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
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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.
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 2:E-39
1. His Hair as White as Snow. John first notices and mentions the whiteness of His hair. It was white, and as bright as snow. This was not because of His age. Oh, no. The brilliantly white hair does not signify age but experience, maturity, and wisdom. The Eternal One does not age. What is time to God? Time means little to God, but wisdom means much. It is as when Solomon called to God for wisdom to judge the people of Israel. Now He is coming, the Judge of all the earth. He will be crowned with wisdom. That is wha...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 9:E-70
Now I know you ladies don't like this kind of preaching, but sister, you are dead wrong in what you are doing. The Bible forbids you to cut your hair. God gave it for a covering. He gave a command for you to wear it long. It is your glory. When you cut your hair you signified that you left the headship of your husband. Like Eve you walked out and went on your own. You got the vote. You took men's jobs. You left off being females. You ought to repent and come back to God. And if all this wasn't bad enough, a whole l...
Questions and Answers on Genesis
53-0729 §32
I had a hot one on that, down the other day at Shreveport. They was talking about the women, and should women wear long hair. And I said, "A woman that bobbed her hair, her husband had a right---and a Bible right---to divorce her." That's right. That's what the Bible says. That's exactly right. Oh, my! Holy Ghost women sitting there. Just the way they been taught, that's all, see. Yes, that's slipped loosely. He said, "Now, if they would cut it, if there's something wrong they have to cut their hair," said, "let th...
Life
58-0519 §46
It used to be, a long time ago, that all of our fashions come from Paris. Now it don't come from Paris, Paris; comes to Hollywood to get it. It used to be it was wrong for you to go to picture shows (you holiness people) and see those bad plays, but the devil beat you to it: he put it on the television and set it right in your own house. It's right. No wonder you got little children out, that police officers are being shot at and stabbed to death and everything, standing on the corner with two guns and everything....
Questions and Answers (God being misunderstood)
61-0723E §28
Here some time ago a man met me out here, aside. And I had a pianist here that had a little, short, little skirt, and wasn't just exactly, I guess, just right. And the lady had short hair. And she was just a babe in this way. And she was playing the piano. And a man met me out there and just tearing me to pieces. He said, "And you're a Pentecostal preacher, and let that woman sit up there! That short hair!" And just going on like everything. "Well," I said, "I think the woman has a good spirit in her. I certainly d...