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A Zone of Privacy in the Sheitel

Sheitel macher Chani Wuensch makes wigs for married women in the Hasidic community, who are bound by rules of modesty to cover their hair. By Elisabeth Greenbaum Kasson, special to the Los Angeles Times

Shternie Lipskier’s is a stylish, deep red bob with short bangs. Elana Kornfeld’s is a long, dark, glossy brunette that she parts on the side. Chani Wuensch’s is a lighter brunette, with auburn lowlights and graduated bangs that fall softly across her brow. Chicly dressed and ranging in age from 29 to 36, the three are discussing their hair, or more specifically their sheitels.

Sheitels are the wigs that married Orthodox Jewish women of the most devout, or Hasidic, communities wear in public. It would be a surprise to the other patrons of the Studio City coffee shop where we’ve met that the women’s hair is not their own and that not so much as a strand of their real hair is visible.

Wuensch is a sheitel macher, or wig expert. Kornfeld, who is Wuensch’s sister, and Lipskier are both married to Chabad Lubovitch rabbis.

Covering their hair is part of tzniut, a spiritual path of modesty and humility. The word also is a general term for the group of Jewish laws that pertain to personal conduct, which includes dress. The application of tzniut to women’s hair is so important that some Hasidic communities offer low-cost loans for sheitel purchases and collect used sheitels to donate as charity.

When asked about the belief among some Hasidic Jews that a sheitel should be ugly, Lipskier is quick to explain.

“Judaism doesn’t equate modesty with unattractiveness,” she says. “A sheitel allows a woman the ability to look good without compromising her privacy. Even if someone else doesn’t know it’s a wig, wearing a sheitel has a profound psychological affect on the woman wearing it. She is saying, ‘I am not available to you. You can see me but you may not see my most obvious feature, which is my hair.’ By wearing the sheitel, a woman invests her true appearance and real self in the most important place in her life, her marriage.”

Another mistaken belief is that Hasidic women shave off their hair when they marry. An infinitesimal number of women shave, and they usually belong to insular communities.

Kornfeld smiles and pulls up a length of her sheitel hair to reveal a bump under the edge of the wig’s cap. “I keep my hair long,” she says, dropping the strands and rendering the bump invisible.

“I keep my hair short,” Wuensch says, “because I don’t like the weight of it under the sheitel, but it’s really a matter of individual comfort and preference.”

As a sheitel macher, Wuensch is skilled in the craft of fitting, customizing, cutting, styling, cleaning and reviving sheitels. She spent six months training with a wig company that caters to the Orthodox Jewish market.

Kornfeld and Lipskier are good ambassadors for her wares, which she sells from fitting rooms in Los Angeles and Burbank. Her wigs are made of real, untreated hair from companies that are considered the gold standard for wearers. They range in price from $1,300 to nearly $3,000. For a new sheitel, clients seek out Wuensch just prior to marriage and often before major Jewish holidays.

Cost is determined by length and whether the hair is machine-sewn in wefts directly onto a cap, or hand-sewn, hair by hair, onto a double cap. With careful upkeep, a sheitel will last two to three years.

Later, Wuensch suggests fitting me. She assesses my features and takes out an auburn, shoulder-length wig. She pulls my own long hair back and makes a flat knot at the base of my skull, then, gently shifting the piece from front to back; she aligns combs, clips, hooks and tabs. With a final pat and a light tug, it sits comfortably on my head.

The sheitel is beautiful, thicker and shinier than my own hair. The fit is seamless. I move my head back and forth and run my hands though the sides. The cap stays put and the hair moves naturally around my face. If I left wearing it, no one would know and what’s underneath would be wholly private. For anyone who wears a sheitel, that’s knowledge worth having.

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By Elisabeth Greenbaum Kasson, special to the Los Angeles Times

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17 Comments

  • living with the times

    women now wear the necks right under as she is doing and it’s perfectly sneous!!!!!!! we are not required to wear turtle neck these days

  • me chayil el chayil

    to living with the times
    Are you kidding?
    the article is very nice but it doesn’t take away that she is wearing a not tznious, against halacha top.

  • Michale

    To #4: Do you think the Rebbe, z’tl, would agree with your comment? It is absolutely NOT tznius to expose your collarbone. I would suggest you review the laws on tznius. There are three areas of the body a woman MUST cover: the collarbone, the elbows and the knees.

  • shaking my head

    A great, positive article and instead of being happy about it,you ruin everything by overlooking the good and finding something to complain about and argue over! GROW UP NOW! You should be ashamed of your behavior!

  • Kiddush Hashem

    All of you negative people can fly a kite, and realize that your sina isn’t helping.

    However, if this is something you enjoy, please continue to do so. And when the harsh feedback from you children heads your way (if it hasn’t already) you will see your methods aren’t productive.

    See a competent mashpia or Psychologist for further details.

  • David Bernstein

    You people are pathetic and nauseating. I am not from Crown Heights but it’s people like you that really turn off others from Yiddishkeit. Is this the first thing you notice from this nice article?? I hope you people feel a little guilt and toss a few more times as you think about it at night. Simply SHAMEFUL!!

  • me

    we are BOUND by rules????

    RULES???

    we are not bound by rules
    and length is not a preference!
    you should keep it short

  • Shoshana

    One of the biggest problem we have in Lubavitch today is tsnius. So after awhile people get more and more desensitized to the problem until people don’t realize anymore it’s a problem, which is a pretty sad situation.

    This is such a nice article. It would have been even nicer if it showed a picture of a woman dressed al pi halacha. That doesn’t mean wearing turtlenecks davka, but it does mean not showing your collarbone. Nowadays you can get an thin elastic sewn into shirts to tighten area around the neck just enough so it’s tsnius.

  • living with the times

    i dont think the rebbe would think that its nice of you to point out specifically on someones article and their PICTURE that they are “unsneous”
    half the CHASSIDISH women in CH dont cover their collar bones.. its not a practical normal thing to do these days and we still dress VERY tznious if you saw in person and weren’t staring u probably wouldnt even realize!

  • this is wrong

    i really enjoyed the article!
    i am shocked by all the comments.
    true, it’s not tzniusdik to uncover the collarbone. however, tznius doesn’t only apply to dress. it applies to thought and speech too. it is SO untzniusdik to comment and discuss on a PUBLIC forum what a woman is wearing and whether it is appropriate or not!! if you don’t like it, either speak to the ch.info editor and ask that the picture be removed, or keep it to yourself!

  • Collar bone is in zone of privacy

    It is comical to read an (excellent) article on tznius accompanied by a photo of the author which is clearly un-tznius. That is pure comedy and destroys any credability of the well writen article.

    I am very liberal minded nad really don’t care what you wear or don’t wear, but I see the humour in this situation. It makes a joke out of the true and valid points in the article.

    To #1 – you are right, the one who talks the talk should at the very least be seen to walk the walk.

  • Talk the Talk and Walk the walk

    Imagine a married woman speaker lecturing about the requirement to wear a sheitel – but her hair is uncovered! Imagine a male speaker lecturing about the importance of wearing a kippah – while not wearing one himself! The speaker may have very valid / emes points – but I suspect it would not resonate with the listeners.

    This article and photo demonstrates that the agenda is to make sales rather than a true dedication to tznius. hat’s okay with me – sales are important, but don’t hide behind religious beliefs and convictions that you don’t believe in yourself.