Chagit is truly a wrap star in every single way! She is bold, fun, and never afraid to try something new! Every time I come across a photo of her, my first reaction is “Wow!” And then my second reaction is, “How did she do that?!” Here she is, sharing her heart and mind, and teaching us some of her essential tips and tricks! I know you’ll love her as much as I do! (Make sure you click on her photos to get the full impact of amazingness!)
Hi Chagit! Can you tell us a little about yourself; how you spend your time, where you live, family, interesting hobbies etc.?
Hi sweetie and Hello to all those beautiful ladies out there. So before I start I just wanna say that Im super honored that you like my wrapping style. I just couldnt start without first saying, “Thanks”.
Hi again, my name is Chagit Rivera. I was born in Puerto Rico. Grew up in South Florida and now live in Israel with my beautiful family. I’ve been blessed with an awesome husband and seven beautiful kids B’H.
I consider myself to be a busy bee. I’m a stay at home mom and keep myself very busy tending to my house and family. The things that bring me pleasure are cooking shows, decorating, shopping, ice coffee, movie nights with my two older kids, pizza making night with the family, going to the city with my hubby, women’s classes/hanging out with my girlfriends and a clean house. Oh, and I absoluty LOVE wrapping! I LOVE talking about wrapping. I LOVE seeing all the beautiful wraps all around me.
Why do you cover your hair?
I cover for religious reasons.
How long have you been covering your hair? How did you feel about it when you first started?
I’ve been covering for a long long time. I first started covering with hats and that was kinda easy cause I loved hats then I moved to wraps/tichels. I was kinda sad when I had to cover my hair. To me my hair was my beauty. Everyone loved my hair. I always got tons of compliments about my hair. Silly me.
How do you feel about it now?
Thank G-d I was wrong about the whole need to show my hair thing. I love to wrap. I feel like a queen. I feel beautiful, sexy, unique and still a part of something holy, something undescribable.
What inspires your head coverings? Have you always been this creative?
I get inspiration from things around me. From different people. From different colors, from different patterns and textures. Inspiration is EVERYWHERE! I have always been a creative person and this helps me with my wraps. As a matter of fact, you, Andrea are responsible for giving me that extra inspiration. Seeing you do what you do allowed me to try new things and explore this beautiful mitzva. I am forever grateful. Thanks babe.
What colour/pattern advice do you have for other wrappers out there?
Everyone of us is different. We have different backgrounds, different skin tones, different styles. I’ll tell you what I do. I love to use all shades of greens, blues, purple, grays and browns. I love to throw in some polka dots, stripes, animal prints and floral prints. I use the colors that talk to ME and make me feel yummy inside. Cause at the end of the day it brings a smile to my face and others will feel my vibe.
Any tips/tricks/secrets you can share with us?
#1 Trick – My all-time favorite trick is called “HEADBANDS”. Yes, you heard me correctly. I love using headbands. It adds so much to my wrap without adding tons of extra material. People never know its a headband until I tell them and trust me it looks awesome. Its like magic.
#1 Tip – Its just two words. TUCK and PAT. Again, Tuck and Pat. Thats all to it. The results are incredible.
#1 Secret – Well I guess its not a secret anymore. I’m gonna have to say besides my “headbands”, its the fact that I double poof. Yea, sounds crazy but I love it. And since I pin my accessories to my wraps to give it that nice clean look it doesnt hurt.
What are some of the most important hair covering lessons you’ve learned over the years?
Lesson number one: You have to LOVE your wrap.
Lesson number two: velvet handband.
Lesson number three: Simple is also beautiful.
Lesson number four: You have a whole lifetime to get this wrapping thing right. Don’t try things at are gonna overwhelm you. This is a beautiful mitzva. Remember, its beauty and everything else will come together sooner or later.
An inspiring (or funny) hair covering moment that stands out in your mind?
I have inspiring and sometimes funny moments everytime I go in the city. I have NO problem stopping someone and letting her know how beautiful I think her headcovering is and how absolutely incredible she looks. I ask them how they wrapped it, and even where they bought a certain scarf. There is no shame to this wrapping journey I’m on. Oh, and by the way, I don’t speak hebrew so it can get pretty funny cause I find myself talking with my hands more than usual.
What does you hair covering say about your soul?
