Extreme Hair Coverings
The Satan is always several steps ahead of us. He knows about the revolution that many women, both Jews and Gentile, have decided to cover their hair with something other than the wig. So, he works towards introducing outrageous hair coverings that “attract” attention instead of being tznius. Here is a sampling of hair coverings that meet this category, which we call “extreme”.
Extreme Bun
Queen Nefertiti was a glamorous Egyptian queen of the 14th century B.C.E. An idol worshiper herself, the queen was also worshiped as a goddess by her fellow Egyptians. Queen Nefertiti was also known for wearing very large hats.
Queen Nefertiti’s large hat
Queen Nefertiti’s large hat
In the past decade or so, Jewish women started wearing a bun, popularly known as the Boubou, Volumizer, Shaper and other names under their scarves. Just like in Talmudic times when Jewish daughters would add foreign hair, also known as “Peah Nochri” on top of their natural hair, some Jewish daughters today who wear tichels or scarves opt to enhance their look by wearing an artificial polyester-fill bun under their scarves. Note that there is no requirement to do this on a halachic basis. The halacha only requires a married Jewish woman to cover her hair properly but does not require her to wear a bun underneath a scarf.
Because the Satan is always progressive in enticing the Jewish nation to sin, he has no qualm now that the popularity of these buns have soared. Take a look at some of the popular styles of tichels with buns here. We call this the “extreme bun.”
The Extreme Bun adds more than 6 inches of height to your head.
Kashrus of the Bun Fillings
At this time, we are speculating that the fillings that go inside the synthetic bun is truly synthetic. However, we do not yet have enough data to determine that is truly the case for all fillings. If the product hails from China, it may be wise to have it inspected by a Sha’atnez expert to determine its kashrus.
New Synthetic Hair Volumizer Products
Don’t be surprised that these “hair accessories” also come in synthetic hair. Here are some of them that are gaining popularity, no thanks to the Satan.
Synthetic Hair Buns, Lo Aleinu
Note that even though the product claims it is made with synthetic hair, we know from experience that we cannot believe such claims. Read this article about the source of hair that is marketed today. By using this type of hair accessory, one is closer to the way our Jewish daughters used to enhance their hair with peah nochri (foreign hair) during Talmudic times. What went around comes back to haunt us again. But this time, we can fix it by avoiding it like the plague.
Message from our Rabbaniyot
Rabbanit Batya Yehoshua emphasizes this message in a short clip on Tznius below.
The following clip from Daughters of Dignity explains the importance of refinement to a Bas Yisrael that distinguishes her from the nations by not following their ways.
Obsession with Hair
It is clear that hair is a beautiful part of a woman’s physique. Married Jewish women are commanded to cover their hair so that their beautiful hair is reserved only for their beloved husbands. Even then, a married Jewish woman may still fall prey to the Satan’s subtle ways in convincing her to focus on noticing how much hair she should have under that covering. For example, if she has less, she should enhance it. If she has more, she can still flaunt it under that covering. That explains the explosion of “hair accessories” such as the hair volumizers/shapers/boubous that plague the Jewish market today.
Conclusion
The goal of the Jewish woman is not to mimic the immodest styles of the surrounding nations, present or past, ancient Egyptians included. The extreme height of the bun not only attracts attention, it also reminds us of the tall large hat of Queen Nefertiti. So, to extreme bun wearers, please be aware that this is the Satan’s ploy to destroy the tznius of your hair covering by making you look more noticeable than you should be which defeats the goal of tznius.
If you really must wear a synthetic hair bun, get the one that is less drastic, or one that you can adjust the filling. Make it less extreme. And don’t try the ones made with synthetic hair as they are certainly problematic. We can beat the Satan at his game.
All the glory of the daughter of the King is internal. Let us not be deceived by Satan by maintaining a more refined hair covering that doesn’t cause us undue attention or stumble into wearing hair from problematic sources.