Tekulve Jackson-Vann intended only “to switch up my hairstyle a little bit,” but his grooming choice got an initial thumbs-down — which quickly turned to acceptance — at the Payson Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“This was a moment to open up a conversation,” Jackson-Vann said Tuesday, about “how we interpret certain church guidelines across different cultures.”

It started a couple of weeks ago, when Jackson-Vann, a therapist who lives in Spanish Fork, contacted the coordinator of his volunteer shifts at the Payson Temple. He had recently had his hair done into dreadlocks, and sent a picture to the shift coordinator as “a little heads-up, so he wouldn’t be shocked.”

Later that day, a Friday, Jackson-Vann got a call from his temple president, who said the dreadlocks violated church guidelines that say temple workers’ appearance should be clean and conservative.

“Normally, with things like that, I let them go,” said the 38-year-old Jackson-Vann, 38. This time, though, he politely protested, posting a photo of his hairstyle on social media.

“I wrote, ‘Hey, my black brothers and sisters: This hairstyle will get you released as an ordinance worker,’” Jackson-Vann said. “It kind of went viral.”

By Saturday morning, the temple president called again, after being in contact with the church’s temple department. The decision now was that Jackson-Vann’s dreadlocks were appropriate for a temple worker.

A spokeswoman for the church declined to comment.

For Jackson-Vann, the experience recalled his days as a Latter-day Saint missionary in Lansing, Mich. The missionary grooming standards required young men to brush their hair to the back, or parted and brushed to the side.

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“My hair doesn’t do that,” Jackson-Vann said, adding that when he asked for guidance on how to follow the standard, his mission president said, “Do the best you can.”

Jackson-Vann said he has no hard feelings about what happened, and even found the experience “a faith-building moment.”