Women in the frum community are judged by many things, how well they can make a kugel, how many children they can have while they are still teenagers, how fast they can roll one of those huge strollers- to shull on shabbos morning, even how rude they can be while triple parking on Coney Island Avenue, but there is no way better to judge frum women then by her hair covering or lack of it- in which case she may be considered a member of the tribe in some communities while a shiksa in others.
By far the frummer the women is the less hair shows, in the frummest circles they decided to get rid of this problem by shaving their heads and giving them the Pakistani cab driver look with the use of turbans. These ultra frummies have eradicated hair from their heads, synthetic hair and real hair is gone, I have no idea if they shave their other hair- but I wont go there, judging from the way they smell when you get within 10 feet of them- I am confident that no one reading this blog will ever venture down below in the underground world of Hasidic pubic hair customs.
I have wondered a lot about the whole turban concept, especially how they stay upright in the rain. Do they make them with Teflon coating so that they are water resistant, or do they have windproof fleece liners to keep the cold out- since hair usually acts as a natural cold weather protector. Do the settlers in Israel have bullet proof turbans made out of Kevlar? Why don’t I ever see the shaved head ladies wearing shower caps in the rain, they are way more comfy and they are very good when running and we know how much frummies love to run everywhere.
Then you have the Modern Ultra Orthodox crowd, kind of like Chassidish Liberal, these ladies are the ones that probably still shave their heads- but they do don those nasty looking synthetic sheitles with the little hats on top to prove that the hair is not real. Of course I doubt tat anyone save for a drunken chassid would think that the plastic sheitle was real hair- but they still have to show how frum they are by proving their sheitle ith the addition of a hat. First of all why don’t the hats ever cover the full wig, second, why do these hat and sheitle combinations remind me of those nurses from all the World War Two movies with the little hats on top of their bob hairdos.
Like the turban-robe crowd, the small hat-sheitle combo ladies wear their bullet proof brown stockings with the seam up the back to make you want to look at their legs. The seam is almost like asking folks to turn their heads and wonder what goes on under the potato sack/robe you have on. It is also like the sheitle and hat combo another way to show that the stockings are not actually their legs. Although I would highly doubt that any Chassidish women have enough exposure to the sun to get such a golden brown tan line.
What is the point of a sheitle, if it looks better then the natural hair? Should sexy and sheitle even be allowed to appear in the same sentence? These questions are posed all the time in today’s world of sheitle hookers and Hot Channies. This post is not about halacha it is about stereotyping, and with that I bring you the wealthy frummies that have pony tails and bangs in their sheitles. Remember when every frum women had a mullet wig and that was cool? Well now it’s the sheitle that makes your hair look real, and at the same time never allows the women to grow gray hair.
These very expensive sheitles are reserved for women who like to stroll along Central Ave and Coney Island avenue strutting their stuff while their husbands are administrating nursing homes or something of the sort. They strut and we stare and everyone seems to be content, except for some bloggers maybe.
The normal sheitle wearers- pretty much every woman who does not fall inline with the charedim, and do not strut their stuff will at some point don the Rasta look alike hat called a snood. A snood is just a clever way of saying shopping bag that covers my hair. The problem with snoods are they reveal a taste of what is to come. Women who wear snoods are being extremely untznius- its almost as if they are wearing just a bra and no shirt. You cannot actually see the goods, but you know exactly what’s there. I tink Rabbis deemed it kosher because although snoods maybe untznius- they make the women look so undesirable that it must be kosher.
The lamp shade phenomena has recently hit modern orthodoxy where strongholds against women covering their hair are starting to shatter under the pressure of all the girls that come back from their year in an Israel seminary, brainwashed. They usually spend the first couple weeks in town getting drunk and laid and all the sudden they gain 100 pounds and become those type of girls that shuckel with full out intensity while burying their faces in the siddurs.
The influx of modern orthodox machmir women to the traditional strongholds of modern orthodox liberal has proven to be a boon to the hat makers of America. Many girls and women will not go to the sheitle or snood extreme, but they will don the lampshade of those scarves that tie up at the end. Even the old time liberal girls are starting to list
partial hair covering on their frumster profiles, probably for marketing purposes.
