Wrapunzel was in the Jewish Press! All in all this is totally what Wrapunzel is all about! Thank you so much for writing such a gorgeous article! (Please note that Andrea gave the interview in January even though the article was just published.) The easiest way to view these pages is to click on the page you want to view, and then zoom in on the article. Here are the links to the two pages of the article:
We keep getting emails asking us to read the Mishpacha article from last June! There is only this available online, so here is the transcription for you (obviously without photos etc.)
Wrap Artists
Andrea Grinberg and Rivka Malka Perlman elevate the tichel to fine art
By Barbara Bensoussan
Wrapunzel, Wrapunzel, let down your…tichel?
Throwing on a tichel was once considered a comfortable, at-home way to cover hair—but many frum women would’ve been mortified to wear one in public. But wow—times have changed! There’s been an explosion of style in the tichel world, and what was once considered a shmatteh best worn for washing floors has turned into high style headdresses that confer an air of royalty and elegance.
Yehudith Levy (aka Judith de Paris), who sells stylish French and Israeli head coverings, says the French influx into Eretz Yisrael has catapulted the tichel to new heights in headwear. She says with a smile, “You have many Sephardic women who follow Chacham Ovadia’s shitah to cover hair with a hat or headscarf, but since they’re French, they want to do it with style! They’ve created many beautiful innovations in head coverings.” She herself agreed to wear only hats and scarves when she married her Tunisian-born husband, the rabbi of a Sephardic congregation.
But you don’t have to be Sephardic—or even Jewish!—to appreciate the possibilities of tichel-wearing, or “wrapping,” as Andrea Grinberg and Rivka Malka Perlman like to call it. These two friends first connected online through their shared loved of creative tichel wearing. Andrea, a professional cello performer and teacher, as well as an inspired baalas teshuva, had started a blog with the charming name “Wrapunzel,” in which she documents her own discoveries and inventions with tichels and invites other women to share theirs.
Andrea’s blog attracted an unexpectedly broad following. There are women who post their stories on the blog (Andrea dubs them “Wrap Stars”); some of them aren’t even Jewish. There are fundamentalist Christians enamored of the idea of modesty, and Muslim women who cover for religious reasons. A Jewish clergywoman who started her own blog and posted a “Wrap Star” entry now covers her hair all the time, professing a longstanding fascination with hair covering.
As Andrea Malka began blogging, Rivka Malka had been busy publishing her own blog designed for kiruv. At the time she was the director of the kiruv organization WOW in Maryland, which reaches out to young professionals. When she considered adding a video to the site, as a means of reaching a wider audience, a friend advised her to post a clip about how she wears her headscarves. “That sounded funny to me, but he said, ‘If you do what you love, and what you’re good at, people will respond to it.’ He was right—I did clips on several different topics, but it was the hair covering clip that was the most popular!
“That taught me a lesson about the power of a mitzvah. Sometimes we want to make mitzvahs sound more neutral because we think they’ll be more palatable to the unaffiliated, but Torah speaks for itself. If you share from a place of raw sincerity and authenticity, people will respond.”
Today Andrea and Rivka Malka demonstrate tichel techniques and sell them through a site called Wrapunzel. I meet them in a Flatbush home a couple of hours before a sale; with characteristic warmth, they usher me through the controlled chaos to a couch to chat, as Rivka Malka’s husband and a couple of her children haul in boxes and pile tichels on tables. Tonight Andrea’s face is framed in a navy tichel layered with a patterned sari scarf (made of sewn strips of sari fabrics) and topped with a row of pearls; Rivka Malka is wearing striking layers of teal and rust. Both women have delicate features that shine under these “crowns,” radiating wholesomeness and purity.
So how do two Ashkenazic women become icons of tichel wearing—and the creators of a whole new style? In Andrea’s case, she started her married life in Eretz Yisrael, where wigs are less de rigueur than they are chutz l’aretz. When she moved to Chicago so that her husband could pursue a masters degree (he’s also a musician, a violinist), she was told, “In Chicago, you’re going to have to wear a sheitel.” So she went out and bought an inexpensive one, but never wore it in the end. “I wasn’t against wigs, and I’m not usually the type to stick out in a crowd. But the tichel was just me; I loved wearing them,” she says.
Rivka Malka, nee Klatzko, grew up in a warm, open frum home in Cleveland; like her brother Rabbi Bentzion Klatzko, she exudes enthusiasm for Judaism tempered by sensitivity and practicality. She says she always had a “a yen for more color,” surely a reflection of her bright, open personality. What she didn’t want for herself were the discreet wigs and dark clothing she saw a lot of in the yeshivish circles of her childhood. “It’s my inner hippie, my artsy side,” she says cheerfully. “Anyone who knows me knows I hate black! I need lots of color.”
Like Andrea, she bought a sheitel after she got married, although she mostly wore berets and scarves. “My husband told me, ‘You can wear anything on your head but a snood, I don’t like snoods!’” she laughs. “My mother-in-law always wore tichels and looked great in them.” Over the years she developed the tichel look she wanted, and began wearing headscarves exclusively (it’s now been 20 years). “For awhile I was wearing my wig only to weddings,” she says. “Then one evening I went to a wedding, and there was a woman wearing a beautiful tichel. I thought, hey, if she can do it, I can too! After that I retired the wig for good.” Before long she began buying tichels in bulk and selling them in tzedaka sales.
Hashgachah pratis pushed things along when Andrea’s husband got a scholarship to continue his studies in Baltimore—right near Rivka Malka’s neighborhood! It seemed absolutely bashert for two women who already felt like soul sisters. The two couples ended up living just a few houses away from each other, and davening in the same shul. Now they were able to give each other chizuk and exchange blogging ideas in person, in each other’s kitchens and living rooms.
They soon realized they needed to help the women reading their blogs put their ideas into practice. “We were busy teaching people techniques to tie tichels, but we also needed to give them the tools—the access to beautiful tichels,” Rivka Malka says. “So we put our heads together and came up with the idea to open a business.” Their husbands were supportive—both became involved helping—and the Wrapunzel store opened this past January in Andrea’s cello studio.
Perhaps Wrapunzel’s most novel move was to take a booth at the International Head Wrapping Festival in Dearborn, MI, where they were the only Jewish merchants among 45 booths of Muslim vendors and over 500 participants. Their booth was so most popular at the show—so much so that when the Detroit Free Press wrote up the event, they chose to spotlight Wrapunzel. “They caught our positive spirit,” Rivka Malka says.
