Adapting Hijab Styles And More

One of the things that I do (I think I may have mentioned it once before) when I'm feeling  in a rut with my covering styles, is to look online at tutorials and how-to videos.  And while there are more Jewish or similarly styled videos out there now then when I first looked around, there is a much wider variety of videos available for styling hijab.

Of course, many of the ideas don't work at all for someone not looking to cover their neck (and I don't wear styles that do for reasons of 'truth in advertising' and communal acceptability/sense of who I am).

But some of them do.  And others have ideas that are adaptable to the styles that I wear, with a little experimentation.

Here are a couple of general principles that I've developed, in figuring out what works for adaptation:
1. Anything that covers just the head, with instructions to "pin to a turtleneck" is obviously basically just a tichel style.  Just don't pin to a turtleneck, and you've got something immediately wearable.
Here's an example:

2. A lot of things that involve creating folds look nice, and I keep thinking they should be adaptable, but I haven't had much luck yet- most of them keep the folds with pins, and I'm not ready for pins.  (Are you?  How is it?  Do you get poked often?)

3. Wraps focus on moving around the face fabric comes around in front of you, covering the neck and perhaps chest as well) instead of around the back of the head are going to be inspiration, not directly convertible.

4. Hijab tutorials are great places to look for interesting color combinations, ways of tying scarves decoratively on the side (I've seen some great side knots on friends lately, actually.  Anyone want to fill me in?), or for ways to incorporate accessories.  They were the first places I saw good ideas for using headbands and pins.

And More:
I've joined Pinterest.  You can find me (and some of my favorite coverings I've worn, along with some items that I'm hoping will inspire me, and a small but growing collection of useful how-to and tutorial videos) at http://www.pinterest.com/mayaresnikof/boards/ 

I know there's a way to connect it to this blog, I just haven't figured it out yet.  Advice is welcome.

And just for kicks- what I wore one day recently:

I've been really enjoying layering ribbons on my wraps.  This patterned one especially adds to the sense of complexity without adding lots of bulk or bits that can cause the rest of the wrap to slip out of place more easily.  I'd guess it's a good technique for relative beginners who are looking to add interest without adding difficulty, since it's just wrapped and tied to itself on top of the rest.

Some Tribute Photos As I Try New Styles

I've seen two really interesting new style videos recently.  One was Wrapunzel's criss-cross wrap.  Here are my first attempts.

I'm doing this without layering underneath, so my criss-crosses are closer together than her's, and the scarf forms a slightly different shape on my head.

The ear-covering is really necessary for this style while putting it on.  At first, I thought it was a necessity, but I've now tried popping my ears out, and everything seems to remain pretty solid, and for me, that's Much more comfortable.  The effect is barely minimized.
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The second is The Daily Tichel's video on how to use a shirt as a tichel.

(The above is a short-sleeve synthetic top.  Useful, since it's hard to match turquoises, and I don't have a brown tichel.  But the short sleeves made it a little tricky- it's basically just knotted around itself in the back.)
My first thought was that this was a great thing to keep in mind for emergencies, or for the very creative.  But as I played around with different shirts, I realized that it was a really interesting way to make use of things like ruffles around the collar.

I did these without an underscarf or added volume (although I'd probably use one for all-day wear, mostly, especially since a lot of the shirts I was playing with were synthetic and a bit slippery or stretchy), since I was just experimenting.

Long sleeves provide some different options than short-sleeves do.

 (As here, there's a full wrap-around the bun.  Also, they do a good dutch-crown sort of affair, or just layered around the top.)

A lot of these wraps feel a little less secure, probably because I'm not practiced with them yet.  One of the things I enjoyed was that they made some pretty neat pony-tail arrangements.

Turban-Style Wraps

As I return to a realistic schedule, I'm working my way back to blogging.  Here are some of the wraps I've been playing with lately.  I'm experimenting with some scarves in more turban-like styles.  (If there's a technical definition of a turban, I haven't found it yet.)  Here's what I've been coming up with.  Please tell me what looks worth repeating, or if better instructions might make it worth trying yourself.  Pictures are always welcome too.

1. This one looked a little wimpy without the pin, but I quite like it with.  It's done with a scarf folded into a triangle, with the point facing the face, and the wide part at the back.  The ends wrap around, and the twist at the front is the wide/third point of hte triangle, twisted back and tucked.  I set it a little to the side, for better effect.

 I also played with some variations with the front corner folded under instead, but I'm not finding a good picture right now.

