Women have covered their hair in many different cultures throughout history. Could this have originated from hygiene concerns? Many religious texts (the Quran, the Old Testament and I believe the Torah) mention that women should cover their hair. I was wondering whether the origin for this came from practical hygiene or convenience, or some other reason. As a woman with very long hair, I’ve recently taken to wearing it covered with a scarf if I’m doing any sort of heavy manual labour like working in the garden, and it keeps it out the way as well as keeping it cleaner. In a time when having the facilities to take regular hot baths was less available to the poor, would hygiene have been a reason why farmer’s wives and female peasants would want to cover their hair?