Covering heads and hair

I want to insert something that isn't often thought about or spoken out loud. But the N-Typical Fetishisation and ownership of Women. It's part of the allure of Control in BDSM. It's an exhausted topic in psychoanalytic and philosophical discourse which has been going on for at least a good 150 years or so (since women have been allowed a voice in Western culture, at least).

While I love a wooly hat just as much as anyone, being forced to wear a thing at threat of being discarded from society in a cruel way would mean I wouldn't get to choose wool over polyester (plastic-threaded-fabric) or cashmere over thick scratchy wool. 

I think healthy hair is a sign of overall health, but I agree it's largely a cultural imposition. I quite like the idea of a veil, I have a very mobile face and my thoughts show almost instantly, so people not being able to see me is appealing. But I also get this tendency to want to disapear which is why I think I almost became anorexic. I think the need to disapear is partly because of people, or rather male people, shouting at me in the street or passing comments about me as they walk past.

I wonder if in cultures where they having whats called a walking marriage, if men cover they're faces?

Ha ha Cat, I love the idea of people having hats which they cover with hair!

Why is hair on a woman's head related to sex? I believe that women who always wear head coverings for religious/cultural reasons only show their hair to other women or their husband, but I can't see how head hair is sexy myself. But then apparently when women wore long skirts the sight of an ankle could arouse some, so maybe it's just that people are programmed to want what they can't have/see?

Veils are odd in my opinion. Again, why cover one's face? The bridal one seems to imply the groom hasn't met the bride before the wedding and he's going to pull back the veil after the ceremony and see her for the first time (surprise! You might think I'm a bit ugly, but you're stuck with me now, ha ha!)

I don't understand it either Pixie, I supect women covering thier hair in the sight of god is more about human men not seeing it and admiring it and even, shock horror, thinking about SEX! I suspect that if god had made women with hats instead of hair humans would have invented hair to hide the sexually alluring hoats, lol.

I remember watching Downton Abbey and they were having lunch, visiting ladies kept thier hats on and resident ladies didn't, I dont remember if there were any men at this lunch and if they wore hats?

I think who removes a hat to whom is a class thing, a lower class individual removes his hat to a male of a higher class.

Why do men raise thier hats to women?

Why do men romove their hats when a funeral procession passes them?

As modern Christianity came relatively late to much of Africa do those who keep their head coverings in place when in church, of a protestant persausion rather than a catholic one? I've no idea of the Coptic church's position on head wear, but they're more north African I think?

What about veils, how do poeple feel about veils? In Britain it seems that only brides wear veils, and sometimes widows at a husbands funeral. What not at other times?

I only recently found out why women kept hats on when visiting other people or in church, basically they would have had ‘hat hair.”

I personally don’t like Wearing hats the pressure is uncomfortable, I still have my chauffeurs hat from when I drove wedding cars, I also own a Fez, don’t ask.

Occasionally I wear a beanie in the winter as I live in a valley that gets very cold. The coldest day being -19.6C.

I really don't get it. Why is covering one's head a mark of respect in a church, temple, etc? Why in most religions or cultures is it mainly the women required to cover their head? If there is a God, he made women with hair on their heads, not hats or scarves - Why wouldn't he want to see their lovely hair? I respect all faiths and beliefs, but I just don't understand this one.

Also, it's apparently polite for a man to take off a hat when going indoors???

I don't like hats much, they make my head itch and when it's windy they blow off (and I wouldn't want to stick hat pins in my head like women did years ago)

I'm ok wearing a soft scarf or woolly hat in cold weather to keep my ears warm though.

My gr gr aunt was a seemstress, making clothes for people, I would of loved to have learned from her, I don't think she ever used a pattern, I remember having a piece of material held up against me at xmas and a few pins stuck in it and I'd have a new dress at easter. One of the problems with trying to make your own clothes now is finding fabric, I like to feel a fabric and when you shope online the colours aren't always true. I remember when every dept store had a haberdashery with a good range of wools, fabrics and accessories.

Irish, I don't know all the intracasies of the catholic church, is there a rule about mantilla's, is it married women, widows who wear them, at what age are women expected to wear them, are there different colours for unmarried women, married women or widows?

What sort of hats would people like to wear? I'd like a wide brimmed hat for summer and a cloche one for winter, or a baggie woolly one.

I wear hats more often now for practical reasons.

I have a hairline that is progressively escaping me so I will wear a flat cap, baseball cap or beanie depending on time of year.

My sisters and Mum often wear head scarves for practicality or fashion, it's also common head wear amongst women in Kenya, particularly in the countryside villages and towns.

A lot of Kenyan men and women will wear hats/head scarves as a mark of respect when going to church in Kenya or attending important family/social functions.

