devarim

Why do I get the feeling this is going to be a very long series?

This morning I went over to a friend's home to try on some of her Fake Hair. I found the entire experience alternately silly, intimidating, and freakish. Dude, that's some European woman's hair knotted onto a mesh cap and sitting on my head! Probably the hair of several European women, come to think of it, blended together and dyed and treated to look like it all came from the same head. My friend has both a full wig and a filled-in band fall, the kind that starts an inch or two beyond your hairline but contains a full head of hair from there on back. You wear it with a headband to both hold it in place and to conceal the hairless front, hence the name. (I'm told you can also wear one by pulling some of your own hair over the front, mixing it in with the wig hair, and creating a half-ponytail to hold it all in place.

The full wig looked terrible on me, probably because it wasn't made to fit my head or match my natural color or suit my face or anything. It was also heavy and itchy. On the other hand, the fall (which I am wearing in the pictures you see) was less than terrible, and I think I could get used to the idea. Not with such long hair, though, of course.

I think I'd have to get the narrowest and most subdued headbands out there, in order to feel comfortable with the concept. The Burberry pattern was fun, but I felt way too trendy and playful in it.

The entire experience reminded me of a conversation I had with a friend some time before I was married (but after I was engaged). This particular friend is a good generation and half older than I am and, though Jewish, not particularly observant. I was discussing hair-covering alternatives, and complaining about not wanting to get a wig but probably needing to in order to be a proper lawyer, and trying to hammer out exactly what the minimum halachic requirements for kisui rosh are (could I just pull my hair back with a big clip?). She understood my distaste for Fake Hair and agreed that a hat or scarft probably would not be suitable for my future professional environment. Then she suggested, "Well, couldn't you just wear one of those wide headbands? I see young women in Brooklyn doing that all the time; it must be good enough." After a moment, I explained that those women were also wearing wigs, and the headbands were their to keep them in place. I use the memory of that conversation to remind me that a good number of people don't realize that the hair on the other side of those headbands isn't attached to the heads in question. I'm not sure how I feel about that...

In the meantime, I have made an appointment with a Fake Hair dealer for later on this afternoon. I'm going alone, and in pants. Wish me luck!

Update: I'm not going alone! One of my friends offered to come with me. Yay!

part of a series: I, II 1/2, branching out, III, IV, sub-V, V . . .