It tells me that I am a queen. That I am part of a holy plan. That I am not alone. I AM BEAUTIFUL BECAUSE I AM A WOMAN.
Any inspiring words for the ladies on the Wrapunzel blog?
Don’t be afraid to show a little bit of your personality in your wraps. You are all amazing beautiful women.
What are you grateful for right now?
I’m grateful for alot of things. But at this very moment I am grateful to be alive, to have the ability to see G-d’s beauty, to feel a loving hug and to touch my kids’ soft faces – completly humbled by G-d’s everlasting love.
*~*
Thank you so much Chagit for your inspiring words and beautiful photos! Aint she a doll? Oh, guess what ladies!?? She’s started making tutorials! Check these out!
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Meet Ariella! When we first met, I was like, “There’s another blonde, funky, frum (Torah observant), classical musician string player in the world?! Yay!” She seriously rocks my socks off! Here are some gorgeous, fun photos of her, and an interview! You’ll love hearing what she has to say!
Hi Ariella, can you tell us a bit about yourself, how you spend your time, what you love to do, where you live, etc.? Hey there everyone, I’m Ariella Zeitlin-Hoffman, a violinist from Israel. I grew up in Baltimore, and made aliyah to Israel when I was 18 (on my birthday) spent a year learning Hebrew, and then went into the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance where I met Andrea and her husband Yonatan. Music is a huge part of my life-My parents are kind of the hippie rock stars of the community we lived in, and their Simchat Beit HaShoeva was the place to be for years and years-Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach used to pop in yearly, but I don’t remember him so I don’t have any great stories except there was one year that the whole sukka fell over and I remember a feeling of panic because they were expecting a hundred or so people. My grandfather, Zvi Zeitlin was considered by the NY Times to be the Methuselah of violin players-making a full recital on his 90th birthday! Today I play one of his violins and use a bow which was made exclusively for him by a jeweler named Henry Kasten. So I always had those two important influences in my life-the classical and the folk, and as a musician I’m really connected to both genres, which has made me very in demand (thank G-D!) as a studio player because I keep it in both worlds with note reading, improvising, and playing by ear. Time, time! I’m still at home with our baby, and summer vacation is just finished now so I’ve been spending an awful lot of time with the family-when it’s regular time, which is starting now, I really spend all of my time either playing violin, teaching, spending time with my family, or dealing with the house type of stuff that nobody wants to do (except those crazy Pinterest moms who I aspire to be like). I’m also a super nerdy crafter (seem like the type, eh?) and love to crochet, sew, bake, and upcycle furniture-I love painting and sanding and getting my hands dirty. My husband makes beer so he’s also crafty like that. In terms of work, I teach and I do a lot of freelance work-concerts, bar shows, studio sessions, etc. So I’m really busy! And even when I’m not busy with work, there’s always something else to do. We live today in Herzliya, where my husband works as the Rabbi for Jeff Seidel’s student center, so we have programs of different kinds almost every night of the week in our house. Sometimes I’m there, sometimes not-depends on how worn out I am. I also have the attitude that when I’m at home I’m all at home-I try to keep my mind off of other projects so when I’m at home, and I really try to keep my phone far away until our kids are asleep. With my big daughter in Pre-K, our baby boy is mainly with me except when I have work. Sometimes think about getting a real job and putting him in daycare, but I love being a mom, and he’s an easy kid so I get a lot done.
Do you have a favourite composition? Or a few favourites? Why? So a few months ago, I had a series of concerts where I performed the Mendellsohn Violin Concerto with an all-women’s orchestra from Jerusalem with concerts all over the country. There were 5 concerts in total, and there are some plans to resume the tour in the fall, but nothings set in stone yet. They’re making sure I’m still practicing!! Anyways, back to Mendellsohn. I mean he was just brilliant and stunning in his writing. Gorgeous music. The concerto is also unique because the way it is written is kind of like an exchange between the orchestra and the soloist, and I love how the theme starts in the violin at the beginning instead of the opposite, which is more standard, setting the scene for the drama of the orchestra to come in. Ahh…Mendellsohn. Also the 3rd movement is a lot of fun. Another favorite piece is the Khachaturian Violin Concerto, which is a rich and intense musical drama-Khachaturian was an Armenian and the journey of the Armenians and the Jews has many parallels in the past century. In fact, my great grandparents were jailed in Russia because of Zionist activity, and they were put in front of an Armenian judge for trial, who empathized with their desire for a homeland and instead of sending them to Siberia as punishment, actually sent them to Palestine in 1927. And, and, and…well what I think is so great about loving music is that you’re really familiar with different types of music so you know what you want to hear at different times. There are very few genres that I dislike. I’ve experimented in everything, and love all kinds of music. I love show pieces-pieces written for the violin which classical performers call ‘fluff’-written to impress but not really deep. I play a lot of those in certain types of venues. I love singing, also and am currently working on a few singles of my original songs. I love 50’s rock and roll, I love any band with positive vibes and messages, I love dubstep and trance and folk and rock and fiddle music and country and middle eastern Arabic and am practicing my beatboxing!