I have an icon of St. Demetrios of Thessalonica, a rather muscular saint, like St. George. He is on horseback spearing a man in armour on foot. The man is sometimes identified as the Roman emperor Diocletian, a notable persecutor of Christians.

I have seen this of the Eastern Orthodox Church and it is absolutely beautiful, as is the singing - I was delighted to see that the Russian Orthodox Church kept thier faith alive all during the years of Communism and what was really wonderful was that the Members of the Russian Royal Family who were murdered (martyred) in 1917 were canonised as Saints within the Russian Orthodox faith 

You cannot but be impressed by the efficiency of the Orthodox eucharist, where the people get both the bread (leavened of course) and the wine at the same time - on a spoon. The Latin innovations of azymes (wafers) and the 'filioque' (where the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son as well as the Father) always have stuck me as a bit questionable.

This shows that Polish and Irish cultures are so similar to each other as we are both historically Catholic countries - growing up in Rural Ireland with my grandparents and through my Mum’s connections to Nuns in Ireland I discovered the beauty of Catholic traditions pre-Vatican II and it was many years later that I discovered the Traditional Mass in Latin  (Mass of the Ages) which is so reverent and beautiful compared to Vatican II in which I was raised 

As a Traditional Catholic, I don’t like going into Vatican II Catholic Churches with seeing women and girls not covering their heads with Mantillas or veils and with all the recent and established abuses that has gone on, including Pope Francis having only recently banned the Divine Mercy Devotion (Saint Faustina) within the Vatican II faith which is in schism and apostasy with the See of Peter since 1962 and is canonically invalid - going to the Traditional Latin Mass all the women and girls have their heads covered - I attend FSSP and SSPX Churches alike, even though I converted from Vatican II 18 years ago after returning to my faith 

Clothes were relatively much more expensive back before the 1980's. I bought some 'T' shirts the other day that were £2-50 each, which is ridiculous, the cost of a cup of coffee in a café. My grandfather played football, briefly at the end of WWI, for the professional club Hibernian and his signing on fee was a new overcoat.

I am bald so wear a hat most of the time, when outside, in cold weather to keep my head warm and in summer to protect from sunburn. Even hazy sunshine can burn a scalp. I mostly wear flat caps or 'post boy' caps, occasionally a baseball cap, but in very sunny weather, a Panama. As a gentleman I always remove my hat when entering building, but find shopping malls and railway stations a bit of a grey area. I have a traditional black Polish Maciejowska cap, when I wear that and my black overcoat I really do look like Lenin!

When I enter a church I have for many years covered my head as an autistic female as a mark of respect for my faith. Also, when I pray I will cover my head as well. Sometimes, I have covered my head outside and that is because my hair fell out and I wasn't ready to adopt a more boyish look naturally. Of course all over my flat I don't use one.

HMO, I didn't know that, I thought it was just someone wearing a baseball cap back to front.

One of the things I found interesting was in medieval southern Italy which was a real melting pot of cultures, was that European women chose to wear veils and cover their hair, which caused a lot of controvercy among men and particularly the church. Women would have scarves and veirls torn from their heads by disaproving men. I wondered if women adopted this fashion because they liked the anonimity covering thier heads and faces gave them, keeping away the make gaze. Which conversely seemed to make the men more insistent on looking at women in the street.

In the western European church it seems that one uncovers ones head, I wonder why the difference?

I look at some of the wonderful scarves and hijabs used by women and wish I knew how to use them too. If, the Goddess forbid, I ever have to have chemo, I think I'd far rather wear a hijab than a woolley hat, a wig.

Robert, when in history are you talking about? Would you like it to be fashionable for men to wear hats that aren't woolly or basebll caps again?

It's like a baseball cap but you wear it backwards usually.

Covering head and hair is a delicate subject, related to religion and S E X.  At one time for men to go outside without a hat or cap was as obscene as going around with your flies open.

I come from Poland, I confirm in our culture head scarfs were used for long time. They still are in more traditional families, usually by older women. The purpose of covering hair was modesty and staying loyal to the husband (by tradition woman after marrying the man got her long hair shortened and covered when going outside) so the other men know - this lady is not “free”.. now it’s not practiced by young people, but I remember getting a beautiful scarf (from my Ukrainian relative) and as long as I wore it in Ukraine in the orthodox Christian church, it was good. When I used it in Poland, I was called names. In orthodox Christian church by the way women still cover their heads. Head covers of any sort don’t disturb me. In many cultures they are really beautiful. I was in Pakistan and there I covered my head to show my respect to the local culture. The dresses and scarfs I got there were stunning. I covered my head with a pleasure and it even gave me some sort of more privacy - if I sensed someone staring at me, I just covered myself more. It’s interesting topic, I discussed it with my mom long time ago.