 2. Here's another start-from-the-back turban, done with a large rectangular scarf, twisted, with the twist brought around the back.

 I really like the back.  I'm less sure about the front.  It may take more experimentation.

 Here's the other side, where the twist doesn't show so much.

One of the interesting things about these wraps is how much less tying and knotting there is.  They felt pretty secure while I was playing with them.  I haven't done a full day wear yet.






3. This last one, I have worn all day a few times.  It's a bit closer to my usual- I found a how-to video somewhere, I'll have to dig it up again.  It starts in front, criss-crosses the ends in back, and brings them forward and ties a knot at the top of the head (usually to one side a bit), then tucks the ends back in, in back or wherever.  It's very fast and easy, and looks pretty good, I think.  It is a bit tricky to get tefillin on over this one, though, like with most styles that put bulk over the head rather than around the bun.

Flattering Your Face

I've posted links to blogs that have talked about choosing hats that flatter your face, in the past.  Those have all been aimed a. at hats, b. at situations where you have hair coming out as well, and c. at a general audience.

I'd like to think about similar considerations for scarves.  What face shapes are best suited by building up height or by high or low buns?  Do layers of scarves draw attention in one direction or another that might interact with emphasizing different parts of your face?  What about creating dangling tails or a more tailored look, bringing the eye up?  How do all these things interact?  What impact do accessories have?

The problem is, I don't really understand this business of face shape, in its complexities.  So it's hard for me to think about what sorts of things flatter what face shapes.  So I'm hoping to start experimenting on my friends (and any other volunteers), to start forming some ideas.

In the meantime, any thoughts you, my dear readers, might have would be very welcome.  What styles suit your face, and what don't?  Do you sometimes choose a "less flattering" style because you just like it, or because it sends the right social message, or because it's comfortable, or for some other reason?

Volumizers

While my hair is quite long, it's also very fine, meaning that when I put my hair up in a bun, it doesn't support some styles of wrap- especially ones that have lots of layers going over the top of the head, or which want some bulk to create a sense of balance.  I've experimented with layering scarves underneath, as in this style:

And I've seen an excellent tutorial for using a long scarf and tucking it underneath itself, although I haven't managed to make it work for me.  I think I put my bun too low- but that's where it feels most comfortable and natural to me.

There are also commercial padded volumizers  sold, like these (pictures courtesy of Pesky Settler), and available online as well.

And then, there's the DIY approach, for which I found an interesting tutorial here.  It looks easy, and fairly cheap.  When I get the materials together, I'm going to try this one myself.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Do you bother with this?  What are your techniques?

Silhouette and Style

I'm visiting my parents, right now- my husband and I came out yesterday, on something of a whim.  At some point, last night, I was talking to my grandmother about this blog, and we were talking about her appreciation for what I do.  Somehow, this all got around to bringing me to consider what sorts of silhouettes I seem to want to create.  Don't ask about the chain of thought- I'm confident that it neither makes a lot of sense, nor matters.

In any case, perhaps as a result of my shorter-than-average height, or my mother's dicta as I was younger in praise of hairstyles that "gave me some height", I have lately wanted to wrap my scarves so that they do exactly that- add some height.  This is particularly true for when I want to dress nicely.  Wrapping additional scarves in ways that layer and create a fairly thick "crown" around my head is a style you've been seeing from me quite a lot, here.  The last wedding I went to, I pinned a necklace to my scarf, also drawing light and attention upwards.

I've seen a variety of products online, designed to add height to one's head-silhouette.  Most seem to be padding of one sort or another, added under your scarf.  They seem to be popular already in the Muslim community, and I've seen a number of Jewish women getting into them as well.  This seems to be the stylish silhouette, right now.  So maybe I'm just following the trends.

It reminds me (and this was part of the way I got to this topic, from talking to my grandmother) of a couple of scarves/head-coverings that were part of the dress-up chest when I was little.  They had been my great-grandmother's I think, and I could never figure out quite what they were for, when I was little, because they had a padded section in front.  (At the time, I also didn't like the fabrics much, so there wasn't a lot of incentive to find ways to play with them.)  I don't know if that was the style, then (my bubbe didn't usually cover her hair/head, but I suppose some situations called for it?), or if the padding was to help keep the scarf on.  Nevertheless, those scarves would make a different silhouette from anything I see done now- either the styles that add some height or the more low-lying ones.  Too bad they aren't still lying around somewhere, so that I could make a comparison.