How did you feel about hair covering before getting married? So I’d always been back and forth about my feelings about covering. On the one hand, I grew up in a community of coverers. There was only one woman who wore a beautiful tichel on a regular basis, Rivka Malka Perlman, but she was also so gorgeous and striking that whatever she wore on her head would have looked amazing (you all know what I’m talking about). Then I moved to Israel, went to Seminary, started seeing people in tichels, and then I went into University. And that was the first time I heard of this concept of head covering being oppressive to women-to me it was always just something people did, and I never asked too many questions. But all of my opinions were constantly being challenged by the people around me and I really started to question every single thing I had always taken for granted as true and normal. Was hair covering really oppressive? I started looking around and kind of left that particular issue aside-there were so many other issues to deal with and figure out where I stood on them that I hadn’t really thought of before. Then my journey brought me to my husband, and we spent a year and a half figuring out together what Judaism meant to both of us and who we wanted to be-and kind of discovered accidentally that we had fallen in love! So we ended up in the whole whirlwind of everything and the headcovering thing? I still hadn’t really given it a thought. Then when I got engaged, we went to the States and my mother bought me two wigs-a full one and a headband one. And I just kind of went with everything-actually my awesome husband came sheitel shopping with me! Not really done by anyone else, but the concept was so weird for me, that I felt like I needed him along for support, and it was a lot of fun, although I could tell that Tsfat had worn off on him and he wasn’t super into it. It was always taken for granted (for me) that I would cover my hair and I never gave it much thought. I bought a lot of fun wigs from the stores catering to black women that clipped on and I really had fun with the whole thing-but still hadn’t settled on what was me. I think the most important thing for anyone starting out and wanting to cover, is that don’t ever be totally set on what you’re going to wear-and don’t buy a lot of anything until you know what fits your personal style!!
How do you feel about it now and how has the journey been for you? So after I got married, I covered fully, but I really started hating covering. It felt uncomfortable, I felt like I stuck out-I wore a half wig with a hat or scarf to University so nobody would know I was covering fully, and then when someone would come near my head for any reason I would jump out of my skin because I REALLY didn’t want anyone to know I was wearing a wig (and whats the point if you’re trying so hard to make sure nobody knows?) So after a while I forewent the wigs. I almost never wear a wig now except for rock shows where I wear a wig that’s as big as rhode island but that’s for fun, not for modesty purposes. And I started doing what they call the ‘half cover’ where I wear a head covering both as a symbol of being married, as well as covering my head as opposed to all my hair, which is another opinion within the spectrum of Jewish law and which, for now, makes me feel the most myself. It also puts people more at ease in a professional setting, because they think I’m ‘cool’ which I just think is a little nutty, but people judge on appearances. I also do a lot of work in ultra-orthodox places, and I really change the way I look from place to place that I go, depending on the requests of the demographic.
What is your personal favourite way of covering your hair? My favorite way of covering is with a long scarf tied on my head with hair showing in the front and the back. It’s a look that makes me feel super bohemian princess. And I love accessorizing with glittery things! Hair clips, pins, sparkly headbands, and sparkly scarves, of course. I love drawing attention to the fact that I’m covering. Wearing scarves makes me feel like such an example of the beautiful parts of our traditions, especially when people see my fun ties and colorful accessories (probably sounds familiar to most of you on the blog!!)
Tips and tricks that you can share with us? – A couple of months ago, my husband and I did a home improvement project where we bought a broom stick, and chopped it into two pieces-one long and one short. We put them both on the walls with hooks and connected to chains and I now keep all my scarves there-they look so beautiful and it gives me such a wonderful feeling to walk into my room. Also lets me see all my scarves-long scarves on one, headbands on the other. Being able to see everything makes it so much easier to coordinate!
