So What If a Woman by Accident, Age or Health Condition Has Short or No Hair, How Should She Be Covered If Hats and Scarfs Are Not a Covering?
1) Direct answer
If a woman loses hair by accident, age, or sickness, she is not made “uncovered” in guilt before God. The Bible’s covering is her hair as God gives it; the command is that she must not cut it. So she should simply let it grow as she is able and keep from cutting. In the meantime, she may use a simple scarf or a plain wig for modesty—not as the Scriptural covering of 1 Corinthians 11, but as modest apparel. When her hair can grow, let it grow; if it cannot, she remains blameless before God.
2) Scriptural explanation
- “Her hair is given her for a covering” (1 Corinthians 11:15). The covering God speaks of is hair, not a hat.
- “If the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn” (1 Corinthians 11:6). Paul links uncoveredness with being shorn/shaven—an act of cutting. The shame is tied to willful shearing.
- God looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). He numbers our hairs (Luke 12:7). He knows when loss comes through infirmity, not rebellion.
- Modesty in apparel is commanded (1 Timothy 2:9; 1 Peter 3:3–4). A simple scarf or plain wig can serve modesty without pretending to be the 1 Corinthians 11 covering.
3) Simple clarifying logic
- Covered = obedience to keep the hair uncut and let it grow as God allows.
- Uncovered = shorn/shaven by choice, even if a hat hides the scalp.
- Involuntary loss (illness, age, accident) does not equal rebellion; therefore it does not bring the guilt of uncoveredness.
- A scarf or wig can help modesty, but it is not the Scriptural covering. The moment hair can grow, do not cut it.
4) Reinforcing statement
God is not measuring hats; He is honoring a woman’s obedient heart to keep what He gives and to walk in modesty.
Final biblical conclusion: A woman who has short or no hair through accident, age, or sickness remains scripturally covered when she refuses to cut and lets it grow as able (1 Corinthians 11:15–16). She may use modest apparel (a simple scarf or plain wig) for decency, but these do not replace the God-given covering. If her hair can grow again, let it grow and do not cut it.
Existing Follow-Up Answers
- If a Woman Willfully Cuts or Shaves Off Her Hair but Wears a Scarf or Hat to Pray, Is She Covered?
1) Direct answer No. If a woman willfully cuts or shaves her hair and then puts on a scarf or hat to pray, she is still uncovered before God. The
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What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Questions and Answers, Part 2
64-0823E §84
No, Brother, if you want a flattop haircut, I'll tell you; You just wait till you get about my age, you'll have one. So... That's all right. I didn't mean that like that, buddy. Bless your heart if you believe Brother Branham tell you the truth. I don't think God says anything about men, his covering is just as long as he cuts his hair. If he lets his hair grow down long like a woman, the Bible says it's a shame for a man to do that. But now, if ... as long as you got your hair and you're a little boy. And I know I...
Questions and Answers, Part 3
64-0830M §115
QUESTION: Brother Branham, please explain I Corinthians---I Corinthians 11 and verse 4 through 6. Does not this mean a separate covering from the hair, or is the long hair the only covering we need? (Get me I Corinthians 11. Let's see, I Corinthians 11:4.) It says when praying ... (Oh, yeah. They got it here. They say,) In praying or prophesying can we take our hair---can we ... (Let's see, they got a line drawed through something here.) When prophesying can we take our hair when we ... (You say,) Can we take our h...
And knoweth it not
65-0815 §68
That's why that woman will wear them shorts. She's counted a prostitute the same as the woman in the act, see. She doesn't know that that spirit... How does she know her ultimate? What is an ultimate? It's the last word. The ultimate is the Amen; it's the end of all strife---your ultimate. And if your church ... a Pentecostal church that tells you that long hair stuff is just fanaticism---"You've got a spare tire on the back of your head," and so forth and them kind of things---the man is possessed of the devil; fo...
Recognizing your day and its message
64-0726M §71
.... Oh, they say, "Our church don't pay no attention to that." You know why? They're blind. "It's no harm to cut your hair." The Bible says it is! It's even a indecent thing for you to even cut your hair and even pray. You say, "Well, a woman should be covered. "And the Bible said her hair is her covering, not a hat, her hair! What if Moses said, "I'll take off my hat instead of my shoes?" That wouldn't have worked. God said "shoes;" God meant "shoes." He said "hair," not "hat!" Glory to God! He liked that, I'm sure....
Questions and Answers, Part 4
64-0830E §72
If a woman has got real thin hair, and she wants to wear one of those "rats" or ever what you call it, I think that's... My wife wears it. It's a... She says her hair's thin, and she's got some kind of a thing about that big around, looks like a great big, oversized biscuit. And she wraps her hair around that and pins the pins in it. And now, as far as I'm concerned, that don't bother anything as long as your hair is long. A minister said his wife was condemned, because she had a tint in her hair. And I found out f...