Earthy Dreams

On 2014/07/31 By Andrea GrinbergIn Clothing Ideas & Inspiration, Daily Scarf Creation10 Comments

Rivka Malka recently talked me into getting this sari scarf… I was so unsure of it, but she had the foresight to see that it would match and pull together so much of what is in my wardrobe! FYI ladies if Rivka Malka makes a fashion suggestion to you… listen!

I loved wearing this green, orange, grey (toldja the colours were weird!) sari scarf with this outfit yesterday. It was a gorgeous day and my husband was more than willing to snap some photos for y’all!

Have you ever had some advise you or give you something that you weren’t sure about and then you ended up LOVING it? It’s incredible how our friends can see potential in us that we don’t normally see!

Much love, Andrea xx

A Happy ‘Mismatched’ Accident!

On 2014/04/082014/04/08 By Andrea GrinbergIn Clothing Ideas & Inspiration12 Comments

My outfit today is a bit of an enigma; I don’t remember how it actually materialized. I started off with my brown stretch pashmina tichel, a wrap skirt and a mint shirt, but between taking photos, getting cold (hence the sweater and scarf around my neck), and adding an extra sash scarf on my head, I ended up feeling VERY mismatched. And do you know what’s even more mysterious? I have barely left my house today (yet), and have already received glowing compliments from the many people that have come over! I was like, “really”?! But the women commenting are very stylish, so I decided to believe them! So I’m going to go out like this! I guess it does all look pretty funky!

Here’s my tichel:

And here is the awesome mismatched yet somehow working outfit! My skirt is from Israel when I went there for the first time! I remember being so hesitant to buy it because it ‘wasn’t my style’… and now it’s one of the most worn skirts in my wardrobe!

Lady Wrap Star: Introducing Heather!!

On 2014/03/262014/03/26 By Andrea GrinbergIn Lady Wrap Stars13 Comments

The first moment I saw Heather’s glowing face when she posted a photo on the Wrapunzel Store facebook page, I was bowled over! Her smile! The infectious love for hair covering! Wow! Who is this woman? A few photos later and it was more than clear that she had to be a Lady Wrap Star on this blog! I was also very curious to hear her story and get to know the woman behind the smile! Well, thankfully she was happy to share with us! Let’s hear it for Heather!

I wasn’t raised frum. I was barely raised with any real Judaism at all. My idea of Orthodoxy was full of misconceptions and stereotypes galore. In my own naiveté, the idea of hair covering brought up images of women shaving off their glorious locks, only to deprive them and their husbands, and made me cringe. When my mother, a”h, learned I was becoming frum, she initially cried thinking that I would also do this. I assured her that this wasn’t the case.

When I got engaged, I struggled with the idea of covering my hair. My hair was my most prized physical possession. It was long and red, and k”h, pretty amazing. So what changed my mind?

I was teaching at NYU at the time and living on the Upper West Side. While I was waiting on the subway platform, someone came up behind me, and raked his fingers through my hair, from the nape of my neck to the ends and then just walked away. I never saw his face. Of all the parts of me to be groped on the subway (and as New York women know, unfortunately that happens) he chose my hair. I immediately called my husband (then fiancé) and told him what happened, and we both decided that Hashem had just sent us a message.

That doesn’t mean that it was easy for me. I started with berets (it was the 90s, and that was the cool thing) and moved on to hats of all sorts. When I started teaching at the Yeshiva of North Jersey, I chose a sheitl because that seemed to be the thing to do. My main problem was that I would have to cut my hair to fit under the wig, and every time I did it made me sad. Wrapping allows me to keep my hair as long as I (and my husband) likes.

One of the reasons that I became frum was that I craved a connection to the past. I tried to connect to the generations before me, all of whom lived a life of Torah and mitzvot. When I came across the Wrapunzel website, the first thought was that the Imhaot did not wear hats and they certainly did not wear sheitls; they wrapped their long beautiful hair. I could imagine them wrapping, and showing nothing but their beautiful shining faces, and I wanted to emulate that.