– Don’t buy a lot of anything specific when you’re just starting out. Everyone’s different, you’ll discover styles you love with scarves that you didn’t buy and end up with a hundred of the wrong type, haha!
– Velvet Headbands are amazing-buy at least two! – Those really pretty ones? The more expensive ones? I decided that I wanted to make my own last summer. But I’m the type that never does just one project. So I made 8. They take a LONG time. And they come out wonky if you’re not an excellent sewer. And they cost money for all the materials. The people who are good at making them really deserve what they’re charging. Obviously there’s a lot of value in doing projects for the sake of doing projects but if you look at something and think ‘I could do that myself’ I’d say if you’re pressed for time, or are not naturally meticulous, it’s really ok to invest in something beautiful and that they’re probably not overcharging. So treat yourself every once in a while!
– The confidence you have in whatever you do is way more important than what you’re wearing. In all matters. But be proud of the choices that you make, and always check in with yourself that you really feel good about what you are doing. Obviously there are reasons that people do things besides feeling good, but if you do anything specific, you have reasons that you do them. Make sure that your actions are consistent with your beliefs
Can you share a memorable hair covering moment? A few days after my wedding, when I was still figuring out the scarf thing and it was insanely hot I wore a thin slippery one, which, come to think of it I don’t think I’ve seen in years now but I liked. And if course it fell off in the bank. I unfortunately have had several situations where I was trying to juggle 4000 things and when the scarf came off, I looked around and everyone was kind of waiting for me to freak out-but these things happen, and what can you do. So I’ve just played it cool and I think people were disappointed! But that’s a memorable un-covering hair moment. A memorable hair covering moment would probably be the first time I played in a big show for a Dati-Leumi audience and I layered so many scarves my head almost fell off. But I really wanted that statement look! I try, whatever I am doing, to make the scarves a really important part of my look-because I think looking funky in scarves is an important statement and an important part of my identity.
What are you grateful for right now? I’m grateful for so many things! I often stop and count my blessings and I make grateful lists all the time-I’ve found that for me, gratitude is the thing that makes me feel most happy and satisfied. I also am a huge subscriber to dream charting-where you think about what you want to accomplish, and spend time every day thinking about how to get there, and some of that time appreciating the steps you’ve taken thus far. I have found that, although many people say that it’s hard to have a successful career In addition to being married and having children, that I’m probably much more successful than I might be if I weren’t married to my husband, who keeps me grounded and helps me to achieve success all the time. So he’s number one on grateful! I’m grateful to have a good life, a wonderful, healthy extended family, no debt (finally paid off all my student loans!!!), a successful career in something I truly love, good friends, and lots of dreams!
What do you want to bless the readers of Wrapunzel with for the coming Jewish Year? Judaism is all about starting fresh. Renewal, prayer, repentance, charity, and as we come to the new year, I want to bless you all that every bad moment and memory that is weighing you down will become a stone in the path that you realize that it has helped you to get where you are, and that you can take those moments and accept them, and really look at them with a fresh eye to see how they have brought you to where you are today, accept them, and then leave them be. A lot of people carry around the baggage of old relationships, or of bad situations of any kind. Stop. You are a new person from this very moment. You control your destiny. You are wonderful and talented and brilliant and special. For me, from a young age I had this *one thing* that was my gift. I was fat, I didn’t have many friends, but I was musical-and I felt chained to that description of me, like there was no other thing that I was. At a certain point I sunk into a low point of depression over that thought, but at a later point I realized we really are all a beautiful bouquet of wonderful gifts, and as I got older and was able to recognize my own gifts, I was able to appreciate and love others for their contributions to the world. When you realize that you are wonderful because you have a beautiful soul and you try to bring more joy, light, warmth, and kindness into the world, there is no greater feeling than to recognize that in others. So I bless you all that you can leave your baggage behind in order to bask in the light of the coming redemption!
So I was running out of the house today, ready to do my go-to double braid (the DB), when I thought, why not do three twists instead of two braids? Both use three 2 in 1s, which were already on my head all ready to go! So I tried it, and do I ever like it! What do you think? Do you think this will be the new DB?
