Friday, March 4, 2011

Headcovering: An Everyday Cover

I'm taking a quick break from explaining why I cover and why it's important to me, to give a little practical covering advice that has worked well for me. At Mass I usually where a mantilla, although I've gone through various phases, from the Hat-Phase to the Snood-Phase to the Mantilla-Phase.

And like a couple of you have mentioned in the comment section, in the last year and a half when I felt the call to cover, I felt the call to cover all the time. You see I wanted to be covered when I prayed and when I went about my day as a reminder to serve God. It made sense to me that I would cover all the time...

... So I tried it for a while with snoods. The reaction I met with was hard...

Women particularly were openly hostile. And not just towards me. Their hostility was particularly directed towards my husband. Women who'd always talked to him at work would now glare as they walked by.

That was the main reason I left off covering after less than a month. Lately I've been experimenting with different types of covering. You'll notice in a lot of the pictures about half of my hair (in the back) is usually up in a scarf. That doesn't seem to bother people nearly as much.

Anyways, I snapped a few pictures yesterday showing how to tie a scarf in the way I usually wear it. It can be worn up, as it is when I first tie it, or pushed back to cover half of your hair. The scarf in the picture doesn't work very well up because it's so slippery, but some of the matte finish scarfs I have will stay up quite well.

And now, here's one way to tie a scarf:

Fold the scarf into a triangle and place on your head as shown:


Pull towards the back of your neck so it covers as much hair as you'd like it to cover.


Cross the ends in the back under your hair (I've only tried this with a bun).


Pull ends up and cross over the top of the bun.


Cross again under the bun, you can do this with the back free as in the picture below or...


You can tuck the ends (the bottom of the triangle) under the part your crossing so that it's fitted to your bun.


Tie in a loose knot.


The final result:






And shown pulled back to cover half of your hair.


Now as long as the bunnies don't spend all night awake, hopefully I'll be back to my regular scheduled headcovering explanation very soon!

13 comments:

  1. Speaking of everyday covers. So I was in the Mall yesterday and past by a lady getting a smoothie at the food court. She was wearing a pretty skirt all the way to her ankles and I noticed that first. Most people in the desert wear pants or shorts, but I'm digressing. Anyways... I glanced at her whole outfit. Oh, that's very modest yet fashionable. Then I noticed her hair. It was done up in a bun. She was a brunette so it took me a minute to realize...that she had on a lacy thing over her bun. A mantilla of sorts but it just covered her bun and hung down about an inch or so. It was black so I didn't even notice it at first.

    And you know what I thought of...well Cam of course and her whole series. And it made me feel more confident. I don't think she was Catholic but you never know. Maybe I'll go and get some lace fabric and make something similar for everyday wear. It wasn't that obvious to me so maybe my vanity will get over itself if I use a similar tactic.

    But it's funny that today you picked everyday head covering as a topic, because that was what was on my mind yesterday.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cute! I've been wearing tichels a lot lately... In fact every day this month so far (will post about that soon lol) and the style you showed is exactly how I do that! Dh likes it a lot... I've worn the hijab style before and rarely get neg reactions (have, just not often). I'm just not as comfortable in it around my inlaws & I really like this one right now.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Cammie,

    Great tutorial on getting the scarf secure! Thank you! I've really enjoyed reading your posts about head covering. I myself find it very hard to put into words why I cover, but I really liked reading all the good comments on it and I found myself nodding in agreement. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I also felt as though I wanted to cover all the time! I don't know what it is about it... I learned this tie-technique from an Orthodox Jewish site that sells scarves, I wore this style to church a couple times, but since I'm not used to it I kept thinking about what it looked like, what other people thought, etc. I still love it!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm really surprised to read that you experienced hostility from other women when you covered all the time! I have been covering all day for about two years and have received negative reactions at Mass but never out in public (so far)! Thank you for your posts on headcovering. I am really enjoying them. Maybe in a future post you would consider discussing where you purchase your scarves/snoods/mantillas?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Garlands of Grace have a lot of beautiful coverings that don't look like coverings. I love wearing the cecily style.

    Paula

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm a fan of the Cecily style from GoG too...I had some custom ones made by sending them the fabric.

    ReplyDelete
  8. A tichel bent over backwards - genius! I love it.

    One of the things that I love about Catholicism is that, despite what people might think if they just take a quick glimpse from the outside, it isn't just hard and fast rules, rules, rules. One of my friends asked me what the "rules" were for when I covered and when I didn't, outside of Mass, and I realized that it's something I intuit. When the texture of my day or my hours is holy - or if I am asking for special help to make them holy - I cover my hair. It deepens my spiritual life to have the two textures, the covered and uncovered, and keeps me constantly seeking and discerning!

    ReplyDelete
  9. This topic came up last night at a family pizza night. My SIL and I were discussing headcoverings and thought we'd ask my Mother-in-law about it since she was born in the early 1940's and was always devout. She had a very interesting thing to say about it. She said they only wore chapel veils at school and literally to chapel. She remembers carrying them in their pockets and using hankies if they forgot them. She also said that no one wore them on Sundays. Everyone she knew, young and old, wore hats. (btw... socioeconomically, they were lower middle class) She said that she always thought of chapel veils as just a school or "chapel" thing and hats were really for parish Mass.

    This led to a delightful discussion on hats and she even brought out some hats she hadn't worn in over 35 years. :) She won't wear them now because she prefers not to be noticed in a crowd and just pray discreetly.

    So, how about it, ladies? Who wants to bring out the hats? lol

    ReplyDelete
  10. I like the scarf look! I'll have to keep that in mind for when my hair gets long enough for a bun again. I've been doing hats most of the time for their baby-proof quality, but this looks like it would work well.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thank-you for showing this post. I have handkerchiefs that I use as head scarves but I never thought of using a scarf. Haha. I'm going through postpartum hair loss right now and this is an ingenious way of keeping hair from getting all over the house. I love seeing silky head scarves because they remind me of my grandmother who still wears one. As does my mother when she is housecleaning.

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi! I just found this blog, and I know this post is old, so you may never read this.

    I'm a protestant in RCIA and also I'm just starting my head covering journey, although I have felt the call to cover for many years now. I am the only one in both my protestant community as well as my catholic community that covers and it feels very lonely. Was googling to find other catholics who cover fully and full time like myself. I need the support! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I feel exposed when I don't cover and I find that strange since I've gone uncovered almost my whole life!

    I was praying one day and heard a deep, sincere voice commanding me "Cover your head when you're talking to HIM!"...so I grabbed the next best piece of fabric I could find (a muslin diaper of all things!) and put it on my head. I've covered ever since...and think me crazy, I still believe it was an angel telling me to cover up when I speak to the FATHER.

    ReplyDelete

I love comments and I read every single comment that comes in (and I try to respond when the little ones aren't distracting me to the point that it's impossible!). Please show kindness to each other and our family in the comment box. After all, we're all real people on the other side of the screen!