esthermalka- speak to rabbi isaak dwek of deal/lakewood. he is from halab and can personally attest that mostly all rabbis wives (including his mother) covered their hair. see also Hacham Abraham Antebi’s sefer titled “Chochma Umusar” where he chastises the women for their breach in tznius by uncovering their faces in public. He lived in the late 19th and 20th century where he attests they covered their hair.
Just to address you hats issue and Hacham Ovadianiks in the syrian community-I personally sat at the table of Rav Yehuda Moalem zt’l , rosh yeshiva porat yosef and counterpart of Hacham Ovadia, and asked him about wearing hats or tichels at a chasuna, where the majority of people are wearing wigs (i did not specify whether the wigs the women were wearing were better than their own hair, i just said peah nochrit). So he asked me whats the heter to wear a hat in such a case?