Have You Seen My Crown?
September is Alopecia Awareness month, and all month long, I have been wearing my crown. I have alopecia and I have covered my hair loss, in one form or another, for over twenty years.
According to the National Alopecia Areata website at www.NaaF.org, “Alopecia areata is a common autoimmune skin disease, causing hair loss on the scalp, face and sometimes on other areas of the body. In fact, it affects as many as 6.8 million people in the U.S. with a lifetime risk of 2.1%. People of all ages, both sexes and all ethnic groups can develop alopecia areata. It often first appears during childhood and can be different for everyone who has it”.
When my hair first started to come out, my hairdresser noticed it first. She immediately recommended a weave. First, she would sew it in to my hair. As the bald patches widened, she would glued it directly to my scalp. I was miserable, not being able to scratch my scalp, that became increasingly itchy from the glue. Today, I see women walking around “patting” themselves on the head to avoid scratching. I do not miss that feeling!!
My hairdresser and I tried electric-shock treatments on my scalp. The metallic taste that settled in my mouth was quite alarming. She told me that the sensation was a common after-effect, but that didn’t make it any better. Stubbles of hair grew eventually, but continued to irritate my scalp and fall out, over time. Irritation came in the form of red, swollen, oozing bumps that looked like razor bumps on my scalp; even though I was not using a razor. My hair follicles were rejecting the growing hair, and forcing it to fall out. Once the hair was gone, the scalp quieted and smoothed out again.
During a visit to see my family back in 1999, a dear friend blessed me with a wig. She was actually wearing it the day I saw her, and I commented on how cute her hair was. I told her about my hair loss and my medical diagnosis. She was so moved by my circumstance that she snatched the braided wig off her head, and blessed me with it! I wore that wig for YEARS. My visit with her was during a time of mourning for me, as my mother had then recently transitioned to heaven. I shared with my friend that my mother had alopecia, and my mom joked about it with me. “Why can’t the hairs on my chin fall out, like the hairs on my head fall out?”, she would exclaim. I placed my mother’s favorite church hat on her head, for her viewing and funeral; and bought my first church hat to wear, for the occasion.
The bible teaches us in
1 Corinthians 11:15 (NIV) – “but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering”.
I had no hair to cover me. Why not? was my cry.
Luke 12:7 (NLT) – “And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows”.
God, I too can count the hairs on my head. All two of them!
Matthew 10:30 (NIV) – “And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered”.
Yes Lord. Luke and Matthew said the same thing!
Proverbs 16:31 (NIV) – “Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained in the way of righteousness”.
I will never see a crown of splendor on my head, for my hair will never turn gray. Does this mean that I am not righteous?
1 Corinthians 11:6 (NIV) – “For if a woman does not cover her head, she might as well have her hair cut off; but if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then she should cover her head”.
My grandmother says that she won’t enter the church building without covering her head with a hat. Does this mean that I am a disgrace, because of my shaved head?
Five different scriptures concerning a woman and her hair may be found, during a random Google search. FIVE SCRIPTURES! I know that the custom and geographic location of the biblical authors may have helped motivated the questions that led to these lessons. It was HOT in the desert, and maybe people asked their leaders about hair styles and such. It is certainly worth doing the research to find answers to those questions. However, for my personal purposes, the revelation was forced upon me.
I wore wigs while my children grew up, because I didn’t want to embarrass them. Kids can be mean-spirited and tease their peers about all sorts of things, so I didn’t want my children to be teased because of me. I also didn’t want to be teased! I didn’t want people looking at my bald head and wonder if something was wrong with me, or wonder if I was “contagious”. Even in the midst of summer heat, in Florida, I continued to wear wigs. I had even embraced 1 Corinthians 11:15 and started purchasing LONG wigs! I figured, if I was going to have to BUY my glory, I might as well buy a long one!
Recently, symptoms of menopause kicked in, with a vengeance. The unmerciful hot flashes, mixed with the humid temperatures in Florida made my wigs feel like a “fiery-furnace”. I looked ridiculous with sweat pouring from my head, while my “hair” was dry-as-a-bone. Were the heavens trying to tell me something? It was time for a revelation. I needed to embrace a different kind of “crowning glory” in order to continue on the path that God placed me on.
What do the following scriptures all have in common?
1 Peter 3:3
1 Timothy 2:9
These scriptures instruct women to “not adorne themselves with elaborate hairstyles”. Verse 10 of 1 Timothy Chapter 2 continues to instruct by saying, “but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God”.
THAT IS MY CROWN! My good deeds and worship of God is MY crown! There it was, in black and white. My crowning glory are my deeds and my obedience to God. PRAISE THE LORD FOR REVELATION!
Now, I strut around town with my bald head glistening in the sun! I serve the Lord with gladness as HIS bald Queen. Our Father allowed me to thrive with alopecia, in order to be a conversation-starter with others. When I am asked, “Why are you bald? Are you sick? Do you have cancer?” I can now respond with “I serve the Lord with gladness and He wanted me to tell you that He loves you! Do you know about Jesus? May I introduce you to him?” I realized that, the elaborate wigs I wore may have made others admire me, but my bald head invites others to TALK to me. An open conversation is an open invitation for evangelism.
Am I worried about being teased? Naw! The bible has a story about that, too! In 2 Kings 2:23-24 we read the following story:
“From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.
As a servant of the Lord, I won’t be cursing no one, any time soon, but the story does encourage me to lift my head a little higher. (lol).
On Saturday, October 6, 2018, my husband and I will present the 2nd Annual Bold Beautiful & Bald Beauty Bazaar and Weekend Retreat. Our inaugural event last year was delayed a couple of weeks, due to the hurricane hitting Florida. I walked out to MC the event wearing my new “crown” … wearing a kiss from God on my head. My glistening bald head was an encouraging factor to so many women, based upon the comments we received, and the tears that I saw shed as I shared my testimony. Women asked us to do it again, and in response, it is now an annual event. This year, we will have eight bald women, modeling in our fashion show! We have fifteen scheduled vendors and a few of them have stated that they too have alopecia. In fact, right here in our city we have one prominent woman that “came to herself” since the first beauty bazaar. She is now bald, and sporting HER crown. I interviewed her on camera and the beauty bazaar attendees will witness the debut of this interview. You can learn more about the event on our website at http://daqueenbee.com/bbb.html and GOOGLE the hashtags #Bold #Beautiful #Bald #Beauty #Bazaar to lead you to our Facebook page, our event pages and videos from our vendors and sponsors.
When we were infants, our mother’s swaddled us and covered us with blankets. In my mind, my long wigs were a covering; a blanket over my self-confidence. Now that God has enlarged my mind, my territory and my ability; I am uncovered for a reason. My bald head give GOD the glory, while it serves as my personal crowning glory. Have you seen my bald head? Have you seen my crown?
©️2018 Copyrighted Tamara McCarthy Enterprises used with permission; Angie Bee Productions
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