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.
The god of this evil age
65-0801M §65
Now you see, women, I'm trying my best to show you the Word of God. The Bible said, "If a woman cuts her hair, she dishonors her head," which is her husband. And her husband is the head with God. So she dishonors God and her husband. Now, this shows who is the head of this world's church system. That shows who's the head of it. It's Satan in the form of a superman person of knowledge, a super knowledge. He knows more than all the rest of them. No matter what the Word says, he's got his own interpretation to it (see...
The meanest man in Santa Maria
62-0630E §26
That's the way ... the women is supposed to wear long hair because of the ... of her head, which is her husband. He is to have short hair because of Christ. The woman wears long hair because of the angels. What is the angels? The messenger, a true messenger to the church. That's right. He'll always call it down and say it's wrong, see, and so forth. And the church, to be so yielded to Jesus that it don't claim its own head, its own headship. Christ is the headship of the church, veiled. We're not our own, but we're...
The results of decision
55-1008 §45
Here not long ago I was in a revival, where Pentecostal women on the platform with a skirt on that looked like they were molded in it, and with great big, long earrings hanging down like that, and with manicure, or ever what you call the stuff, all over their face. Looked like they'd been eating raw beefsteak and blood all over their fingers and things. And call themselves "filled with the Holy Ghost?" "By their fruits you shall know them." Right. It's too bad that you do that. Yes sir. You know it used to be wrong...
Conferences
60-0228 §4
A few days ago, or some time ago I might say, I was combing what few hairs I had left. My wife said to me, she said, "Billy, you're almost bald-headed." I said, "Yes." It was because, to start with, from a barber putting carbolic acid on my hair. It all come out, and then it never did come back right. I said, "But, Honey, I want to tell you, I haven't lost one of them." She said, "Pray tell me where they're at." I said, "Well, I will answer you if you'll answer me." She said, "All right." I said, "Where were they b...
The unwelcomed Christ
55-1002 §56
...ing saved. And that's what we need to do tonight is to get before Jesus and get saved. No matter what you're breaking the rules, or the regulations; that has nothing to do with it. The thing of it is is get before Jesus. And she was washing His feet with her tears, and first thing you know, she was so excited she started to raise up and all of her hair, that she had pinned up on her head, fell down. And she began to wipe His feet with her ... with the hairs of her head. It'll be a hard time for a lot our Christians...