I made a mistake earlier; the yarmulkah explanation was the maharil diskin, not the the beis halevi – also a brisker, just not the beis halevi. Shulchan ha’ezer in 9:10 says that this was the zchus of kimchis. Divrei yisroel EH, 30 brings testimony about rav yosef chaim zonnenfeld, so far as to say that kolel shomrei hachomos would refuse support stipends to families where the wife does not shave her head.
preparation beforehand would help a lot… perhaps cutting it short at first..women today base a lot of their self image on their hair. That’s not a bad thing, just if you’re a member of such a kehila, it would be healthy not to initially get too “attached” pardon the pun.
We can’t do away with a kehilah’s minhag, endorsed by its poskim because some people have mental health issues.. We fix the mental health issues and their causes, not change a mesorah.