So What If a Woman by Accident, Age or Health Condition Has Short or No Hair, How Should She Be Covered If Hats and Scarfs Are Not a Covering?
1) Direct answer
If a woman loses hair by accident, age, or sickness, she is not made “uncovered” in guilt before God. The Bible’s covering is her hair as God gives it; the command is that she must not cut it. So she should simply let it grow as she is able and keep from cutting. In the meantime, she may use a simple scarf or a plain wig for modesty—not as the Scriptural covering of 1 Corinthians 11, but as modest apparel. When her hair can grow, let it grow; if it cannot, she remains blameless before God.
2) Scriptural explanation
- “Her hair is given her for a covering” (1 Corinthians 11:15). The covering God speaks of is hair, not a hat.
- “If the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn” (1 Corinthians 11:6). Paul links uncoveredness with being shorn/shaven—an act of cutting. The shame is tied to willful shearing.
- God looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). He numbers our hairs (Luke 12:7). He knows when loss comes through infirmity, not rebellion.
- Modesty in apparel is commanded (1 Timothy 2:9; 1 Peter 3:3–4). A simple scarf or plain wig can serve modesty without pretending to be the 1 Corinthians 11 covering.
3) Simple clarifying logic
- Covered = obedience to keep the hair uncut and let it grow as God allows.
- Uncovered = shorn/shaven by choice, even if a hat hides the scalp.
- Involuntary loss (illness, age, accident) does not equal rebellion; therefore it does not bring the guilt of uncoveredness.
- A scarf or wig can help modesty, but it is not the Scriptural covering. The moment hair can grow, do not cut it.
4) Reinforcing statement
God is not measuring hats; He is honoring a woman’s obedient heart to keep what He gives and to walk in modesty.
Final biblical conclusion: A woman who has short or no hair through accident, age, or sickness remains scripturally covered when she refuses to cut and lets it grow as able (1 Corinthians 11:15–16). She may use modest apparel (a simple scarf or plain wig) for decency, but these do not replace the God-given covering. If her hair can grow again, let it grow and do not cut it.
Existing Follow-Up Answers
- 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
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.
Seals 7: The Fifth Seal
63-0322 §142
I went to a doctor and asked him what did he think. He said, "Well, see, your pores are open. You're sweating from preaching. That air comes, it puts a cold germ up here in a mucus, it runs down over your throat. The next morning you're hoarse. That's it." And so... Oh, my, you fellows that's got hair, you don't know how thankful you should be. That is right, see. Well, now, I found out then I'm going to ... one of these days if I don't get my teeth, I'm going to have to have some of them, and so ... or either do w...
Questions and Answers, Part 3
64-0830M §101
And now, but cutting the hair, I'll tell you this. I can't ... I ain't got no Scripture to say that you can cut so much of it and can't do the other. I haven't got no Scripture for that, I couldn't tell you that, sister, or brother, ever who it is. I say one thing. I wished... Now, I know my kids has done that too, Rebekah and Sarah, I seen when they cut their hair off here in front, and plait it back here in the back, and make these things across the front, like this. I don't ... now, not holding them, see. No, si...
Seals 7: The Fifth Seal
63-0322 §144
I thought, "Every one of them's dressed just alike, but they had their hair different," you know, red hair and black hair and blond hair. And they was coming by, but they was all young. And when she got to me, I thought, "I'm just going to see what she says." And she looked up at me, and she said, "Oh, our precious brother." She hugged me, and she just went on. Some other woman come and hugged me next. I heard a noise, and looked over this way and here come a bunch of men, young fellows, all the age of about twenty...
Questions and Answers (God being misunderstood)
61-0723E §41
Don't say that this woman, if she's immorally dressed or... How did it read? "Let's say that the Holy Ghost will visit..." Let's see. No, I got the wrong one here, somehow. Oh, here it is, yes, the women speaking in tongues. Now, "If a woman with short hair speaks in tongues in the church, it is the spirit ... [Let's see.] is it the Spirit of the Holy Ghost that speaks through her, or is it a false spirit?" You see, I wouldn't say nothing. And if you thought the woman wasn't just exactly right by having short hair...
Meanest man I know
62-0127 §70
And the tears begin to drop off on Jesu's feet, and she didn't have nothing to wipe them with. So hanging her head down, crying, her pretty curls that she had all done up on top of her head, you know, like this, fell down. She began to wash his feet with her hands and wipe with her hair. Some of our Pentecostal sisters, bobbing all their pretty hair off, have to stand on their head to get enough hair to wash his feet, to wipe it. Right. But she, even in her condition... Don't condemn her! She took her hair, began t...