I think that Falls were created to make aging women feel good about themselves. First of all I cannot usually tell when the women has a fall or a head band on, causing me to misplace myself by hitting on married women (theoretically if I knew how to hit on women that is) and these women in turn feel great that some young buck is hitting on them and little does the dude know that under the fall is a full head of graying hair. Falls are like the hair club for men in a way, they mask the truth. I am not only the president I am also a client. Falls are interesting because they create bridges of commonness between the frum and modern worlds.
There of course are still the traditional feminist battle grounds where the debate of hair covering centers around demeaning women and not letting them get called up to the torah- I am sure this is one of the main topics discussed at JOFA(jewish orthodox feminist alliance) events. Of course these are usually the same folks that drive to shull on shabbos and fail to keep kosher out of the house. Places like the upper west side where hair covering is viewed as weird in many circles as is dressing tznius have kept up their walls against the rapidly closing in frummies that surround them.
Of course for some reason these same women that are so anti hair covering would be caught dead without wearing a piece of wedding cake doily on their heads while chatting it up in the women’s sections of many MO shulls. Some women even go as far as to don a yarmulke to offer their respects to the shull. These are the ultra orthodox reform types. The women who for some reason believe its disrespectful to enter a holy place without some on their heads. Of course they may be wearing a skimpy cocktail dress to go with the doily.
A friend of mine owns a hot pink wig and wears it to simchas and events all the time. It seems like not enough women have fun with the whole head covering scheme- they dread it and then they just live with it without realizing the potential fun they could have. Kind of like men who experiment with beards and mustaches. I of course am still not able to grow much more then one of those middle adolescent Lubavitch wispy beards- but if I could I would grow a huge goatee like that dude from Anthrax. I would also want to have those sideburn chops and maybe one of those wild west mustaches that roll up on the ends. Women ought to do the same thing, maybe a dread locked sheitle or some color. How about cool hats rather then lampshades and classic frummy hats. I know in the summer many frummy girls can be seen with over sized and over priced velvet baseball caps. How about sombreros or doorags, maybe even the whole gansta look with the towel under the baseball cap. It seems like the possibilities are endless yet women just throw on their dead animal sheitles and boring snoods. Even the turban crowd could improve, maybe they can start purchasing turbans from the Pakistani cab associations to make a new look or something?
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{ 45 comments… read them below or add one }
“from the way they smell”
Come on Hesh, this is really uncalled for.
watever you say about the chasidish turban look, i have seen some absolutely beautiful women in that category and the fact they have a turban on their head lets you see how stunning they are. its too bad wen they go home, they take it off and then they’re bald. cos that’s nasty.
and some snoods look really good. it just depends which type. i think you havent seen enough head coverings.
it was a good shot tho.
Yeah i think the list is lacking too…we need to come up with more
these customs which have overtaken the orthodox world are recent inventions which have morphed into a life of their own. eg….my parents who were married in the 40′s…that’s the 1940′s were always orthodox, from shomer shabbos gemara learning families. Yet nobody blinked when Mom took little Frank out in the coach carriage on shabbos along with all other young moms. Hair covering? that was only for rebitizens….some rebizens. so it’s different strokes…what your comfort level is
Personally I think the Muslim women with the kerchiefs over their head look much better then any woman with a shaitel no matter what the cost. Sometimes I think that the Muslims are smarter then then Jews. They get the same head covering at a much cheaper price.
A friend told me about the time he was walking up the high street on a windy day and this poor chassidish womans hat AND sheitel flew off to reveal her bare skull for all to see. I would have thought though that the stubble acts like velcro thereby ensuring the sheitel keeps a secure grip..
allen- totally agree with you there. Btw have you ever noticed how you get chareidi muslims , modern orthodox muslims, etc as well? Like the ones with the head scarves but also tight trousers?
Dude when I was in college we would have these girls in head scarves wearing mini skirts and halter tops- I actually though it was mad hot!!
