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As a Jewish woman who grew up in a secular/reform house and decided to become orthodox during my college years I have a very different view of headcoverings. I started covering my head/hair when I got married and wear scarves, hats and wigs. I mainly wear wigs because I work in the corporate world and my headcovering allows me to look normal.

I grew up attending egalitarian/reform services in which there were many female rabbis and other congregants who wore kippot/tallis. I actually had a bat mitzvah and did the same. I now sit on the woman's side of the mechitza among a sea of women in hats and feel completely comfortable connection to G-d in this way.

I do not shave my head and neither do my friends. There is a small percentage of Satmar Chasidim who still adhere to this practice, instituted after villages were raided by various pogroms in Eastern Europe. Some of my friends keep their hair short mainly for comfort and practicality. I leave my hair long and choose to keep it under a wig in public but wear my hair down in my own house. My headcovering is a crown upon my head. Honestly, I think if Jewish women want to wear kippot in the synagogue or public it's a good thing because they are covering their head and showing that G-d watches over us.

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