Wishing you all a lovely weekend! Remember to take a moment, breathe in the miraculous air around you, and be thankful for all the miracles in your life! Thank you for making the Wrapunzel community the living miracle that it is!
Love, Andrea
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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
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Our lady wrap star, Heather (yes, our second last lady wrap star is also Heather – I couldn’t plan this sort of thing if I tried!) has been part of the Wrapunzel community since… well.. since before it was the Wrapunzel community! Over the years I’ve caught bits and pieces of her story and about whom she is. She always came off as such a warm, stable, articulate and just, well… such a cool person that I really wanted to know! She is all kinds of awesome and I’m so happy to introduce her to you officially! In a word, her story is FASCINATING. A must read. Here’s Heather!
First, I am INCREDIBLY honored to be asked to write for Andrea’s blog. It is definitely a high point for me in my covering journey! It’s been a rather bumpy one, and something that is not seen often where I live, in Southern West Virginia.
You don’t see many women like me in this community and buying from the store: women with beautiful tichels and adornments covering their hair. I’ve not had any rude comments as of this writing, but I HAVE had many compliments. My family is a mixed bag of support and reluctance. My husband is supportive of me covering (now), my father hasn’t said anything for or against it. My mother, though, is okay with it, so long as I don’t wear it in places that it would be seen as unusual. She asked me if I was going to “wear that thing” to a job interview. I told her that I was, that it was my head and if they had an issue with that, then I wouldn’t want to work there in the first place. I have many cousins who love my tichels, and have expressed interest in purchasing and wearing their own (and I have offered my time to help them as soon as they want me to!) I see a few ladies covering their hair; it’s rare, but I have seen them. They wear the hijab, and it’s lovely, and I think quite brave of them, in all honesty. I always brace myself for a nasty comment when I leave my house, and while I HAVE gotten strange looks, I have yet to hear a snide remark. Good thing, too. I’m not as apt to take it as I was when I was younger.
As for religion, I’m not Jewish. I’m not Christian or Muslim either. I’m a very secular lady who has no religious reason at this time to cover. I did have one at one point, but I have done a lot of soul searching and found that religion is just not something that I feel is necessary in my life right now. It took a long time for me to admit, even to myself, that I fall into the agnostic atheist category, but I’m there, and I feel perfectly happy (though I do wish I had a local community to be a part of sometimes). I won’t reveal what religious beliefs I had after I left Christianity (I don’t want certain people to see this and decide they wouldn’t want to be part of my life anymore), but I will explain my coming to my current position as best I can.
Photo collage by Heather’s husband, Heath! He is a graphic artist and does awesome work!
So, where to begin the story of how I came to covering my hair? Well, I’ve heard that it’s best to start at the beginning, so here goes:
I have always had a love/hate relationship with my hair. Ever since I was a child, I would take a lock of my hair and place it between my index and middle fingers and let it slide through. I loved (and still love) the silky, cool feeling of my hair moving between my fingers. A few strands would come out, but nothing major. It drove my parents up the wall, and they would always tell me to stop if they were in the same room with me. I also never could fix my hair properly. I tried so hard, and got so upset every day. It got to the point where I was begging my mother to help me fix my hair – and this was all the way into high school! I was just terrible with my hair. Makeup, I could do that! I rocked out makeup, manicures, etc. I even got asked to do prom makeup for people! But my hair just never did anything I asked it to do. So most of the time, when I was in college, I would just pull it back into a tight bun or a ponytail and let it go at that.
I also love coloring my hair. My natural color is a light reddish brown, but it’s currently dark brown/black (I’m a community theatre actress and I colored it for a role last summer). I have always wanted to wear funky colors in my hair, and I even went so far as to bleach it and color it teal in 2004! I LOVED it. Every morning I would get up and look at my hair, and was just amazed at how gorgeous the color looked. Unfortunately, it was a wash out color, and when it started looking dingy, I colored my hair black. It stayed that color until I moved home from college.