Andrea and Rivka Malka appeal because they’re fresh and enthusiastic. For them, wearing a tichel is a means of taking tznius to the next level, elevating the mitzvah to an art form and making a very public kiddush Hashem. Both of them dress in stylish, sometimes funky clothing and bring an equally creative touch to headscarves, often combining two or three to fashion braids, twists, rosettes and woven effects. They combine all manner of colors, patterns and textures to create wearable head art—and complete the effect with brooches, strands of pearls or lace, or sequined headbands. “Sometimes people question if it’s tznius to wear a very striking head covering,” Andrea says. “But there’s a difference between beauty and physical allure, between framing the face and distracting from it with hair.”
Women frequently tell them, “I don’t wear a tichel because I don’t have the right face for it.” But Andrea and Rivka Malka pooh-pooh that idea. “Everyone can wear tichels,” Rivka Malka says firmly. “It’s a matter of find the right style and colors for your face and personality. Most people need a little height, some more to the back, others more on top. You might want to cover or not cover your ears, depending on their size and your hairline.”
“Many women feel so beautiful when their face is highlighted by a gorgeous tichel,” Andrea puts in. “We recently had a hearing-impaired woman let us use her for a demo at a show; she’d been wearing a severe black scarf. We chose a lavender and gray tichel that looked great on her, and the audience yelled to her, ‘You look amazing!’ She actually started crying from happiness.”
The time has flown by, and now women are starting to come through the door for tonight’s sale. Andrea and Rivka Malka have a talent for connecting with their clientele, many of them repeat customers and online contacts; they liberally dispense hugs and compliments. There’s a strong, almost palpable sense of sisterhood among these women who share the passion for “wrapping.”
By now everything has been put in place; the dining room table is piled high with a rainbow of pretty scarves. There’s more eye candy on added folding tables, and the room becomes crowded with chattering women fingering the scarves and oohing over new styles. There are glittery scarves studded with sequins or shot with sparkling threads; filmy ruffled scarves; shimmery stretch scarves; solid and brocade-like pashminas; scarves ornamented with appliques. “It’s fun to shop for tichels, because unlike clothing, it’s not about your size!” Andrea says with a grin. It’s also a lot easier to throw a scarf over your head to appraise the color than it is to try on a whole outfit (they’ve strategically placed mirrors all around).
Doesn’t it take a lot of time to tie on so many layers? “You get faster at it,” Andrea says. “I take about five minutes in the morning to wrap my hair. But putting on a wig and styling it also takes time.” A tichel also has the advantage of never needing to be schlepped to a sheitelmacher for upkeep, and they’re economical: “You could buy every tichel in this room for the price of a custom sheitel,” Rivka Malka points out.
The Wrapunzel ladies sit down their clients and show them various ways of tying the tichels, offering suggestions on how to match colors and fabrics and ornament with a strand of pearls or jeweled headband. I run into my friend Devora, who’s shopping for something to wear to the wedding of a close friend. Rivka Malka expertly outfits her with a gold pashmina scarf layered with cream lace and a jeweled headband—tres elegant! The enthusiasm is contagious; Andrea and Rivka Malka clearly love interacting with other women every bit as much as they love gorgeous headscarves, and the room buzzes with the fun of grown-up women playing dress-up.
“Our mitzvahs of tznius and marriage are so beautiful—we consider them a joy, a treasure,” Rivka Malka says. “We’re trying to be an ohr l’goyim; when you go out, you represent Judaism to the world. Even when you’re not teaching, you’re teaching by example.”
Andrea’s well placed to speak; she wears her tichels even when she plays her cello at professional concerts. It’s not surprising she chooses a musical metaphor to sum up her outlook: “We want to sing a song to Hashem with our mitzvahs,” she says.
***Sidebar: Wrapunzel tips on Wrapping a Tichel
1) First, Andrea says, breathe! Everyone feels awkward at first.
2) Buy a wig grip headband. This will keep your tichel from sliding back—even the silky-slippery ones. If you don’t have one, you can do what Rivka Malka did in the days before wig grips were available: cut the legs off a pair of pantyhose and use the top as a non-slip liner.
3) You might want to buy a volumizer, a padded cotton cap that goes under the tichel and gives a fuller look (as if you have scads of thick beautiful hair underneath!).
4) Add a second and/or third tichel to the first.
5) Find one style that you like and looks good on you. Now practice, practice until you can tie it quickly and well.
This morning was definitely one of those “run around and throw on whatever catches your eye first” kind of mornings. It was only later in the afternoon when my husband saw me and said, “Wow I think that is one of my favourite tichels that I’ve seen you wear. Ever.” that I realized that I actually had something pretty nice going on! The combination of the Sari Scarf with the Israeli Tichel was nice enough… but the angled sequin headband just made it super awesome!
I’m so excited because we finally (finally!) found more sequin headbands for y’all… and they are going to knock the ball out of the park! Can’t wait to share them with you! (Hopefully early next week!)
Have you ever had a “tichel surprise” like this happen to you? Like, when you don’t even remember putting it on and then later in the day you are surprised to find out that there’s actually something pretty fantastic going on there? It definitely made me smile to realize!
All my love,
Andrea
There’s a lot of talk about tichels versus sheitals happening lately, and Wrapunzel seems to be brought up a lot in this debate. Here is what we have to say about it! (Scroll down for a written transcript.)
(Btw I made a mistake with the job titles in this video-oops! Yedida is our On-Site Coordinator. Naomi Rose is our Director of Operations!)
Here is a transcript of what I said in the video – thank you Tamar Adina for transcribing this!!
Hello!
I want to speak to you a little bit about tichels versus sheitels. For those of you who don’t know, tichels refer to a headcovering that Jewish women wear. It refers to a scarf, or kerchief in Yiddish, also known as mitpachot (plural) or mitpachat (single) in Hebrew. So tichels are the scarf type of covering. Sheitels are when a woman uses a wig to cover her hair.
So there’s been a lot of talk lately on tichels versus sheitels. And for those of you who don’t know, my name is Andrea Grinberg, and I am from Wrapunzel, which is a hair covering community and website – just this huge explosion of women who have started wrapping their hair with scarves. And with all this tichels versus sheitels talk, I’ve often heard it said that I’m on “Team Tichels”. And I’m used as an example for that. So this is the official video where we actually come down and talk about this, and I’m actually going to be making a statement as Wrapunzel.
