This week’s “Lady Wrap Star” is someone that I really want to meet in person one day and get to hear her life story.  Meet Maya, a woman that I have had the pleasure of finding through the internet and has some VERY interesting things to say about hair covering and modesty.  I will say no more!  Read on…

Lady Wrap Star also known as: Maya Resnikoff

Tell us a bit about yourself!  How do you like to spend your time?
I work as a hospital chaplain.  I’m actually doing my residency right now, which is a one-year program involving nearly full-time work, plus clinical pastoral education, which makes it a fairly intense process.  I have a long commute, and spend most of it reading- I love science fiction and fantasy, and that’s what I stick to, for the most part.  In my free time, I crochet, watch (mostly old) TV with my husband, bake bread, play boggle and blog at http://www.howtocover.blogspot.com about- you guessed it, head covering.

How long have you been covering?
I’ve been covering my head for something like 9 years.  First, I would wear kippot or folded scarves, when I was single.  When I got married, I started to cover the vast majority of my head and hair.  So now my coverings are dual-purpose items, for me, although sometimes it’s easy to forget that.

What is the one thing that you like best about covering your hair?
I love the creativity that I can apply to my covering.  I have always enjoyed playing with fabric, and this is just a lot of fun.  I like the way that it looks and feels, too.  It’s a lot more fun than doing my hair used to be.  I have all these possibilities, and they don’t involve hair spray.

I notice that you wear glasses – do you have any suggestions for fellow glasses wearers that wear head scarves?
I never thought of the combination as being complicated.  Actually, I’ve found that my scarf helps to keep my glasses on.  I have to push them up much less often now than I did before I was married.  I think getting your glasses settled comfortably before tying your scarf is key.

What are you wearing on your head today?
I’m wearing an Israeli square scarf with the ends loose, and a braided purple scarf over it.

Do you remember the first time you wore a head covering?  What did it look like?  How did it feel?  What did others say?

I’m going to give this two answers.  The first time I wore a noticeable head covering on a regular day, back in college, I think that it slipped by as a one-off.  Really, I started by carrying a kippah for meals, but I started forgetting to take it off.  So it was a pretty blurry boundary.  But the first time I saw my parents after that, they definitely noticed.

The first time I covered fully was evening after my wedding.  We had a late morning wedding, so afterward, we went to the hotel, showered and napped, and then realized that we needed dinner.  So we went out, and of course, by that point it was 9pm or so, and everything in New Haven,CT was pretty much closed.  We had frozen yogurt for dinner.  Covering to go out felt pretty strange.  I’d thought about it so much, and now here I was, putting it into action.  I felt very conscious of it, and pretty self-conscious too.  My husband and I talked about it, and how I was feeling as we went out.  Then, of course, we didn’t see anyone we knew that evening, so I had that outing to sort of adjust a little bit.  By the next morning, when we had brunch with my in-laws, it already felt a little less awkward, although it took some time to really adjust to.

Could you share a unique experience (or two) that happened to you due to covering your hair?

I’ve had a lot of people be quite shocked that I am, in fact, a Conservative rabbi, given the hair covering.  But I’m not thinking of much else, right now.

Your favourite scarf and/or accessory:

I have a scarf from my mother, one she had and never wore, that I just adore.  It’s brightly colored, and cotton, and I don’t know why it’s my favorite, it just is.  I really enjoy accessories, and variety, but this one’s just my favorite.

What are some of your hair covering suggestions?  Any secrets you would like to share with us?

I think my best tip is not to get tied down to any one style or approach.  Let some days be “crown” days, and other days be “get it out of my way” days.  Keep on playing, and have fun with what you do with your head.

What are you grateful for right now?

In the big picture, I’m grateful for my husband.  In the small picture, I’m grateful for having just finished making a pair of crocheted socks, and for eating bread and butter.