Joy Duggar Forsyth took a big step out of the strict Fundie grooming standards she was raised with. W
In a new video posted to YouTube, the former Counting On star excitedly told her viewers that she was planning to cut her hair. While her fans were digging her new, modern look, Joy’s husband Austin Forsyth was not exactly thrilled to see that his wife cut her hair. In the comment section of the video, fans slammed Austin for his somewhat unkind reaction to Joy’s haircut.
As those familiar with the Duggars know, the females within the family’s religious cult, the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP), are encouraged to keep their hair long . On the Duggar family’s shows, the girls stated that they wore then hair long because they believed that it was more Godly.
In their 2014 book, Growing Up Duggar, Joy’s older sisters Jinger, Jill, Jessa and Jana state that they “choose longer hair based on our understanding of 1 Corinthians 11:14-15. It says that even nature itself teaches us that, while it is a shame for a man to have long hair, a woman’s hair is her glory.”
The majority of the Duggar girls continue to wear their hair very long (except for family “rebels” Jill and Jinger), so Joy cutting her hair was a big deal for her. She told her viewers that she’s never really cut her long hair before.
“I am going to get my hair cut,” Joy–who is currently pregnant— told viewers at the beginning of the video. “I’m so, so, so excited!
“I’ve always had long hair…but I thought for the winter and this pregnancy I thought it would be fun to change it up,” Joy says nervously.
Joy stated that her husband Austin was out of town and that she was excited to show him her new look.
Once at the salon, Joy chopped a significant amount of her long Fundie hair off, leaving the length just below her shoulders. She then had it highlighted with some blond.
She emerged looking great, exclaiming that she “loved” it and that she couldn’t wait to surprise Austin.
“It’s not, like, super short, but for me, it’s really short,” Joy tells the camera.
Joy ended up staying awake until 1 a.m. so she could show Austin— who had been away on a trip for six days to Colorado– her new look. She left the camera running to capture Austin’ reaction which, unfortunately for Joy, was not good.
“It’s a little short,” Austin said– seemingly unaware of that a camera was running.
When Joy asked him for his thoughts, he sighed and said, “I don’t hate it.”
He said that the haircut was “cute” but that it needed to be longer.
“You dirty dog,” Austin jokingly told Joy.
Despite his less-than-thrilled reaction, Austin acknowledged that Joy looks happy about her hair and that she looks cute. He also informed her that his father had somehow taken a photo of Joy at the salon and sent it to Austin to inform him that Joy had cut her hair.
Viewers of the video expressed sympathy for Joy, who had been excited to show Austin her hair, only to have him react in a somewhat negative way.
“Hair in itself has always been a thing of control for the Duggar girls. Jim Bob liked long hair so ALL his daughters had to wear really long hair,” one person wrote in the comment section. “So Joy cutting her hair is kind of symbolic of living her own life, away from Jim Bob’s control. But then Austin steps in with the same control. Whether he personally liked it or not wasn’t as much of an issue of telling her exactly how long it should be…But ‘I don’t hate it’ is NOT a kind or loving comment! You could see Joys face drop.”
“Honestly, my heart hurt for Joy in this video,” another person commented. “Her hair looks fantastic and she looks beautiful and she really deserved a kinder reaction.”
“I think your Father-In-Law and Austin acted like schmucks though!” another person wrote. “Why would he send pictures of your new style to Austin? That’s not his place. Austin saying, ‘I don’t hate it?’ How insensitive. He couldn’t tell you were excited about it and loved it and been supportive? Ugh!”
You can watch the full video below!
RELATED STORY: Jed Duggar & Wife Katey Address Josh Duggar’s “Situation” During Fan Q&A; Jed Denies Being Brainwashed By Duggar Family
(Photos: TLC; YouTube)
25 Responses
looks good, never hurts to cut off the ends from time to time
Growing up religious with believes does not make you a bad person when you “all of a sudden” buck the system. Truth be told a lot more people in this world could use “religion”.
These girls were raised under their parents roof until the age of accountability. Now what they do, is on them alone not the parents. If it’s embarrassing, parents just have to stand back, pray for them and let God do the rest. Once they marry, it is now their own individual walk with God.
Yes, the hair is a women’s glory BUT it should be manageable for the woman. Being pregnant is a lot in itself and then trying to manage the hair too??? Give them young women a break. At least it’s still below her shoulders …
Truth be told the entire world would do better with a lot less “religion”, as it is quite often the actual problem. People having certain beliefs, ethics, morals, or faith, does not require “religion”.
You can have god in your life if you so wish without having organized religion in your life. If you can’t figure out how to do that, how do you know you even need god in your life? (that’s a rhetorical question, in case you’re wondering)
Organized religion is the exact opposite of faith, they no longer are your own beliefs when someone else has to tell you what they are and why you should have them. Organized religion, religion and churches in general that is, has/have contributed to some of the worst atrocities this planet has ever seen-mostly directed at mankind itself. It’s not because of the desire people have to believe in a deity, or have a set of values and “rules” by which they choose to live their life. It is the organized nature of religion that has spawned more evil than, well, most other things, really. Of course that’s going back much further into history than most are willing to accept.
You can have god in your life, beliefs, faith, morals, ethics, a code by which to live by, without ever being associated with any religion. It’s not rocket surgery.
I have absolutely zero reason to “be careful” about anything. I haven’t once told you what all of my beliefs are or are not, I don’t intend to, either. That’s between me and myself. I don’t need a system to define my beliefs (religion IS a system, btw) for me, the same that I don’t need anyone else to. I don’t particularly care what others’ beliefs are either, as long as they aren’t using them to hurt others (ie, cults), or be hypocrites….