Truth be told, my husband was not initially a big fan, as he loves my hair, and for him, a sheitl is as close as you can get in public. But what I told him was this: The hair is for us, but the cover is mine. He couldn’t argue with that.

I spent (spend) many hours watching Andrea’s and Rivkah Malka’s tutorial videos, and they are beautiful. They are always smiling and glowing, and there is no way that radiance shows with the distraction of a sheitl. To each their own of course, and there are some beautiful sheitls out there, but there is nothing like a wrap to show the true beauty of an Aishes Chayil.

Heather Okoskin Benjamin

Lotsa Tutorials!!

On 2014/01/31 By Andrea GrinbergIn Tutorials!7 Comments

Hey Everyone! This is an exciting new thing for me… Rivka Malka and I made some tutorials TOGETHER!!!! It was so much fun to do – very different from anything I’ve done before!! Here they are! Let me know what you think!

Yael; our awe-inspiring Lady Wrap Star!

On 2014/01/122014/01/12 By Andrea GrinbergIn Lady Wrap Stars17 Comments

I almost can’t find the words to introduce this woman… she is just so full of light and love! What an inspiration!

Hello Wrapunzel Ladies!

My name is Yael, and I am originally from Chicago. My husband Effie and I live in Atlanta where we are involved in an incredible Jewish community and synagogue, The Kehilla (http://thekehilla.org/). My husband and I met there, and it is just a beautiful and supportive group of people from all walks of life committed to Judaism. Professionally, I am a Director of Teaching and Learning for Teach For America in Metro Atlanta, and I absolutely love my job! When I first joined Teach For America back in 2008, I taught third grade in Miami. I am very passionate about and devoted to working towards educational equity in this country. Through my current role with Teach For America I plan professional development for our elementary teachers and support them in the classroom. I also design many of our large events and some of our diversity and inclusiveness programming. I work in a variety of settings, such as the Teach For America office, coffee shops, and public schools spanning four districts. No matter where my job takes me, I go with a smile and a hair covering.

Covering my hair in many contexts has allowed me to explore and share a totally new part of my Jewish identity with teachers and co-workers. This has been the springboard for deeper conversations with colleagues about my Jewish identity and its relationship to the social justice work that we do. When I wrap my hair I feel elegant, beautiful, creative, and proud. It becomes a medium for me to express who I am. Wrapping gives me a sense of connection to Jewish women throughout history. My tichel is my crown and, in a way, my wedding ring. It signifies my commitment to building a Jewish home. Further, it serves as a way to outwardly show my Judaism and demonstrate the beauty in our Jewish culture.

I have been covering to some extent since I got married just over a year ago in November 2012. Before I got married, I was not quite sure how I was going to cover my hair and if I was going to cover my hair full time. The day after our wedding I decided to try it out by wearing a hat. That night for sheva brachos, I wore a scarf. I decided after that day that I could do this! I wore mainly hats and some scarves covering my head for the first couple of months. Over time, I transitioned to pretty much covering all of my hair with scarves. And I do have fun mixing it up! I have a fabulous collection of scarves and hats (and of course accessories like headbands!). I also have worn a sheitel a couple of times, but wrapping is my absolute favorite way of covering. When I wrap my hair, I feel like the best version of myself.

My twin sister Ilana is one of my wrapping role models. She has been covering her hair since she got married in 2010. Being a twin is AWESOME because you share everything, and now we get to share tichels and hair wrapping techniques. We live in different cities, but when we visit each other we always do a mini tichel swap. We also regularly send pictures to one another to share our daily looks. Having a twin along for this hair covering ride has been special for both of us.

