When I was a kid - very few women in the "modern" community covered their hair. The last twenty, thirty years has seen a resurgence of this age old HALACHA [machlokes if it is Biblical or Rabbinic].
I take my hat off to them!! [I am SOO punny sometimes:-)].
Of course, women want to look good, so many women prefer to wear a shaytel [wig] over a tichel [kercheif] or hat. [In some communities in Israel the hats are preferred. I think that this practice is more sociological than halachic].
That is fine.
Well - it depends who you ask. The issue of wearing a sheytal in the public domain has been hotly contested over the generations. This post is not going to resolve the conflict.
But there is something that gets me. Many women walk around the home dressed very shabbily but when they go out they get all dressed up.
OF COURSE, it should be just the opposite. A woman is supposed to get dressed up for her husband [as she did when they were dating] and for the street she is supposed to dress in a way that doesn't attract attention. There is no obligation to look UGLY but certainly one should tame it down.
So it is much better halachically to wear the sheytal at home and the tichel on the street [if it covers all of her hair]. This way she fulfills the opinion of all of the poskim who say that one may not wear a sheytal in public and also looks her best for her husband.
Of course, close to 100 percent of the married people reading this either wear a sheytal in public or are married to someone who does [including the writer]. That is PERFECTLY FINE. But my message is that it is most important to be attractive to one's husband. He is allowed to gaze at no woman other than his wife and she does him a great chesed when she makes it pleasant for him. It displays sensitivity and care for his needs and instills her with the message that the most important relationship in her life is the one she has with her husband.
וידעת כי שלום אהליך!!! [איוב ה' כ"ד]