I always wondered why it was ok to where a sheitel if it looks like your hair!? Eventhough they are annoying, itchy and you can get really hot in the summer, I still wouldnt mind covering my hair. I do my hair every night and I cant take it anymore. I have thinish hair and I blow it every night to make it look good. (I’m jappy like that lol!) So I ‘ll definitelly be fine when the time comes that I dont have to do my hair anymore. Though I do like having different styles all the time, thats fun and you cant really do that with a sheitel. But when it comes to getting ready for shabbos or having a 3 day yom tov…I get sooo jealous of my married sibs!
“Hair covering? that was only for rebitizens….some rebizens.”
What other parts of Halacha were only “for rebetzinz… some rebetzins” and not for common “Orthodox” Jews?
oooh, I forgot to say-that whoever came up with the whole shaving your head thing seriously did not like woman. And the men who make their wives shave their heads dont like woman either because how the heck can they be-eh hem, intimate with eachother when the woman is bald?
“I always wondered why it was ok to where a sheitel if it looks like your hair!?”
You’re thinking like this: 1) Covering hair is part of tznius, 2) the whole point of tznius is to conceal parts of the body that would make the member of opposite sex jump on you/have sexual thoughts/be attracted to body, not soul/etc., 3) therefore, it makes sense to conceal hair, since it is part of woman which is attractive to men. The problem is — number 2) doesn’t apply to hair. That’s not the reason hair must be covered. Hair is different from the rest of tznius issues. How do we know this (shortcut logic)? Because an unmarried woman doesn’t have to cover her hair, even though she still has to keep the rest of tznius.
This one of those FAQ-style questions, like “Do Jews believe in hell?” except for the frum crowd.
Also, the whole point of tznius is not to make someone ugly and not attractive. The point is to sanctify and “privatize” certain parts of body and other aspects of personality. So, sheitel does that — it makes a married woman’s hair private to her husband, although it doesn’t make her unattractive (which is not the point of tznius to begin with).
great point AF.
I know that, but I still feel like it is a contradiction. A married womans hair has to be private for her husband but then she puts on a sheitel that looks like her hair so……
ak,
It’s true Hasidim stink!
Calling them like hesh sees them is totally called for.
Your friend with the hot pink wig rocks!
Chasidim do in fact smell very bad- which I am sure they would admit had it not been for the fact that they are probably used to it- just like farmers and other folks who love the smell of manure.
I hope your not generalizing too much because im chabad and I can tell you for a fact most of us do not smell bad! in every sect there is the exception to the rule…
why is the concept of Sheitel so hard to grasp, just like we cover our body we cover our hair, its the same idea behind it..
I do not agree at all with shaving the head and things that have to do with it but hey if their happy.. vivi e lascia vivere.. live and let live (im talking to ppl in general no one specific)
i love different color shaitelach. i fully intend to get some different colored ones and maybe put some blue streaks in my shaitel. ive always wanted tot do that with my hair like extensions but my hair is too thick. the reason do rags shouldnt be worn is because like a tichel when ur amongst a group that will look doewn on u for it or maybe ud just feell self concscois then ud just take it off and like hide it in ur purse or pocket. its a lot harder to hide a shaitel…. there are a lot of reasons for covering ur hair and even though i dont believ in the whole schar vonesh concept those who do should be informed that the reward for covering ur hair is incredibly great. mostly like kimchas ur children will be worthy of being on the level of “cohen gadol” im trying yet agian to ecplain myself but im very much limited by words… sorry if im causiong any misconceptions. maybe comment with them and ill try to get back to u
As a big fan of chabad myself I nor anyone in here is talking about Lubbies. Happens to be for better or worse when people refer to chassidim they rarely refer to chabadnicks- due to multitudes of reasons most notably their mdoern orthodox ways which dont really put them in tune with the “regular chassidic” sects. I am not bashing chabad by the way- this is how it is and IA would prefer that everyone not start going on a chabad bashing thing here- because you can go to other blogs for that- seems to be the reason why many other blogs exist I guess.
Chabadnicks beleive in deoderant
Not my co workers. Hmm, maybe they do but they dont beleive in manners. Like burping every 5 seconds. I guess thats just men not only chabadchkies.
