/03/trinity-broadcasting-network-trial-did-1st-family-of-christian-broadcasting-cover-up-13-year-old-granddaughters-alleged-rape/)** > > Trinity has faced scandals before, but none quite like this. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2023, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-women-on-christian-broadcasting-have-such-big-hairdos/191441/32 "2023-05-13T00:21:20Z")
[Moderating] I’m not sure how this slipped under the radar lo, these decades ago, but this isn’t really a factual question. I suppose it can be construed as being about the arts, so Cafe Society it is. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2023, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-women-on-christian-broadcasting-have-such-big-hairdos/191441/33 "2023-05-13T17:52:46Z")
> Why Do The Women On Christian Broadcasting Have Such Big Hairdos? Because God loves a tryer? ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2023, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-women-on-christian-broadcasting-have-such-big-hairdos/191441/34 "2023-05-13T17:53:35Z")
Where I tend to see pictures of women with big hair is on billboards for real estate sales. Maybe they do that on the side. They probably use the same huckster skill set. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2023, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-women-on-christian-broadcasting-have-such-big-hairdos/191441/35 "2023-05-13T18:55:35Z")
The bigger the hair, the closer to god. Gwen had an extreme bouffant, quite the crazy hairstyle. > **[Inside Christian ‘cult leader’s' lifestyle from $20m homes & private jets](https://www.the-sun.com/news/5218395/gwen-shamblin-lara-luxury-lifestyle-before-jet-crash/amp/)** > > CHRISTIAN diet guru Gwen Shamblin Lara, leader of the Remnant Fellowship Church, lived a luxurious millionaire lifestyle before she died in a private plane crash in 2021. Details into the Tennessee… ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2023, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-women-on-christian-broadcasting-have-such-big-hairdos/191441/36 "2023-05-14T03:04:08Z")
There was recently a made-for-TV movie about Gwen Shamblin, and she was portrayed by - are you ready for this? - Jennifer Grey! As in Jennifer Grey from “Dirty Dancing.” I only saw the last few minutes, but Ms. Grey did a terrific job. You know how many TV shows will have a thing at the commercial break, or end of the show, that says, “If you are suicidal…”? This one said, “If you or someone you love has an eating disorder…” and displayed several websites and toll-free numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2023, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-women-on-christian-broadcasting-have-such-big-hairdos/191441/37 "2023-05-14T03:29:02Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I only saw the last few minutes, but Ms. Grey did a terrific job. She hasn’t had a nose for getting the prestige rolls in a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2023, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-women-on-christian-broadcasting-have-such-big-hairdos/191441/38 "2023-05-14T03:52:40Z")
> [@chela](#): > > The bigger the hair, the closer to god. Thank you. I was reading through this thread and growing ever more disappointed that I didn’t see someone say some variation of “The higher the hair the closer to God.” ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-women-on-christian-broadcasting-have-such-big-hairdos/191441/39 "2023-06-09T04:03:21Z")
If your hair is cropped and/or anyway short you are not feminine. That’s why the Phelps women of the Westboro Baptist Church can’t cut their hair. They used to holler at us that we counter protestors were “crop headed whores” That was my inspiration for an email address that started chw. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-women-on-christian-broadcasting-have-such-big-hairdos/191441/40 "2023-06-09T15:36:53Z")
> [@medstar](#): > > I understand the big hair, but what about the make-up? What is the reason that teenage girls are forbidden to pile on the cosmetics but the older women trowel the stuff on? The belief that teenage girls are supposed to look young and innocent; cosmetics make them look older. Which is ironic since historically women used cosmetics to obscure their age and look younger. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-women-on-christian-broadcasting-have-such-big-hairdos/191441.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-women-on-christian-broadcasting-have-such-big-hairdos/191441.md?page=3)