You do whatever you wish to do, and believe in whatever you wish, it has absolutely zero bearing on anyone else. Your beliefs, faith, morals, ethics, personal code of conduct if you will, are yours and yours alone. They do not belong to nor should they ever come, from anyone else. They are yours, end of.
But if you want to rant a bit….
I don’t believe anyone who believes children should be spanked or publicly reprimanded and humiliated will ever get into the kingdom of heaven, or any good place after death. I can tell you that no god I know of would ever welcome such an atrocious person, considering all he’s said, according to the bible anyway, about children and their pure innocence and how we should not only teach them but also respect, love and nurture them. But your beliefs tell you otherwise, so who am I to tell you that you’re wrong?
Your beliefs are not mine, and I’m perfectly fine with that. Maybe your god will welcome you with open arms, and if he does, awesome for you, I’d be scared of a dude who thought that kind of behavior is okay, though, not praying to him.
You do you, I’ll do me, but you’re not changing my mind about organized religion and the heinous impact it has had on humanity.
I don’t see the big deal. People are always looking for the negative.
When I cut my long hair which was past my butt and took it to my shoulders my husband was sad because he like messing with my hair and now it seems to him like I don’t need him to help braid it at all. He always braided mine and my daughter’s hair with a smile. It is a normal reaction to change when you are use to something like that. After 42 years my husband still likes to mess with my hair.
Says the guy with sloppy beard and hair, and very poor fashion sense.
You all forget Austin and his family were on wife swap back in the day. They were one of the super religious, don’t let our kids watch TV, read books, leave the house type families. Joys father in law is cut from the same cloth as her dad so of course Austin is the same way. It’s sad cause when I seen the video labeled I cut off all her hair I thought like really cut it all off. I was hoping for a pikie cut. Her hair isn’t even short. But good for her either way.
Another day, another time I need to thank my lucky stars I was born into the family I was and not a sick and abusive one. Poor Joy. She looks gorgeous.
I don’t watch this trash, but I’m guessing these two chose each other and it wasn’t an arranged forced marriage. That being said, we tend to “marry our fathers”, ie look for men that have the same traits. Girls that have Daddy issues do this quit frequently. When you know better, you do better. She seems young & dumb, let’s see if she wakes up in her thirties, or her 50s like the Sister Wives, Christen & Jenelle.
I THINK ITS PRETTY. And tho it’s not as long it still is pretty long. It’s very becoming. Our family men are a bit the same. It’s a male thing- the long hair.
“My heart hurts for Joy”
Men react like this all the time, Fundie or not. Relax.
My heart hurts for ANYONE treated like shit that doesn’t deserve it. I don’t care if they are fundies or not.
Speak for yourself. None of the men in my family would react like Austin did. Ever.
Your hair is so cute who care what anyone else thinks.you are an adult and can do what you want. I hate it when a man tries to control a woman.You do what makes you happy my husband tried to control me and that didn’t go well for him I will never let a man tell me what to do. Your beautiful no matter what
How is that short hair? And why on earth would her FIL take a picture of ger? Is he spying for Austin? Scary!
ITS NOT THAT SHORT.BUT HE MET HER WITH LONG HAIR.THAT ATTRACTED HIM AS WELL
I really hope eventually Joy sees what the rest of the world does. It’s beyond time that the sisters of hers that have moved away from the cult sat down and had a heart to heart with her. Granted, they all still have their issues and there is plenty they do that I don’t agree with, but joy is being emotionally abused and controlled by an asshat of a husband. I wanted so badly to like him, but he is just awful in every aspect. He treats her terribly, he doesn’t love or value her and her contributions to their family. I’m fairly certain he feels the same way about their children, which is awful too.
My heart hurts for Joy, more so because she acts like she doesn’t see it, but her eyes, mannerisms, her face, they all tell a different story. She often tries to seem so happy, but her eyes are so sad, they’re internally crying out. It’s obvious she’s not as happy as she should be and some part of her knows that.
Not that she’d ever see any of this, but if she ever did, I would hope she’d somehow find her worth in all the positive things people have said about her over the years. She is worth so much much. Her worth is MASSIVELY larger and more important than what her husband has seemingly assigned to her. To him she’s merely an incubator, concubine, maid, chef, personal property and child wrangler.
Can you imagine the type of personality old man Duggar has? To stalk his daughter and photograph her getting her hair cut and send that to her husband is not just mean, it’s sick. Who does that? Once again Duggar is proving that men are in charge and their job is to make sure that their wives and daughters are reigned in and not allowed to think for themselves. As far as quoting the Bible as an explanation for why the women should have long hair, the Bible also says you can own slaves, kill disobedient children, etc.
It was her father in law, Austin’s father that did it. That means BOTH of their fathers are complete pieces of shit human beings.
I was raised as well that a woman was never to cut her hair.grew up very conservative n I feel the pain she had to feel . But I believe that we can believe and serve our higher power no matter what others feel or think . I feel like he should have come across in a different manner . For myselself I would have been hurt deeply knowing why I did it and also the fact that she was excited to show her husband n yes I feel the in law out of place for what he did
Austin has always seemed like a controlling dickhole. I can’t be the only one hoping he accidentally falls off a cliff, right? And maybe his dad, too. Guess being a creep runs in the family. ?
100% agree with you!
If this is just regarding her hair Lord (the actual Lord) help with what might be getting sent around between her husband, father-in-law, and father about more intimate aspects of her life.