Got 2B Glued and Great Clips Styling Gel

I recently went to get my hair cut. I get it cut about every three weeks and I prefer a slight faux-hawk: number one around the back and the sides, and fingerlength on top.

About 6 or 7 months ago my brother-in-law introduced me to ‘Got  2B Glued’ hair spiking gel. This stuff is hardcore. You can make your hair do just about anything imaginable with a few dabs of this stuff on it. It doesn’t flake off, it it doesn’t lose it’s hold throughout the day, it’s water resistant, last forever, AND is very inexpensive. The only downfall of ‘Got 2B Glued’ is that it makes you hair very ’hard’ to the touch. So if your partner likes running their hands through your luscious locks, it’s not going to happen with ‘Got 2B Glued’ in your hair. Needless to say, I love ‘Got 2B Glued’!

So why am I talking about getting my hair cut and a hair styling product? Ha, I almost forgot myself! But I remember now.

When I went to get my hair cut, there was a new woman working at the salon (ie Great Clips) that I had never seen before. She did an okay job cutting my hair, but didn’t take nearly as long as my regular stylists (ie Great Clips employees). But when she had finished (literally only about 2 minutes after starting), she started asking me all sorts of questions about what kind of styling product I use. When I told her that I was a fan of ‘Got 2B Glued’ she was not impressed.

The woman went into the backroom and came out with a tiny jar of styling gel. As it passed by my face I saw the price tag: $14. The woman put the smallest amount imaginable into her hands and began to heat it up by violently rubbing her hands together.

She put the tiny, heated-up amount of styling gel into my hair and began to work it into the faux-hawk I told her I wanted. It wasn’t working out though. My short fingerlength hair just kind of fell back over. I knew that this stuff wasn’t going to work; after all she hardly used any, it wasn’t ‘Got 2B Glued’, the jar was tiny, the gel was ineffective, and it cost $14. It should have been obvious to her that her product was not working in my hair, but she seemed very passionate about me using it.

I’d never witnessed upsaling at a Great Clips before! I’d already talked to one of their stylists before who told me that they get paid an hourly wage (dangerously close to minimum wage) regardless of how many heads of hair they cut per hour. So why did this lady try to sell me something that I didn’t want and that I didn’t need. And because I was already such a fan of ‘Got 2B Glued’, I had no desire to ever try any other product.

That’s when I realized that the Great Clips hair gel is a lot like the Gospel. So often we assume that people want to hear the Gospel and that they want to accept Jesus as their “personal savior” the second we share it (the Gospel) with them. But in reality, they are happy with their ‘Got 2B Glued’ (current lifestyle and worldview) and are not even open to considering the purchase of a new hair styling gel(Jesus) no matter how much we try to convince them that it’s better. Often times, the minute that someone finds out that we our Christians, they automatically assume that the product they are using is better than ours and are not willing to listen to what we have to say about it (the Gospel).

The difference, though, is that the Gospel has the power to change lives and to save. It is the only thing that can restore man to his relationship with God. But, unlike the Great Clips styling gel that was powerless on my hair, the Gospel is mighty to save all people in all situations.

So the question is how do you go about presenting the Gospel to someone who doesn’t think that they need it? How can you show them that, unlike the Great Clips styling gel, the Gospel is effective and has the power to change their lives for the better?

I think the answer is in the way we live. We must position our lives to be centered around the Gospel and to reflect Christ so well that people will take notice and see that it actually is something that they can’t live without. Once we have positioned ourselves in such a way, people may actually be interested in what we have to say and what product it is we are using in our hair.