Elana Sztokman's JewFem blog

Elana Maryles Sztokman, PhD, writer, researcher, educator and activist, writing on issues pertaining to gender and Jewish life in Israel and around the world.

On Hats and Hindrances

The day I took off my hat I felt liberated. After four years of marriage, during which time I accumulated an extensive array of berets, caps, scarves, snoods, and other popular and not-so-popular designs for hair-hiding, I walked out of my apartment with my own long brown mane completely exposed. I felt ten years younger. And I had the tingling sensation that I could actually feel who I was, once again — rediscovering that part of me, that fresh and vivacious young woman who had somehow gotten lost beneath layers of cloth — on the head, the arms, and the legs. I didn’t even realize how missing I had been until I found myself again.

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