Well, that covers (no pun intended) how I feel about my hair. Now let’s discuss how I came to love covering my hair:
I was raised Christian. I went to church, belonged to Christian school groups, read the Teen Bible, etc. I started seeing a guy who had books about OTHER religions. I had no idea that anything else really existed. We don’t have much religious diversity here (other than different denominations of Christianity). Anyway, I found a book that struck a chord in me and I devoted myself to the religion within its pages. I won’t elaborate on what that religion was, as I am not totally open with a lot of people in my area. (Following a different religion usually gets you harassed here.) During college, I grew apart from practicing ANY religion, mainly due to depression and sadness (I married the guy I was seeing and he became abusive). I left him in 2006, right after I gave birth to a son. After I met the man who would later become my actual husband, I began practicing my religion again, and I did so until recently.
During my reawakening, I began reading about the priestesses of Hestia and Hera, the Greek Goddesses of the hearth and home, and marriage and family, respectively. I have always been fascinated with ancient Greek mythology/theology and in all the research I did, I discovered something: both of those Goddesses wore VEILS! Their Priestesses wore VEILS! They all covered their hair! I was fascinated. I still am! I had never thought about covering my hair aside from doing it to keep it out of my face, but I saw that women used to cover their hair, that they would wear it like a crown. They were the Queens in their homes, in their marriages. That appealed to me greatly, and is a reason why I cover. I am the QUEEN of my life, and these tichels are my crowns! Then I found Andrea’s and Rivka Malka’s YouTube channels. I was absolutely smitten! I started wearing bandannas frequently around the house, doing my chores with a smile on my face. I felt much more connected somehow, and I couldn’t figure out why.
I was on Facebook a lot (as I still am) and a friend and I discovered a group that was for women with similar beliefs to me who covered their hair. I decided to give it a try, both the group AND the covering. The group wasn’t really for me, I found, and at the time, I wasn’t very good at covering. I didn’t have many scarves or veils, and I felt a little silly covering outside of the house because you just didn’t see that sort of thing here where I live. Not to mention that my husband wasn’t too keen on the idea (then anyway).
So, I stopped. For nearly 3 years.
During that three years, I became an agnostic atheist, which is to say that I am unsure if any higher power exists, and while I doubt, I cannot prove or disprove it. I lean towards the belief of no Deity at the moment, though I still believe Nature itself is divine and I celebrate the passing of the seasons, and mark the days with celebrations, even if it’s just a small acknowledgement of it. Because of that, I have no religious reason to cover my hair. None whatsoever.
But I rediscovered my love for it.
One day, out of the blue, I started covering again. It wasn’t something I set out to start doing, but I revisited Andrea’s blog and YouTube channel, and discovered Rivka Malka’s blog and YouTube channel. I went into my room and dug out my scarves and Israeli tichels (as I mentioned above, I didn’t have many at the time) and immediately began covering.
I suppose you could say I heard a call, not with my ears, but with my heart. I don’t believe it was a call from a Deity, personally, but more of my own desire to acknowledge something beautiful within myself. Right before, though, another group that I’m in had a couple of girls who decided to try and cover during domestic duties. They began to ask me about it. That reaffirmed my desire to start covering again. I cover every day, even at home, as it keeps me from sweeping up hair all the time and pulling my hair as well. Plus, it makes me feel gorgeous, and since it sits on my head, it keeps me mindful of things. It reminds me to use my head when I would rather use my heart when reacting to things. I am a very emotional person, and I have issues with anxiety and my tichels and headcovering practice helps me deal with it by giving me something to focus on rather than what is causing my anxiety. It also reminds me that I am a QUEEN – and I mean capital Q-U-E-E-N! I use that term to remind myself that I am in control of myself, my body, my mind, my spirit, my entire being. My tichel is my crown, and now my husband is on board with me covering (as he put it, it’s my head and he would love me no matter what). I love discovering new combinations, new ways to tie. I even made a tie myself, that was inspired by The Girl with the Pearl Earring painting.
I have begun to do tutorials for women who are just starting out, because I can show my hair. I can show from beginning to end how I do it, and give them tips that they may not be able to see anywhere else, because I am able to show my hair as a secular woman with no commandment from a Deity to keep my hair to myself. Of course, I’m not knocking those who DO. It’s just not my particular calling, and if I can help a woman who feels it IS her duty to keep her hair for her husband but doesn’t know where to begin, I will do so. And I will love every minute of it!
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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!
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When Tiona sent in her gorgeous photo with a sweet note for the “Wrapunzel Ladies do the Zig-Zag Criss Cross” post, I was immediately captivated by her smile and wrapping skills. Turns out that her beautiful wraps only give a hint to the person she is on the inside! Here she is as a Lady Wrap Star! Read on…
Hi Tiona! Can you tell us a little about yourself? What are you all about, some likes/dislikes, how do you choose to spend your time?