The title of this video: “Tichels Vs. Sheitels” is actually a misnomer. I despise the word versus. And I think that there has been a lot of polarization in Judaism lately, which in many ways is fine. To be different, to have differences is fine, and we’re actually supposed to have differences, but to say that “I’m right and you are wrong” is where the problem lies.
So I’m going to say a little bit about the word “Shalom”. Shalom is often translated as “peace”. And a lot of people believe that in order to have world peace, we have to all think and do the same thing. And that’s simply not the case. Shalom actually means harmony. And harmony means that we are all playing the same piece of music, and that we have the goal of making the world a beautiful, vibrant place, but we are all playing different instruments. We are all playing different notes, we are doing different things. That is what ‘shalom’ is. And that is what I hope I’m doing with my little part in Wrapunzel. That is what I hope is going to happen in the world one day.
So let me tell you a little bit about Wrapunzel, because I think that not everyone knows how Wrapunzel was created. In a nutshell, I was a blissfully happy newlywed who had just moved to Chicago from Israel, and I loved covering my hair because it honored my marriage and it was allowing me to be creative – and it was just really really really fun! People were always asking me questions about it and I realized very quickly that somehow I was an “odd one out” because I loved covering my hair. All the women, really, ALL the women that I talked to in Chicago, did NOT love covering their hair. They saw it as a burden, they weren’t finding any joy in this mitzvah. And I felt so sad for them! Here I was in my little blissful newlywed boots covering my hair, and these women weren’t finding joy through it. So the reason why Wrapunzel was created was through a very naïve hope of mine that if I could share my joy in covering my hair, maybe these other women could find that joy as well. I in no way wanted to tell women to stop wearing their sheitels. I just wanted them to find joy. A lot of women [in Chicago] were telling me that they felt like they either had to wear a sheitel (a wig) or they had to wear a black pre-tied snood, and they felt like they had no other options.
So when I created Wrapunzel, I just wanted to give women options.
That’s really all I wanted to do.
So that’s how Wrapunzel was created. And thank G-d, it seems that we’re able to do that, because we’ve all come together as women to give each other options.
In Judaism we have the halacha (Jewish law) that a married woman should cover her hair. It doesn’t say with what, it doesn’t say how, just that a married woman should cover her hair. And whether you cover your hair with a tichel, a sheitel, a hat, or a combination, you are fulfilling the mitzvah. You are covering your hair. And that is that. That is what I believe.
For those of you who don’t know, I have a sheitel. I own a sheitel. And even with all these years of never wearing it, I haven’t given it away, because you never know. I’m keeping it, and I think sheitels can be beautiful (and modest). Okay?
So, the halacha is to cover your hair. How we do that, how we find ourselves in that, how we reveal our unique personal light, that’s up to us. And we really really have to look to ourselves and be honest with ourselves about how we are going to do that.
Now, I will mention that there are sects of Judaism that really hold strongly that covering with a tichel, a mitpachat, is the only way to cover and that sheitels are not valid. And there are some sects of Judaism that hold that covering with a sheitel is the only way to cover your hair. I’m not talking from any of those vantage points. Both of those vantage points are valid, and both I will point out, acknowledge that there are other sects of Judaism that have valid ways of looking at things. Judaism is not about all of us doing the same thing in the same way. We all have the same goal, but we are not doing things in the same way. That’s the whole point.
Okay.
So, this video is not talking to those that have to do one or the other. I don’t come from those sects of Judaism, and the majority of women that have found Wrapunzel do not come from those sects of Judaism.
I want to give you an example. Because I hear often that the whole “tichel movement” has become this huge movement and women are feeling liberated and joyous for the first time in their lives, and somehow they feel that “if I go back to wearing a sheitel” then somehow I’m a failure, or somehow Andrea won’t approve. No. No. No. No. No. No. Really. No.
I really want to give you an example, because we are supposed to find our own unique joy in doing this mitzvah. And I want to give you an example of someone that might have found her joy actually through stopping wearing a tichel. And how she is really really doing this mitzvah. This is a completely hypothetical example. Let’s say that there is a woman who is very introverted, spiritual, and very soft and kind, and absolutely beautiful, a wonderful graceful woman. And she’s been wearing tichels. Now, because she’s so beautiful and so kind she gets a lot of attention for these tichels. She is a very modest, very introverted woman. But she gets a lot of questions when she goes out about what she’s wearing and how she’s doing it and she doesn’t like that. Because she feels like first of all somehow it’s not modest, she doesn’t want to go out and make this constant statement about who she is. She just wants to be a Jew instead of constantly being asked about what this is on her head. And it’s distracting her from her family and being with her kids and doing what she wants to do – it’s this constant conversation starter. And she doesn’t want to have that conversation. That is not her avodah. That is not what she wants to be doing in this world.
And she’s found that once she switched to a sheitel, she could actually, finally be herself. She could finally leave her house and not get those constant questions. Now for me, I love getting those questions and I love expressing myself in this way, but for this woman, this is not who she needs to be. She doesn’t want those questions and she shouldn’t have to deal with those questions. And for the first time in her life, now that she’s covering with a wig, she actually enjoys covering, because now she really feels like she is honoring her marriage instead of being part of some doctrine, or some movement it’s like making a constant statement about how she covers her hair. She doesn’t like that. Now she feels like she is really covering her hair for herself, her marriage, and for Hashem.
I really want you to think about that because that woman is completely valid. She has found herself, she has finally found her joy in this mitzvah. Now will she go back and forth? Maybe. Will I ever wear a sheitel? Never say never! You never know! We are constantly evolving and constantly trying to find ourselves. You have to be honest and really true with yourself. So in that example, this woman who has found herself and found her joy through covering with a sheitel, we have to acknowledge that a woman might need to do that.
I just want to clear something up because I have a lot of friends that get married, and they seem to think that if they get married and they choose to cover their hair with a sheitel, oh well, “don’t tell Andrea, she’s going to be disappointed with me.” You know, G-d willing if I have a daughter I don’t want her to think that she has to be me. Or that she has to cover with a tichel. That’s really not the point here. We want people to find their unique joy through doing this mitzvah.