My friends and family have been incredibly supportive of my decision to cover my hair. Before getting married, my friends in Atlanta threw me a meaningful tichel party with demonstrations and beautiful divrei torah about the significance of hair covering. A couple of weeks later in Chicago, my friends and family also threw me a tichel party. At this party, everyone, Jewish and non-Jewish, those who cover their hair and those who do not, all tried on hats and tichels with me. Insignificant as this might seem, the participation of my friends and family in this way affirmed their support and gave me the strength that would eventually allow me to cover my hair the way I do today.

Wow! Check out Yael’s rockin’ tichels! This girl can wrap!

Lady Wrap Star Hannah!

On 2013/07/23 By Andrea GrinbergIn Lady Wrap Stars8 Comments

This lady has only been doing hair wrapping for a few months! Upon becoming friends on facebook, I knew that we had to feature her on Wrapunzel. I’ll stop blabbering and let her speak for herself; Meet… Hannah!

I am quite honoured to be asked to be a Wrap Star. I am quite new at covering my hair…only a few months!

I am a nice Jewish girl, and I grew up in Montreal in what I guess would be considered a culturally Jewish environment. I am married to the most amazing man, who isn’t Jewish. I have been on a journey which includes becoming more observant. My amazing husband is completely supportive of this, and is actively raising our son to also be Jewishly observant.

I have been keeping Shabbat for several years, and our kitchen is mostly Kosher (I only use Kosher food, but we still have to buy separate meat and dairy dishes…in time…). My husband, son and I went to Israel this past May, and I was incredibly inspired by all the hair coverings.

I have always liked the idea of married women covering their hair. To me it seemed to be such a special Mitzvah. I started covering part of my hair while in Israel, and then by the time we got home, I decided to take on this Mitzvah full time.

My collection of tichels started with the five I bought in Israel: 3 sinar (apron) tichels and 2 square tichels.

Like most families, we are on a tight budget, and I realized quickly that buying tichels can get pricey! I had a thought…how many people buy scarves they don’t wear then give them away to Value Village? I love buying the second hand scarves because they are so different than the ones in the stores here. They are also much much cheaper, less than five dollars a scarf.

I bought a few scarves and realized…I have no idea how to tie them! I guess that is why I liked the sinar tichels so much. I discovered Andrea and Wrapunzel and I LOVE her website. Andrea shows so many beautiful wraps and shows how easy they are to do!

I buy scarves that I like, but some fabrics are not always predictable once they are on your head. Andrea has helped me troubleshoot my tichel issues. I’m still learning to tie my tichels and some days even a simple wrap takes me ten minutes because I can’t get things to sit on my head properly.

My friends have asked me how many scarves I have…and I really don’t have that many (I think)…and I keep thinking my answer should be “not enough”.

I have a few favourite wrap accessories…my grip band and my colorful bobby pins. I found a package of bobby pins in the dollar store in a rainbow of colours. I like using those either because they are camouflaged in the scarf or they add a little flair. I have a couple of fabric flower clips and I would love to find more pins and hair bands to help accessorize my tichels. I also found a donut bun thing (what is it called??) that I find helps fill my wraps better. Of course after I bought it, I discovered Andrea’s sock trick to do the same thing!

Some other things about me…I used race mountain bike… while I was doing my Masters degree, my friend and I had a vegetarian/animal rights radio show…I used to be painfully afraid to speak in public and now that’s all I want to do! (too many years of keeping quiet??) In 2009 I went on the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project (JWRP) trip to Israel and it was AMAZING! I would love to make Aliyah with my family one day (my parents live in Israel now).

Thanks Andrea for all you share and having me as a Wrap Star!

And thank YOU Hannah for being our Lady Wrap Star! Wasn’t that refreshing? I think it’s so incredible to have so many women from different backgrounds sharing their stories and love for hair wrapping. Questions/comments/encouragement for Hannah? Post below!

Anniversary Tichel!

On 2013/07/19 By Andrea GrinbergIn Daily Scarf Creation11 Comments

It’s not every day that I celebrate being married to my outstanding husband for exactly two years. Here is the tichel that I wrapped for our anniversary:

All smiles: