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.
Oneness
62-0211 §73
A woman wrote me a question the other day; she said, "Brother Branham..." Or, no, it was a man, a minister. He may be standing here this morning. He's just from Ohio. And he said, "We want to say the same thing you do, but we found something on your tapes that's not right." So Billy brought the letter to me. Said, "Something on your tapes," says, "is very contradictory, Brother Branham, to the Word of God. And we want to--we want to say the same thing." Said, "One question I want to say to you; that's I Corinthians...
Lamb and Dove
60-0805 §31
Now, we find in our churches today things that goes on. Now, it used to be, a long time... Now, don't get angry with me now. I want to show you. Now, we're talking about out in denominations, now we're going to come home to Pentecost just a little bit. We're going to wonder what's happening to our Pentecostal people. You know, it used to be a horrible thing for our women to cut their hair. It used to be awful. I can remember that, and I've only been with them just a few years. But now it's all right, they cut their...
Questions and Answers, Part 3
64-0830M §148
QUESTION: Is it wrong to trim the ends of woman's hair? I believe we just went through that a few minutes ago, see, for the little ... I guess they call them little things that hang down like that...
Discerning the Body of the Lord
59-0812 §29
Bobbing off their hair. The Bible said that a woman that cuts her hair, her husband has a right to give her a divorce, because she is untrue. He said that she dishonors her head. Is that right? And the man is the head of the woman. I know that's rough, but we need discernment. We need to discern it by the Word. The Word is right. Take the Word. God's Word is always right.
From that time
61-0520 §61
I was speaking this morning of this woman, immoral woman, washing Jesus' dirty feet, wiping them with her hair. Some of our Pentecostal sisters would have to stand on their head to get enough hair to wash their feet---cut it all off. That's right. It used to be wrong for you to do it. It's still wrong for you to do it. The Bible plainly teaches that if a woman cuts her hair, her husband has a right to divorce her, put her away. Said if she cuts her hair she dishonors her head (her husband), and a dishonorable woman...