Now I have been asked numerous times, and so have other women who work at Wrapunzel have been asked to come out and make a statement about tichel wearing versus other ways of covering (ie wearing a sheitel). And I want to say this now and I want to say this clearly: that’s not going to happen. That is not what Wrapunzel is about. That is not what I set out to do. I’m not here to make “sides”. Sides are not the point. I’m not going to do that and I don’t believe that. It’s not going to happen. So please, if anyone wants to send any more people to me asking me to do that, just. don’t… The answer is no. Because that is not the point. And telling someone that what she is doing is wrong when she is covering her hair, she’s doing the mitzvah. That’s not what it’s about. Yes, I want to expose people to the joy of covering their hair this way, because that’s my joy and I want to share that. But beyond that, I’m not interested.
So interesting fact, and I’m going to leave you with this. There’s a woman that works for Wrapunzel and her name is Yedida, she is basically the mover and shaker, everything, she keeps the tichel room from falling on my head when I walk in. She is so organized and wonderful and joyous. Yedida is our on-site-coordinator. Now, don’t get me wrong, Wrapunzel is an extremely tiny, just women-coming-together business, we only have three people actually that work for Wrapunzel, but we need those three people to make things happen because there is a lot that needs to go into sending out your tichels all over the world and bringing women together. When Rivkah Malka had to step down, and I was about to have a baby, we really really needed some help to make things happen so things would not fall apart when I had Shalomy.
So, who is Yedida? Yedida is our on-site coordinator. She is amazingly organized and has innovative ideas about how to makes things better and how to make things work, and she is the person that allows me to be here making a video like this instead of having tichels fall onto my head when I walk into the room. That’s why I’m able to make this video and I’m able to take care of my baby.
So, thank G-d we have Yedida.
What does that have to do with this video? Yedida is a sheitel wearer. She wears sheitels I’d say 95% of the time. Sometimes she wears hats, and once in a while she wears a tichel. But she wears sheitels. And she looks beautiful and modest and wonderful and absolutely shining in her sheitels. When we hired her, some people expressed some surprise. We had a lot of women applying for this job, and many of them were big tichel wearers. When we hired Yedida some people were like, “Why would you hire someone that wears a sheitel to work at Wrapunzel?” And my answer was “How could I not hire Yedida?! She’s amazing!” I didn’t even really notice what this woman was wearing on her head. The whole point of Wrapunzel is bringing women together and this woman is going to help us do that, she’s going to help us be able to do that. In the end, this is really what Wrapunzel is all about. Bringing women together. Helping women reclaim their joy, express their creativity, and shine their light upon the world in their own, unique way. So it’s not that we hired Yedida because she wears a sheitel, but it’s actually perfectly fitting that she does because that is what Wrapunzel is all about. It’s about all women. It’s about the full woman.
I hope you enjoyed this video.
Again, there are no sides.
There’s just us as Jewish women trying to reclaim our joy, express ourselves, to be who we need to be, and giving women options.
All the best.
Bye bye.
This is my new favourite summer wrap – invented by Yael! It’s perfect for our new Summer Solid Pashminas!
Here is a little about Yael, in her own words:
“I am Italian, I´m born in Florence and I lived there till I was 25. Then I made a PhD at the Hebrew Universty of Jerusalem, on Purity/Impurity in Biblical Hebrew. I meet my husband there, who was born in Hamburg Germany and we lived then in Jerusalem for 10 Years. At the moment we live in Germany in a little town near Frankfurt, where we´re the only jewish orthodox family (besides a very old couple). Therefore we are trying to leave Germany, in order to find a living jewish community, in Europe, America, Israel, in which we can live our yiddishkeit together with other …. Our kids (three) need friends and structures in order to develop themselves… Actually my english is better than in the tutorial (a part my Italian accent), but I was very excited to make my first video at all and I am not yet comfortable with the tichels and wrapping vocabulary… “
Well… I certainly think she did an incredible job! LOVING this wrap!
It’s amazing… once you’ve mastered the technique of trying a sari (I know that there’s a learning curve there… but keep trying! You’ll get it!) – it’s really the easiest go-to scarf! I don’t have to fold it to fit my head… and even when I mess up the layers it still looks great and intricate. I can really wear just one and it feels like I’ve done so much! And if you choose a perfect color by your face, no one will notice you’re not wearing any makeup! (Right ladies?! Ok, don’t tell me if you do notice 😛 ) Here are some sari looks that I’ve been rocking lately.
The navy:
The sandy beach:
The dark earth:
And the bright teal:
“Andrea seriously, how many saris do you have?!”
I get this question a lot, and the answer is that it changes all the time! Currently I think I have around 10, but none of them are the same ones that I had last year! I tend to pass them on to people off of my head! This is a common occurrence at Wrapunzel shows; often someone will fall in love with a sari I’m wearing and beg me for it. If I feel like I’ve used it enough, I’ll give it a new home. Spreading the sari love! (And it’s a good excuse for me to get another to replace it!)
Wanna learn the story behind the Wrapunzel scarf?
And how to wrap it?
This is my favourite way to tie it!
And we LOVE the sari sash! Here is how to tie it!
Wishing you all so much bracha and happiness! Enjoy your colors!
xo Love Andrea
There are no words to describe the gratitude that one feels when seeing a message like this. This is everything that I ever dreamed Wrapunzel would become. May we only continue to all grow bigger and brighter!
Written by Emily Rose from Oregon
“For me, covering my hair and surrendering to modesty has been the most positive, affirming, freeing choice I have ever made in relation to how I feel about my body and in the year I’ve been wrapping, it’s changed everything for me and I can’t even think about it without crying. I have a long, ugly history of severe mental illness; I have severe social anxiety, severe panic attacks, and I also have a long history of eating disorders including anorexia and I still struggle with bulimia to this day. Often, my various symptoms are intrusive to the point that it keeps me from school, work, and life. But this isn’t about illness, I want this to be about the unique challenges we all face as women in world obsessed with the physical, trying to feel good and connect with others. I still struggle and fight with myself, but I am light years from where I used to be. Years of therapy has not done for me what connecting with my spirituality and creator has, and walking the path to modesty has done and is continuing to do for me. I could write a book on this and maybe someday I will. For now, I just want to tell all of you how strong and beautiful wrapping makes me feel, and I want to hear how it’s changed things for you, too. I never thought standing out could make me feel safe and strong, make me feel right, make me feel beautiful, make me love the way I look and love getting dressed while always knowing that my body doesn’t define me, make me appreciate every amazing thing this body I live in can do –but that’s exactly what covering does for me! I’ll throw it to you ladies – have any of you struggled with body image and found that covering has changed the way you feel about yourself? How so? I know I’m not alone!”
