What Determines If a Woman's Head Is Covered? Is It the Scalp Visibility or the Uncut Hair? Does It Matter If the Hair Is Matted in Cornrows or Plait?
1) Direct answer
A woman’s head is covered when her hair is uncut and allowed to grow. It is not about hiding the scalp with fabric, and it’s not undone by how the hair is arranged. Cornrows, plaits, or other styles do not remove the covering so long as the hair remains uncut and the styling is modest.
2) Scriptural explanation
- 1 Corinthians 11:15: “Her hair is given her for a covering.” The God‑given covering is hair itself.
- 1 Corinthians 11:5–6: Uncoveredness is linked with being shorn or shaven. That shows cutting the hair brings the shame of uncoveredness.
- 1 Timothy 2:9 and 1 Peter 3:3 warn against showy “broided/plaited” hair as outward adornment. The issue is vanity and display, not the mere act of arranging hair.
3) Simple clarifying logic
- Covered = hair God gave, uncut and growing (that is “long”—not measured by inches but by not cutting what God gives).
- Uncovered = shorn/shaven/cut, even if a hat or scarf hides the scalp.
- Styling (cornrows, plaits, buns, etc.) does not cancel the covering, but Scripture cautions against ornate, attention‑seeking braiding. Keep it modest and feminine.
4) Reinforcing statement
Keep what God gave—don’t cut it—and wear it with modesty. That is the Bible’s covering for a woman. Final biblical conclusion: A woman is covered by her uncut, growing hair (1 Corinthians 11:15). Scalp visibility and hats are irrelevant. Plaiting or cornrows do not remove the covering, but must be modest and not for display (1 Timothy 2:9; 1 Peter 3:3).
Existing Follow-Up Answers
- 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 he
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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.
Shalom
64-0119 §64
...t this Jesus? Where'd He come from? We haven't even got a word that He ever come out of any school. All He does is try to tear up the schools that we've built. [Not much fruit of the Spirit there, is there?] "What did he do up there, when that poor merchants and all them businessmen, that had the... They don't raise sheep, so they set a little pen out there so the man could bring in a sheep. That poor businessman---he wants to offer a sheep because it's God's requirement. He brings in the sheep to sell to the busin...
Questions and Answers, Part 2
64-0823E §86
QUESTION: Brother Branham, how should women (oh, my!) wear their hair? Again, just any way you want to. I Timothy 2:9. See? "Let the women adorn themselves in modest apparel." I want to wear mine pleasing to God. (God bless you, sister dear.) Thank you. May God bless you. Pray for us. And the person signs her name. Sharon, sure, Sis! God bless you. Wear it just long as it's long, sister. It's a little girl. God bless you, Honey. It's okay. You go right ahead.
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 2:E-39
1. His Hair as White as Snow. John first notices and mentions the whiteness of His hair. It was white, and as bright as snow. This was not because of His age. Oh, no. The brilliantly white hair does not signify age but experience, maturity, and wisdom. The Eternal One does not age. What is time to God? Time means little to God, but wisdom means much. It is as when Solomon called to God for wisdom to judge the people of Israel. Now He is coming, the Judge of all the earth. He will be crowned with wisdom. That is wha...
The Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast, part 1
61-0216 §59
You say, "You're always talking on our women, about our women." All right, men. I'll comb you down once then. Let me tell you something. Any man that'll let his wife smoke cigarettes and wear shorts, I got little respect of him even being a man. He's so sissified he don't even know what he belongs to. He ain't a man! That's right. Oh, hallelujah! That's right. He's a poor excuse for a man. Oh, he may be six foot tall, weigh 200 pounds, but that don't look like a man to me. It shows who's boss around your house. She...
Paradox
64-0206B §84
"And look what this Jesus of Nazareth done the other day. What did He ever do for the fruit of the Spirit? "Now, many of you are business men. You have ... you have businesses here. You're merchants, and so forth. Jehovah requires a lamb for your sins. You don't raise lambs. So what did these kind old priests do? So that your soul would not be lost, they had some sellers to go up there in the courts, make little cages and put lambs in there, that you could take your income---that you would have (done) made out of l...