For other uses, see headgear.

Women's headscarves for sale in East Jerusalem

Headscarves or head scarves or scarves are scarves covering most or all of the top of a woman's hair and her head. Headscarves may be worn for a variety of purposes, such as for warmth, for sanitation, for fashion or social distinction; with religious significance, to hide baldness, out of modesty, or other forms of social convention.

Types[link]

Headscarves may have specific religious significance. Observant married Jewish women, for example, are required to cover their hair, often employing scarves, known as tichels or snoods, in compliance with the code of modesty known as tzniut.^{[citation needed]}

Headscarves were also worn by married Christian women in medieval Europe, and even by some of the unmarried.^{[citation needed]} This headcovering habit is better known as a wimple in English.^{[citation needed]}

16th century wimple.

Elizabeth II wearing babushka-type headscarf at a meeting with Ronald Reagan, 1982.

Headscarves and veils are most commonly used by Observant Muslim women. The Muslim religious dress include burqa, chador, niqab, dupatta, and others. The Arabic word hijab, which refers to modest behaviour or dress in general, is often used to describe the headscarf worn by Muslim women.^{[citation needed]} The hijab is worn for religious purposes. Some reasons for Muslim women wearing the hijab would be for modesty and allowing a woman to be judged by her morals, character, and ideals instead of her appearance.^{[citation needed]} A "head dress" could also be worn by men. The most common, keffiyeh, is worn by men (most commonly Middle Eastern) for cultural purposes rather than religious.^{[citation needed]}

Headscarves are also used by Christian women as well. Mainly in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Church, Assyrian Church of the East, and some traditionalist Roman Catholics. Some Anabaptist Protestants make use of veils also.

Some English speakers use the word "babushka" (grandma in Russian) to indicate the headscarf tied below the chin, as commonly worn in Eastern Europe.^{[citation needed]} In many parts of Eastern Europe and the Balkan region, headscarves are used mainly^{[citation needed]} by elderly women and this led^{[citation needed]} to the use of the "babushka" term, a Slavic word meaning Grandmother. In Chile, Mapuche women wear headscarves tied behind the head.^{[citation needed]}

A plain red or scarlet headscarf was worn by female commissars and other women aligning themselves with Bolshevism in times of Russian revolution and civil war.^{[citation needed]}

A head tie is an elaborate ornamental head covering worn by women of western and southern Africa.^{[citation needed]}

Many women with medical hair loss, due to chemotherapy, alopecia or other causes, utilize scarves as protective head coverings.

See also[link]

Fashion portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Headscarves

• Islamic dress in Europe
• Headscarf controversy in Turkey
• Veil
• Salwar Kameez
• Dupatta

References[link]

External links[link]

• Video tutorials how to tie a headscarf
• How to tie a Head Scarf - 2 ways
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