Many of you know that I also play the cello, and am embarking on some very exciting musical projects! One of them is The Baltimore Bows which is an endless source of nachat (even though I’m on maternity leave from teaching for the time being – seriously missing those kids!) But now we’re working on even more exciting stuff! ANYWAY, for some of these projects, we needed to make a press kit for our group, which meant a photoshoot, so I got all dressed and made up. It sure was funny walking around outside with my cello (and little Shalom Yaakov in a carseat beside us) but we made do! Here are some outtakes that show my outfit:
You may recognize my tichel from the Wrapunzel Facebook Page – I am loving this bright teal and rust combination! Here I am wearing an Israeli Tichel, an Empress Circlet, and of course, a Sari Scarf. This is one of those outfits/tichels that felt so “me” – it was a pleasure to hang out in it! Of course, as soon as we came back into our apartment, I asked my husband to snap some more formal tichel shots 😛
So much fun! Hope you enjoy!
Love, Andrea
Meet Hedva, a Wrapunzel head-wrapping maven! I’ve been impressed by her creative and adventurous wrapping skills since I first met her online, but recently I got to meet her in person and… wow! She’s also a lawyer, and has strong moral and religious values. She’s honest, direct, has a lot to say, and is a PERFECT Lady Wrap Star. Photos, you ask? We have photos! I just couldn’t choose which ones to feature so I’m sharing over 100 with you! Check them out in the gallery at the bottom of this post and get inspired! And now… [drumroll] meet Hedva!
– Can you tell us a bit about yourself? Some interesting facts, where you’re from, hobbies, work, etc.? I was born in Israel and we moved to the US when I was 5. But I think my heart stayed in Israel, the land where headscarves are a beautiful norm! I was raised with a strong sense of individuality and have always followed my own fashion muse. I currently live in NYC with my husband and our 4 sons. I’m an attorney and my husband is a rabbi. That sounds like the start of some joke, doesn’t it? As for hobbies, I am very interested in health and natural living, especially natural childbirth. I would love to become a doula someday, or some sort of a practitioner of alternative medicine.
– When did you start covering your hair? I began covering right after marriage, 10 years ago. As a Torah Observant Jew, I always knew I would cover my hair after marriage. I loved my curly hair and cute hairstyle, but I enjoyed covering my hair from the very start. I was in law school at the time and I received diverse feedback.. Although some comments were negative, a nonconformist streak in my personality helped me stick to my guns. Covering my hair made me feel more connected to Judaism, to G-d, to my husband, and to myself. I wasn’t going to let some small-minded people take that away from me!
– Did you start covering with mitpachot/tichels? What prompted you to get into it? Yes, it was tichels from the start! I bought a wig just in case I needed it for interviews, but I hardly ever wear it. I’m a very natural, no make-up type of girl, and the wig just feels very fake and “costumey”. When I wear a headscarf, I feel so grounded and connected to Torah and Jewish history. I am so grateful for this mitzvah (Torah commandment) that just keeps inspiring me more and more as the years go by.
– Please tell us about your style – how do your head coverings help you express your personality? I’m all about comfort – I don’t wear heels and I don’t wear uncomfortable wraps. My style is definitely bohemian and fun, but also elegant (I hope!), often with hanging tails and lots of color. I try to make my wraps beautiful and interesting, not necessarily for others, but for myself. See, I constantly struggle to view the world in a positive light, as I am very sensitive to all the negative things which I read and hear about. A sad news story can put me in a funk for days or weeks, and I can start to think that the world is a terrible place and what exactly is the point in all of this?! One of the things that really helps me stay positive is to focus on the natural beauty that G-d put into this world, and I remind myself that it’s proof that G-d really loves us. I wear all those beautiful colors on my head as a constant reminder to focus on the positive. An interesting wrap with twists and braids just add to the fun and beauty and further remind me of G-d’s love for us.
– What are your favorite colors/styles to wrap? I love them all! Thanks to Wrapunzel, I have discovered that I can wear any color, so long as I have a flattering color next to my skin. But my favorite color has to be teal. It is so incredibly rich and versatile and looks great with so many other colors! As for my favorite style, that changes all the time. I am currently loving the Liezl braid, but I wore Shira tails all winter.
– When you are in a rush, what is your ‘go to’ wrap? I love the turban wrap for when I am in a rush. I even made a tutorial! I get a lot of comments about how “ethnic” I look, and I love it. I feel like a queen, part of some holy plan, with the symbol of G-d’s love perched right on my head.
– What is one piece of advice (or more pieces if you want!) you would give to someone just starting to wrap? Get a velvet headband and start simple! Once you’ve mastered a certain style, try something a little more complicated. Get some bling, in the form of headbands and pins, as they are a really easy way to add fun and interest. Look for inspiration everywhere – in nature, in your own closet, and in other women. Do not give up, and don’t let aching arms stop you!
– What do your friends/family think about your wrapping? Have you ever had any awkward/negative experiences? How did you deal with them? Most of my friends and family are super cool with my wrapping. My mom used to bug me about wearing my wig, but she stopped that a couple of years ago – she realized it was a lost cause! My husband is my biggest fan. He is constantly encouraging me to experiment with different colors and styles, and he always compliments my wraps. My sons love them too!
Some friends have made negative comments in the past, but I tackled the issue right from the start and straightened it out. I don’t like to let bad feelings fester – that’s not good for any relationship!
– Can you tell us a bit about your professional life, and how does hair wrapping connect to this? I’m a self-employed attorney. I wear wraps all the time when meeting with clients, going to court, and going to depositions, and I’ve gotten only positive feedback. My very diverse clients love them, and fellow attorneys usually compliment them. I find that my wraps seem to garner more respect from my clients and colleagues. For example, people will apologize for swearing in front of me. I love that!
– How do you go about putting your scarves together? Please tell us a bit about your creative process! First and foremost, I am always taking note of great color combinations I see throughout the day, either in nature, on a bus ad, in someone else’s outfit, or just any random place. And I love getting inspired by all the wonderful ladies on the Wrapunzel FB page!
