I often get asked, “Will I have to wear a headscarf when I visit/live in Morocco?” No, you don’t…but here’s a few reasons why I wear one from time to time.
1. They’re not kidding when they call it a “cold country with a hot sun.” It turns my hair the color of the copper pots in the Seffarine Square. In the winter, when it’s bone-chilling freezing (I’d like to use more colorful epithets here, but I won’t) the scarf is a lifesaver.
2. If you visit the sandier regions, all that grit flying around in the air will act like sandpaper on your hair. So if you don’t cover, you end up with a frizzy lightened mess.
3. Like it or not, men are more respectful of women with their heads covered. I had to take the bus from Rabat to Tinerhir a few times, and I always got the royal treatment if I wore my scarf. Primo seat at the front, checking on me from time to time (“Sister, are you fine?”), making sure I got something to eat at the rest stops, etc… If I simply let my sexy sexy hair swing freely, as I did on one occasion, I got all sorts of guys trying to chat me up and women looking at me with suspicion.
4. The best reason of all…if you look cute in a headscarf. I do, so I like to wear them, a la the Audrey Hepburn style. Some women do not look good in them, especially in they tie them in a very babushka way, like Nancy Pelosi here :
You also should not wear a scarf if you have an ugly bulldog face like certain other members of our government:
However, as much as I dislike Laura Bush, the woman knows how to rock a scarf.
