If a Woman Willfully Cuts or Shaves Off Her Hair but Wears a Scarf or Hat to Pray, Is She Covered?
1) Direct answer
No. If a woman willfully cuts or shaves her hair and then puts on a scarf or hat to pray, she is still uncovered before God. The only covering Scripture names is her hair. She must repent, stop cutting, and let it grow. A scarf may be worn for modesty, but it does not fulfill 1 Corinthians 11.
2) Scriptural explanation
- “Every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head… for if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn… but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered” (1 Corinthians 11:5–6). Uncovered is tied to being shorn/shaven.
- “Her hair is given her for a covering” (1 Corinthians 11:15). The Bible names the covering: hair.
- God receives the repentant: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive” (1 John 1:9).
3) Simple clarifying logic
- Willful cutting/shaving = shorn/shaven = uncovered, regardless of any hat.
- The remedy Paul gives is not a hat, but to be “covered”—and he defines that covering as hair. So obedience is to cease cutting and let the hair grow back.
- While it grows, she can pray and walk modestly, but she must not claim a scarf as the Scriptural covering. God forgives the repentant heart immediately; the visible sign returns as the hair grows.
4) Reinforcing statement
Now notice, God is not measuring hats—He honors obedience. Let the hair grow, don’t cut it again, and the God-given covering will return.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Pride
55-0807A §57
God be merciful. Oh, my! My Lord... And that cold-hearted bunch of Pharisees sitting there, indifferent. Oh, my! Wiping His blessed feet with the hairs of her head. Some of you women to do that, would have to stand on your head. You cut your hair. That's right. I don't say it for a joke. The Bible said, "The glory of a woman is in her hair." And you cut yours off. What was it? What was it? It was her glory. The only decent thing she had about her was her long hair, and it had fallen all down at Jesus' feet. Her tea...
By faith, Moses
58-0720M §29
Is--maybe a little young lady setting here, a glamorous young women, the world would like to say to you, "Do thus and thus. You are beautiful. Your body is so pretty shaped; you should show that." But my sister, raise up your eyes and look beyond that, to Him that said it's an abomination for a woman to put on a garment that pertains to a man. If the men... of the people in your community, if the women that you associate with, said, "Cut that long hair off; it would be cooler. It would be this, that, or the other,"...
Questions and Answers, Part 4
64-0830E §73
And now, men... This person said this morning taking off their hair, putting it back on. Now, this kind of got here too, about a haircut, see. Now, if a man doesn't have hair, and his wife ... I've heard women say, "Well, if I could just get John ... I think he'd look better if he wore a hair piece. What do you think about it, Brother Branham? Is it wrong for him to do it?" No, sir! No, indeedy, it is not wrong, not at all. If he wants to wear it, that's fine, no more than wearing false teeth or whatever that come...
Church Ages, part 7: The Sardisean Church Age
60-1209 §87
...seen a religious society a while ago, going in to have some kind of a little blowout they have about every night. And these women all going in with these knickerbockers ... or what is them things they call them? Not shorts, but the others. Yeah, pedal pushers, or them things there. They need a pedal pushed all right. Brother, that's a board about that wide. That's right. "Ped" comes from "pedestrian." That's on your foot. And that's exactly what they need. That's right. But, oh, you say, "Well, now I think it's mor...
A testimony on the sea
64-0307 §36
Some man come to me not long ago and said, "Brother Branham, the people love you, but," said, "you're always bawling them out---bawling them women out about having short hair, and things like that." I said, "The Bible said it was a disgrace for her to have it. She dishonors her husband when she does it." And it is absolutely a sign that you've departed from God. Remember in Samson's case long hair was a Nazarite sign, that he had departed from the world to the Word of God. And when you bob off your hair, women, you...