I felt so liberated. What jails we women create for ourselves!

It happened when I least expected it. I was in the frozen foods section of the grocery when I stopped and looked around. And that’s when I noticed — all the ladies in the store were wearing hair on their heads.

Hair! I almost laughed out loud.

You know how you sometimes say a word too many times, and suddenly it sounds strange? Well, that’s kind of like what happened to me. I grew up frum, and sheitels were just sheitels —something married women wear. And then suddenly, in one moment, the whole idea became so strange to me. And I couldn’t go back to the way I used to think.

Once, a few years before, I’d walked under a tree that had low-hanging branches. I came out the other side; my sheitel didn’t. Whoa! Embarrassing!

So why, I wondered, are we all trying to copy that look?

If it hadn’t been Elul, I probably would have brushed the whole issue under my sheitel. But the more I thought about it, and the more I read up on the topic, the more my husband and I agreed that maybe it was time for me to move to tichels.

Rosh Hashanah, I wore my snood (gasp!) to a shiur and survived. “Nobody fainted,” I announced cheerily as I arrived home.

We also consulted with our rav, who gave us his warmest brachah. We were on! For some inexplicable reason, I was filled with excitement.