Headscarf

For other uses, see headgear.

Women's headscarves for sale in Jerusalem

Headscarves or head 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 [edit]

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]} 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 were once 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" (the word for 'grandma' in Russian: бaбушка (help·info)) to indicate the headscarf tied below the chin, as commonly worn in Europe, especially by elderly women in Russia.^{[citation needed]} In many parts of Europe and the Balkan region, headscarves are used mainly^{[citation needed]} by elderly women and this led to the use of the term "babushka"^{[by whom?]}^{[citation needed]}, 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, use scarves as protective head coverings.

References [edit]

Gallery [edit]

School girls in Herat, Afghanistan.
Oil on canvas painting by Vittore Ghislandi, called Fra Galgario.
Local ladies with headscarves in Alanya, Turkey.
A woman selling flowers. Egypt, 1906.
Girls dressed up for a parade wear matching yellow headscarves. 2009, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Local woman from Gümerdiğin, Turkey.
Egypt, 1935.
Three Turkish women wearing headscarves, 2003.
Laughing woman in Kuala Lumpur wearing a blue headscarf, 2008.
A young Malaysian woman wearing a headscarf, 2010.
Women typical dress and headscarf; Nazaré, Portugal, 2006.