And for those that asked for the history of how sheitels became the accepted “custom” in frum circles:
The custom of wearing wigs in “reshut harabim” (i.e. on the street) appeared about 150 years ago due to the decree of the Russian Tsar for Jews to change their attire:
Aruch HaShulchan Ohr hAChaim 551:11: “in our time – because of the order of the authorities we have changed the dress code” – and Jewish women were forced to walk bare-headed – the idea was thought of and promoted to the Tsar by the renegade Jews (maskilim).
Rav Shlomo Kluger (in the book Shnot Chaim 316): “There was a “gzera” in Russia (an order decreed by the authorities) to go bare-headed – and in our time many walk that way deliberately.” I.e.: first, there was a “gzera”; afterwards this “tradition” spread from city to city and from country to country, from Russia to Europe. Unfortunately, even the wives of Rabbis walked with uncovered head.
Attempts to justify (already after the gzera was canceled) that this “tradition” is contrary to the Torah brought no results – see Aruch HaShulchan 75:7, Kaf HaChaim 75.
Righteous Jewish women could not walk in a kerchief during the gzera, as expected by the Torah law, but did not want to walk bare-headed – so they had chosen the lesser of two evils – wearing a wig. But they intentionally made their wigs such that they did not attract attention, not like today’s wigs, which are more beautiful than one’s own hair.
Is this the tradition that we should continue?
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