What's New With HowToCover

I'm very excited to be quoted over at The White Hindu, in a post thinking about passing and visibility as a person in a minority religion.  Ambaa's thoughts are a fascinating addition to the conversation that Liz and I have both talked about here.

Also, I've been doing some tichel style sessions with friends, in preparation for running a program out in West Hartford, CT on Saturday night.  Good stuff has been happening.  I've been having fun, my trial students have been enthusiastic, and it's quite exciting to see how things look on another person's face.

"Holy Hair": Interfaith Awarenesses

Over on Morethodoxy, Rachel Kohl Finegold shares her experience of an interfaith panel at Le Mood.  In short, in reaction to Quebec's proposed law against wearing "religious symbols" while working in public life, they held an interfaith panel discussion, in which head and hair covering became a major topic, in discussion with a Sikh gentleman.

Finegold finds a place where she has more privilege than her Sikh co-panelist: she can pass as just someone wearing a hat, whereas his turban is visibly a religious item.  Her observance would be marginally safer than his, if this law passed.  She is less visibly different.

She also finds in herself a new sensitivity. The Sikh feel discomfort about having his turban patted down, based on Sikh belief that the head is a holy part of the body, not to be touched by other people.  Hearing this, Finegold realizes that her own experiences in airport security are offensive to her.  People ask her to take off her hat, which feels to her like being asked to take off her shirt.  She'd never been offended by it before, but now, she was noticing the cultural insensitivity of the request.

She says that the conversation "sensitized me to my own tzniut".  And yes, in a context where covering is the norm, it would be offensive to ask someone to uncover their head or hair.  But in a world where indeed, she might pass, whether she is intending to or not, I have this feeling that there is also room for patience and tolerance- because the TSA folks might just not know.  Educating the uninformed is worthwhile, getting offended at them may be more reaction that is needed.  At least, that's my reaction today.

It seems that visibility cuts both ways.  It's riskier- but you can also use that visibility to advocate for yourself and your community.

I'd never considered covering my head as inconspicuous, but I suppose that with a hat, on the street, it is.  It's always a little squiggly feeling, noticing a privilege you have, if you want it, when you usually feel visibly identified and identifiable.  I wonder if that's what Ms Finegold was feeling.

Do you feel like you can hide your religious identity when it's convenient?  How does that feel for you?

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.

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?

What Do You Get From Covering?

This post about wearing hijab is really very thoughtful, while still being an easy read.  I think a lot of it holds true for Jewish (married-woman style) head covering too.  Here's my favorite line: "Although nobody on the outside could see my hair, my appearance underneath can still hold as much significance as I want to give it."  My image of myself is both ways that I see myself in the mirror- hair covered (in all its different silhouettes) and uncovered and loose and down past my waist.  It's as important to me as it ever was- even if none of you ever see it again.  

The other thought I wanted to draw out is "I choose who sees what’s under there and that gives me a sense of power and reassurance I wouldn’t trade for anything".  Clearly, it doesn't speak so much to wearing a kippah, but it's an interesting set of ideas to think about.  Much of what's said could go for any modesty practice, but there's something about choosing to cover a part of the body that isn't in the secular vocabulary that is particularly vocal- especially, for me, in speaking to myself.  It's a message that I hear most from my head covering, far more than the rest of my modesty-fueled clothing choices.  

A Good Read

A friend shared this blog post with me, and I think it's too good not to share with you, right now.  Read it- it's interesting and an easy read.
http://www.native-born.com/weblog/2012/8/14/covered-heads.html

Interfaith Head-Covering: Links

We don't practice Judaism in a vacuum.  I thought it would be interesting to share some theology and personal experiences from folks of other religions about their own religions' use of head-covering.  I am indebted to the lovely folks at the ravelry forum "Veiled Knitters" for helping me find many of these links.  This is far from an exhaustive listing- just some things that I've found, and found interesting, in the last weeks.


Islam:
A Feminist Reaction to Hijab

As a woman who has worn an religious marker on my head, I can really identify with some of the thinking in this post, about the intensification of judgement when you're identifiable.

Christianity:
One of the things that I find interesting about Christian head covering is how often it seems to be directly linked to formal worship, rather than general modesty.  This is one Catholic explanation of the use of the chapel veil.

Here's one woman's look at what the Christian Bible has to say to her about head covering.

And here's another Protestant approach.

And, in the framework of daily covering: two pieces about the combined choice of head-covering and plain dress.

Here's a blog (this is one post, but a lot of the blog is about head-covering) from an Eastern Orthodox Christian perspective.  I don't know how typical it is- the Eastern Orthodox women I've known in person have not covered their head outside of prayer.

This other Orthodox Christian perspective suggests that wearing a headcovering is a way of making yourself into an icon.  I'm going to need to read it again before I really start to feel what this idea is about.

And now for something I hadn't known about before, Pagan head-covering: (If you're uncomfortable reading about such things, here's where you should skip, although the final blog does not actively discuss Avodah Zarah.)
http://lacemaze.blogspot.com/2012/07/what-i-put-on-my-head-is-my-own-business.html

And yet another, with a variety of approaches to the practice, and links to other blog posts about it.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/pantheon/2012/03/veiling-a-different-take-on-pagan-womanhood/

The Pagan blogs that I've looked at have had a strong focus on personal choice and individual calling to cover.  However, that doesn't exempt them from the discomforts that head-covering can bring- including discrimination.  Here is a response to that issue.  I think it is fascinating to see how a community that revolves around a voluntary practice can call for things that a community that sees the same practice is mandatory might not do...