Yes. Hi my name is Tiona Reed, I am a mother of four blessings and married to my wonderful husband Roderick Reed. I run my own bakery and absolutely love baking and decorating cakes. There is a fulfillment there when I see the smile on someones face because Ive added to their life memories. I spend all of my time raising my children in the most positive way I know how. I have also started the process of volunteering at the local hospitals cancer center to teach women how to cover their heads in a way to still remain confident. Personal experience has taught me that if a woman still remains confident and positive about the way she looks, her recovery is quickened or her last days are brighter. My husband is currently serving in Afghanistan so all of this is a great responsibility at the present time but I have strong and loving mishpucha helping me through.
How long have you been covering your hair? Can you tell us a bit about why you cover your hair and the process leading to this life decision?
I have not been covering my hair for very long, but I find the journey very rewarding. Becoming more modest had been my conviction for quite some time so when I decided to hold myself accountable and learn what it meant to be modest and cover my hair, I felt like I had accomplished something that would bring more clarity to my life focus. There were a lot of distractions regarding how I looked, in particular my hair. I use to be a hair model when I lived in Atlanta and that seemed to be the focus of my life. Funny story, when I met my husband, I actually missed a hair show I was suppose to be in because I was with him!! Anyways, I later felt there was too much focus on my hair and not enough on what was important, which is self and others. I slowly but surely began to wrap my hair and I have seen how it has transformed my life and the life of the people around me!
What is your favourite way to cover? Favourite colour and why?
My favorite way to cover are snoods!! I am a busy mom, so a snood is fast and easy!! Sometimes I dress it up and put layers underneath, but throw on and go fits my lifestyle. I like to save all the other fun wraps and scarves for Shabbos. Then I get to experiment and play with colors and textures. Just another way I set the day apart. My favorite color would have to be blue. All shades of blue just make me happy. It has a calming affect to me. It’s also a great canvas to add different textures and patterns to.
Do people ever ask you about your hair coverings? What do you say to them? A memorable hair wrapping experience you would like to share?
I don’t really get asked much about my hair coverings as much as I get complimented. There is always a look of curiosity, but not much in the way of conversation, other then a thank you response. My most memorable hair wrapping experience would have to be when I was in Israel and some of the ladies asked me to cover their heads when we were expected to be in areas where it was required. It was such an honor that they were standing, waiting their turns to be wrapped and they absolutely loved it! Some to this day have continued to wrap their hair even upon returning home.
Any scarf wrapping tips you would like to share with the Wrapunzel ladies? What are you grateful today? Oh my, tips from me!! I would love to learn more tips from everyone else. The only thing I can think to contribute is to always walk away from the mirror feeling inspired and confident. This light is important for others who need the encouragement to cover their hair and still feel empowered. I am grateful for my family and the opportunities that have been placed before me. My life has truly been blessed and I only pray that I have been that same blessing to others.
Thank you for this opportunity!!
And thank YOU Tiona! Thanks for reading everyone – let us know your thoughts in the comments section!
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Wow! Hello stunning colour combinations! Check out all the different looks you can get from this wrap – all created by the ladies of Wrapunzel! Great technique, girls!! (Click on the photos to see them up close!)
This is Naomi. When this photo was taken she wasn’t yet covering her hair publicly.
(Yep, I stuck myself in there as well because I wanted to join the party!)
I have to mention that over Shabbat I met a woman for the first time lo and behold she was rocking the zig-zag criss-cross! What a treat and a bit of a surreal too! I am so proud of you all! Thank you everyone for your submissions and keep up the awesome work! (And yes, you can still send in photos and I will add them to this post.) Yay wrapping sisterhood solidarity!
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I was wearing a grey skirt and mauve shirt… what scarf could possibly match? For some reason, I dug through my “give-away” pile of scarves, and uncovered this beauty, which matched my outfit perfectly! I think that I had it pegged to give away because it is a little dark for my skin tone… but still! It was almost *too* perfect in terms of matching, know what I mean? Anyway, I tied a simple long scarf bun with it and added a small pin; Does anyone want a tutorial on how to tie a bun with a long scarf?
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