My mornings are really busy, so I choose my outfit the night before. I find the process really calming before bed. I own lots of colorful clothes, so I look to them for inspiration as well. For example, I have a great skirt with teal, light blue, dark red, and brown – any combination of those colors looks amazing! If I’m wearing a monochromatic outfit, I try to add another contrasting or complementing color to my wrap to spice it up. I then choose an accessory to add a little bling or to pull it all together. I love my headbands and pins! In the morning, I put the first scarf on and, depending on how it’s laying or how many scarves I want to wear, I then decide on a particular style. So if I’ve chosen to wear 2 in 1s, I’m likely to do a double braid, a double twist, or a Liezl. If it’s a pashmina that I’ve chosen, I’ll likely go for Shira tails. If it’s a shimmery, I’ll do the waterfall wrap. When I have extra time in the morning, I’m more willing to experiment and do something I haven’t really mastered yet, like a criss-cross wrap.
– What are you grateful for today? It’s been one of those days that has made me realize how much G-d has given me and how precious it all is. I am grateful that I have a purpose in life, and that I am part of a holy plan. I am most grateful for my amazing husband and our adorable sons.
Remember our Lady Wrap Star, Carmen? Her wraps have continued to wow us since that post, and now she’s made her first tutorial for Wrapunzel! In true Carmen fashion, she pays homage to another Lady Wrap Star, Chagit! What a beautiful example of wrapping sisterhood! And seriously, this woman has skillz! Look how she owns that scarf and makes it do her bidding! Go Carmen go! Isn’t she just adorable in this video? Can’t wait to see you ladies try this one out! Enjoy!
It is becoming well known that almost every religion has something to say about hair wrapping. It is also becoming well known that many women cover their hair for health reasons that cause hair loss (such as chemotherapy and alopecia). We are so happy about this progress and that awareness is spreading!!
But there is so much more. Did you know that there are a crazy amount of other reasons that women cover their hair? People are so surprised to hear how diverse the hair wrapping community is! From fashion to political feminism, allergy avoidance to historical connection! We asked the ladies of the Wrapunzel community that cover for ‘not so well known’ reasons to contribute and share their reasons for covering with us. The response? Just… wow. These women are THE COOLEST!! Thank you everyone for contributing to this amazing resource that shows the world how diverse the Wrapunzelution is! This is definitely something that needs to be shared with the world!
(We received TONS of entries and had to sift through them to make a concise article. Sit back, relax and read on! Photos and names used with permission.)
Samantha M – I cover my hair because I think it is beautiful! I have always been drawn to the unique head coverings of different cultures and time periods. I work at living history museums where women almost always cover their heads–although the coverings are quite different from tichels! I have had the most amazing connections with women who cover for religious reasons while working in period clothes, and it’s so exciting to have these meaningful conversations about women throughout history and how and why they cover their hair. In the “modern” world, it is so fun to plan the colorful outfits that accompany the scarves, but covering also helps me to conduct myself in a more mindful way. At the same time, I never feel more elegant and regal than when I am wearing a tichel.
Rosa Robichaud, Saint John, NB, Canada – I don’t believe its anyone’s business as to whether my hair is long, short, dyed, curly or straight or what it looks like on a particular day as compared to another. This has now become MY business – and my husband’s too.
Krissa S. – For me, my covering has many reasons. I fell in love with coverings when I was in middle school, and I started to notice the turbans of my best friend’s mother. I thought they were beautiful, creative, and interesting. Of course, as a middle schooler, I never thought that I would ever wrap my hair myself. As I grew, the idea popped up in my mind. I went to a three-week writing camp, and expressed my interest to my roommate. She was uplifted, telling me how much she loved covers and that she had thought about it as well. As I talked to my artistic friends, I realized “different” was celebrated in the world I wanted to live in. They all loved my idea of wearing tichels. So, for me tichel-tying is a means of artistic expression. I was sculpting one day, and my hair kept getting in the way, falling out of the pony tail, getting caught in clay. It would fall in my face as I wrote, drew, or sewed. Tichel tying keeps my hair out of my face as I work on my art. Later I made my first hijabi friend on the internet. I spent years being stared at and verbally abused by men. I felt out of control of my body and the idea of taking control was refreshing. It was feminism at its finest. Why should a man decide what I wear? I came to the belief that every women has the right to wear what she wishes to wear, be it a burka or a bikini, and those women included me and my tichels. For me tichel tying is an expression of my beliefs as a feminist.
Cindy – I started wrapping about a year ago. I work in a local hospital doing procedures which require my hair be covered. I used to wear surgical caps, but had a lot of hair escape. Using the velvet headband and wrapping my hair is perfect! My hair wraps stay in place all day! Working in the hospital, I come in contact with a lot of people. I consistently get positive comments and often have the opportunity to share your website with ladies, and occasionally gentlemen, who are looking for an alternative to wigs or caps to cover their heads, when they are dealing with hair loss from medications or health issues. I also wrap even when I’m not at work! I occasionally get questions about why. I usually reply that I just enjoy covering my hair.
Mishka – I am a trained historian and recognize that for most of history, even Western history, women have covered their heads. We have the idiom to ‘let your hair down’ because adult women were not supposed to let their hair down except in the bedroom. I never intended to cover full time, but once I started I found that I felt transformed, not just in my appearance but also in my demeanour and general outlook. When my head is wrapped in a tichel/mitpachat I feel neat and self-assured. There is a completeness that comes from matching my scarves to the rest of my clothing, and I find that my identity as a woman becomes secondary to my humanity and individuality. I am less concerned about ageing or being seen as ‘sexy’, I have better posture, and (oddly) I feel less self-conscious even though I stand out a mile. Though I don’t want to aggrandise the effect of covering, I must confess that there is a sense that one is part of an ancient tradition in which women are dignified, modest, and attuned to beauty. For me, covering is part of a womanly tradition that shifts the focus from fashion to beauty, from attention-seeking to being attentive, and from the imitation of men to the inspiration of women.
Donna Halpern – I am agnostic. I cover because it makes me feel regal and beautiful. I also cover because I am an artist and although I don’t cover every day, when I do, it offers another outlet to demonstrate my creativity.
Sarah Pizzichemi – Dear Wrapunzel, I only wrap a couple of times a month, but when I do it is a commemoration to my mother. She was a Christian with a rich spiritual private life. I would often come home and find her with her head simply wrapped during prayer or meditation; especially on fasting days. This had a big impact on me. I first began to occasionally wrap when my mother was diagnosed with brain cancer to help her cover her head and connect with her long distance. I now do it in loving memory of my mother’s fascinating private life and her spiritual conviction.
