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.
Seals 7: The Fifth Seal
63-0322 §141
I like a pretty horse, and he just stands in its statue of a real pretty horse, or anything like that. A pretty mountain, pretty women, pretty men---anything that stands in the making of God, I always admired it. And these were perfect. But no matter how much they would hug me up into their arms---and they were women, you understand---but there could never be no sin. The male glands and the female glands both were gone. Thank the Lord. They were my sisters completely. I looked and I begin to... I looked at my hands...
Questions and Answers, Part 2
64-0823E §83
QUESTION: Brother Branham, is it wrong to have a flattop haircut? I suppose this is a man; I hope it is. Well now, some women do that. Sure. I was going up on the bus one time when I was state game warden here. Going up here ... I was setting there, and a man was talking like that, had a welder's cap on, and I was just talking to him. And he was going ahead smoking a cigarette, had a welder's glasses pushed up like that. Was right up here around Sellersburg. And I was setting there talking to that fellow. He said s...
Seals 7: The Fifth Seal
63-0322 §32
I can't understand why that ... well, a lot of things. There's not many things I do understand or can understand. I can't understand how this young fellow sitting here eats the same food I can, and here he is ... got a full head of hair, and I ain't got any. I don't understand it. They tell me calcium makes it, and I can't keep my fingernails cut off enough and no hair at all to cut off. I don't understand that.
A thinking man's filter
65-0822E §32
Notice, now women, they want to have bobbed hair. They want to wear shorts, paint, make-up. These little bikinis and things that they wear nowadays, they want to do it; and yet they want to go to church. You see that anointing upon the spirit, not upon the soul, see. Wants to be a Christian and also do these things. And the pastor says it's okay. Then if he says it's okay ("You can be a member; your name can be on my church book here; it's okay."), then he's giving her his denominational filter to suit a worldly wo...
The Queen of the South
58-0125 §53
Now, if this woman and I, who never have seen each other in our lives... If the Holy Spirit will reveal what the woman's there for, you know it'll have to be supernatural then. If you believe it's a devil, you will receive a devil's reward. If you believe it's God, you'll receive God's reward. It's the way you approach a gift. The woman... The soldier... The woman that touched the hem of Jesus' garment, she received healing. The soldier that put a rag around His head and said, "Let's try out this gift and see if it...