Inger Eilin – I wrap because it seems to be the only thing that keeps my headache at bay. If I forget it before I leave the house, I’m guaranteed to get a bad headache. Living in a country where few wrap (with the exception of some muslim women wearing hijab) I’m guaranteed to get weird looks, but that is a small price to pay!
Heather – I wrap because I hate fixing my hair. I wrap because I love to color my hair with wild colors, but change my mind often. I wrap because I lose my hair due to thyroid issues. I wrap because I love the way it looks, and I love the way I feel when I do. I also wrap because I see it as a feminist issue in a couple of ways – I choose what I show the world. I choose what I look like. I choose what I wear. I do not have to conform to societal standards of beauty to be a beautiful woman. Everyone has beauty, including me. Wrapping has given me a lot more confidence in myself. I lost a lot of weight (110 lbs), then gained back 70. During that time, I grew incredibly depressed, ashamed of myself for failing to keep the weight off, for being a failure in general. I was in a very dark place. Wrapping has helped my spirit grow, it has helped my soul heal and allowed me to see that I DO have beauty. I DO have worth, and it isn’t just in how I look. It isn’t the body I have or don’t have. It isn’t anything physical. It’s the light that shines out of my eyes. It’s the warmth of my heart and soul. Wrapping (and Wrapunzel!) has helped me to see that.
Katie Shelton – I’m tattooed, dye my abundant, curly hair blue and my fashion sense is modest and eccentric, to say the least. My hair is the first thing people see, but my inner beauty is more important and far brighter than any color I dye my hair and more interesting than any clothes I may wear. I don’t dye my hair, wear my art and clothes for anyone else but me and my husband. Covering my hair and dressing modestly reinforces that belief for me.
Michele Therese – I joined the US Navy and served in places like Bahrain and the UAE. I was exposed to the idea of wrapping one’s head in beautiful cloth. When I returned to America and became a civilian again I began to wear triangle head scarves in order to disguise what I believed was my shame [psoriasis]. With a mere length of cloth I was elevated from feeling disgusting and shameful to feeling beautiful and feminine!
Erin – Some days I wrap up my hair to do mundane tasks. I have long, fluffy, curly hair that likes to drop in my face (and around the house!). Wrapping helps immensely when I’m gardening and even more so when I’m cooking! No hairs in the food! Plus it’s more comfortable than a tight bun or pony tail.
Anne Jambor – I have been wrapping my hair/head for a few years now. I think I started about a year after my last one was born (he will be 13 in July). First it was just because I don’t look good in a cap in summertime. I sweat buckets, I mean buckets of liquid coming down my face at all times of the day. I don’t sweat anywhere else but my head. And that’s not pretty. So I used to only wrap my forehead, and now it varies. Depending on the day or the scarf, if I have a colorful shirt and want to match it with a colorful head wrap… it is depending on the mood and the type of day! I know that sometimes I feel like people are looking at me funny, but I just take it as a compliment. I have had several people be amazed at how fast I can wrap my head with a scarf. I used to be known in our previous community as that Turban French lady!
Amelia – Although I started covering my hair for my wife, I also now do it to help calm sensory integration problems, and as a small piece of combating depression. The act of taking the time to wrap with intention does something for me that simply brushing and braiding my hair didn’t fulfill.
Jona – I started wrapping because my best friend wraps and was getting bad looks and nasty comments in our small town. Then I started to realize that I continued wrapping because it makes me feel pretty. As a big woman in a society that tells women that to be pretty you have to be thin. Wrapping made me feel pretty when I never had before in my 28 years on this earth.
Anonymous – I wrap because it’s fun and beautiful. I’m practicing for when I get married, G-d willing, and cover my hair according to Jewish law. I don’t wear tichels on a daily basis, but practicing tying them is an enjoyable pastime with a purpose.
Tessa DuRocher – I am 23 years old and I started wrapping my hair on occasion almost 2 years ago. I can, after a year of on and off head wrapping attest to the idea that it DOES make me feel more confident. Bad hair days are a thing of the past and my morning routine is drastically shortened. I don’t wear one every day but as I acquire more and more scarfs…I’m enjoying it even more. I also believe that I’ve taken to this sort of thing so greatly because I love to change my hair, A LOT. But there’s only so much cutting and dying that I can do…and I certainly don’t have the patience to grow it out to my butt… Learning various head wraps helps fulfill this need of mine for change. What woman DOESN’T feel more regal and elegant with a little bit of “oompf” on top?
Edith Wherton – When I put on the scarf it is sort of a meditation. When the ends get wrapped around the head, it’s like putting on a crown. I feel empowered. No submission for me!!! And then there is the fact that it looks better with makeup and earrings! On a good day this 58 year old granny can pass for 57 and 1/2 easily!!!
Mirjam, France – For me, it’s a mixture of everything. I began “ticheling“ when I was a teenager! I just began to cover my long thick curly hair in order to keep it away from “nasty” boys and men. That was my very first reason: I did protest against this behavior which considers girls and women as “objects”. I was always disagreeing with the actual “standards of fashion” which uncovers the body. So I guess my first reason for wearing a tichel is what some can call “feminism”. In this sense that I did hide some physical features to tell to the people surrounding me: I am not only a body. I am a soul that lives in a body, not a just body. I was telling them that if they want to know me, they have to go a little bit further than just the outside.
Kate B – I was recently drawn to wrapping. I don’t do it for religious or modest reasons. I do it because it makes me feel put together and beautiful. It sets me apart. It’s allows me to be colorful on a whim. It makes me feel regal.
Ivana – For the first time I became aware of my priorities, of my dualism and how the secular lifestyle was affecting my spiritual life and my family life. Progress was immediate, my thoughts cleared, days started to have sharper directions. The quality of my marriage (which was amazing to begin with) improved and jumped to a whole new level. I cannot find the words to express it in one paragraph, but it’s been a year that I started hair wrapping journey and it is only getting better.
E. F. – I started covering around the same time that I started going to college, which exposed me to a measure of both sexual and religious harassment that hadn’t really been prominent in the rural community where I grew up. Choosing to cover my hair more regularly allowed me to reclaim a measure of agency in the face of that harassment (“No, you don’t get to see my hair, creepy harasser dude”).
Chana Meira Golden – I choose to wrap as an expression of personal style and dignity. This seemingly simple act empowers me to determine for myself how I present and interact in society. And having lived in the Middle East, I’ve found that wrapping provides a sense of fulfilment, as well as unity among diverse women who wear hair coverings to take ownership of their unique identities.
Khadijah – I cover to make a statement to sociey: “I am in control of my body and sexuality.”
Honor Anastasia – I began covering my head a few years ago, simply because I loved how it looked. It was purely fashion and hair protection. But as I covered more and learned more and more about why other women cover, it became so much more. I have fallen in love with the elegant modesty covering your hair brings. I have developed a spiritual connection between me and my scarves. When things become to crazy in my life or I feel lost, I can find G-d in my scarves. The act of covering my hair, of creating wraps that both emanate modesty and beauty, the very idea of moving past society’s ideas of beauty into a whole other level, is just so amazing. When I see a women who has covered her hair, I see a powerful woman. Whether she is strong in faith or femininity or simply her own convictions, I see that power. I do not cover every day, or nearly as much as I want to, due to the fear of persecution and ignorance. But when I do cover I feel beautiful and I feel strong.
Laura Nasto – I suppose my reason is fashion based. I have been very fortunate to blessed with beautiful, healthy, curly hair; which I currently have dyed in a mermaid fashion (teal & purple). But, I don’t want to be known for my hair only, and I think this is common for many women with beautiful or outrageously coloured hair. It can easily become a source of vanity for us and envy for others, neither of which are good things; especially in the media-driven society in which we live with impossible beauty standards. I realized I don’t need hair framing my face, and more importantly, I discovered my own inner beauty which I’d been ignoring. I feel more confident when I wrap my hair, and it’s easier than doing my hair each morning and forcing my unruly curls to listen to me. I’ve always danced to the beat of my own drum, and I’m not afraid to be different or of what people say about what I do. I have two jobs, one is at the deli at Hannaford and the other is as massage therapist, in central NY. I can’t fit my scarves under my hat at Hannaford, but outside of there I wear them everyday.
DeAnna Troupe – I wrap my hair in the pollen season to keep the pollen out of my hair. I wrap at other times of the year to keep people from touching my hair.
Sara Alves – My name is Sara, and I cover for personal political and feminist reasons. I am also an atheist. I feel strongly that western society has gone from expecting women to cover to hide their sex from men to expecting them to uncover themselves to be sexy for men. But it was never a choice, and always the dictate of the male gaze. I am an intelligent person and I refuse to be treated as an object, and I refuse to let the male gaze dictate how I should look to please. Wrapping makes me feel beautiful and regal. It lets me take control of the attention I get, instead of being a victim of it. Wrapping gives me back my power and connects me to women all over the world. It is one of the most profound choices I have made in my adult life, and brings me joy each and every day.
E. M. – I have many reasons for wrapping my hair, and they are all intertwined! It has helped give me the courage to be comfortable being me, and I feel free and unique and beautiful when I wrap up my hair! It also helps protect my hair and scalp from the sun, and my hair is healthier because I don’t have to wash it as much!
Anonymous – As a teenager obsessed with her hair (think super early mornings for blow dries, hogging bathroom mirrors, and the dreaded bad hair day), losing my hair to cancer felt like losing my identity. Until I finally realized, my hair had nothing to do with who I was inside. I may have lost my hair, but gained a connection to my inner strength and beauty. Today, as a Hypnotist exploring energy work, I’ve found that the clip-in wigs are placed directly over some very sensitive energy points. So after a lot of internal debate, and with the full support of my husband, I feel like I’m ready to start wrapping. Slowly at first, but hopefully I’ll gain the confidence to make the full shift.
Anonymous – I started covering 10 months ago basically because I thought it looked beautiful, and I did not think I was ever “beautiful.” I was always slightly obsessed with my hair, thinking that if I could find “THE” perfect style then I would have achieved beauty. However, in the pictures I saw of women wrapping they all seemed to shine, and I became intrigued. Amazingly, in stepping out and wrapping up my hair in my scarfs I found myself. I found, and am still finding, my true personality, my creativity, my love of the asymmetrical. I know now in my heart that real beauty comes not from a hairstyle. Wrapping, I am finding, is so much more than what I thought it ever would be. It provides protection and intimacy in my marriage, brings a depth to the mundane things in life, and splashes color all around. Would I go back to my previous life? Never.
Ooohhh it’s nice to be making outfit posts again! Yesterday I went with my classic favourite combination: teal and brown! I highlighted it with a gold sari sash which just made everything feel so rich! Whenever I’m having difficulty figuring out what to wear, teal and brown is my go to. It always makes me feel great! Props to my husband for seeing the awesome lighting on this wall and taking the photos even though it was the middle of the night!
This new sari sash is one of my faves… it just matches everything!
What is your “go to” color combo that always makes you feel great? Let’s inspire each other!
All my love,
Andrea
Hi Everyone!
I’ve been wearing some gorgeous tichels lately, but it’s been hard to get good photos of them because I’ve been all distracted with our yummy baby. This past motzei Shabbat we had a pidyon haben, and a friend snapped this photo of what I was wearing. It’s a sari sash, navy shimmery, and light blue 2 in 1… loved wearing it! It went perfectly with this dress that I got in Israel. Check it out!
It was an incredible evening… my father is visiting from Toronto and he cooked up a storm! We had 60 people in our apartment yet somehow everyone fit! Many people helped out and all in all we are just so grateful 🙂
I loved this outfit… I was able to combine many shades of blue together and it just made me feel so serene and happy. Have you ever had a simcha (happy, often formal occasion) and you were super sleep deprived and short on time, but you managed to put together an outfit and feel fabulous? Would love to hear your experiences!
Love love love!
Andrea
It’s the new wrap craze!! We’re all loving this gorgeous new tie that was invented by Liezl! I just HAD to try it and do some variations on it as well! This is a video that shows you tons and tons of options!
SEND US YOUR PICS to wrapunzelthestore@gmail.com !!! We’ve already received tons and want to make a post with all your photos and creative variations! Check out what these Wrapunzel ladies have already done!
It’s here!! We’ve spent so much time searching out and designing the perfect one with the Wrapunzel velvet headband sewn in! Get yours HERE!
And here is the video allll about it! The behind the scenes story, and how to wear it!
The Wrapunzel Blog 