“How about cool hats rather then lampshades and classic frummy hats.” –> that’s what I’ve always wondered. There are so many interesting and fun hats out there yet hideous snoods and lampshades abound. And you can buy several hundred nice, trendy hats for the price of one (expensive) sheitel too.
one of my friends who just got married bought 3 different scarves/hats to match each outfit that she had and any possible combination. it still cost her half the price of what a sheitel would. so if your covering your hair to keep it private for your husbands, and you already caught a guy obviously so why get a sheitel that you spend a fortune on to begin with and then have to keep pouring money into in to get it washed and set every few weeks so it doesnt look like a rats nest. the scarf/hat thing works well for most ppl anyway, and finally ppl get to see the girls face!
i miss those mullet-sheitels in the 80′s
those super straight shaitels nowadays remind me of horsemanes
but how on earth do u pay 4 grand for a sheitel??
another thing i dont get is those over weight women who wear sheitels that look like a 16 y/o’s hair yet they wear clothes that look like theyre about to burst open when they sit
in my hometown i love married women who wear SOX hats and cringe at cubs hats
Lots of women have an obsession with grooming their sheitel to perfection; it becomes their pride and beauty, and I think thats why they look false, because no-ones real hair is that perfect.
k gotcha frum hiker. thanks for clarifying
what really gets me are those young married women who wear wigs and yet also have shoes that look like sm gear. Is it the wig that makes your parents accept you?
I work with the satmar sect. Not only do they NOT smell, they are extremely pleasant people.
So, they have minhaggim different than ours…
a great line I heard is…Hitler didn’t differentiate!
good one anon. too much sinat chinam… its all about being able to laugh at the weird stuff tho… in a totally not cruel way
So Anon are you saying that all the other chassidic sects smell. I also work with all different sorts of chasidim all summer long in the Catskills and mostly they smell. Different experiences because in your situation they are working in an environment where sense of smell is heightened and in my sense they sitting around in a bungalow all day long stinking up a storm.
I think if you put out a survey to all the Jews they would be mostly in agreement that as “general” rule and there are exceptions- that Chassidim smell. It is well known within all aspects oif the frum community.
The real question we should be asking ourselves is this. What is the big deal if they smell. Farmers smell, plumbers smell, I smell most of the time since I am always doing some sort of physical activity. So whats the big deal if you smell a bit.
What about those long scarves I always see on pictures of Religious Zionists ?
First of all, the only cabbies i know who wear turbans are the Sikhs, not Pakistanis. The poor Sikhs are commonly mistaken for Pakis and Pashtuns.
As for mainstream Muslim women, they have the added requirement of covering their necks. Personally, i think that wigs are too conformist, and fail to represent the Jewish wife with reddish, curly, gray, or other hair styles and colors.
As an alternative to wigs and turbans, many women go for what the Russians call “platoks,” or rags (Think of a stereotypical settler)
The reason why you no longer see Mullet Sheitels is they have all been purchased by David Spade for his next blockbuster. Maybe he’ll call it Rebitzen Viewpoint
Tzivo, I agree that some sheitels look “too” good and that no ones hair looks that good, but then again I would also try to make sure my sheitel is kept. I make sure my hair always looks good but if it messes up I can always redo it. You cant just wash a sheitel everynight and blow it, it has to be done professionally.
Good post. Reminds me of last week when a MO Machmir dude accepted me on Saw You At Sinai and I thought to myself, okay, well he saw in my profile that I don’t know how or if I plan to cover my hair and that I wear pants, so if that stuff bothered him, he wouldnt have accepted. Right? But lo and behold he left me a thickly accented message asking me, the MO Liberal if when we are married I plan to fully cover my hair in a sheitel. I wondered two things. Did he really just pose that question over my voicemail?! And did he even bother to read my profile. Two questions that I’ll never know the answer to. That match just wasn’t for me.
I find that the same thing happens to me from the other end. I list MO machmir and get messages from Yeshva black hat and traditional and growing- who have absolutely nothing in common with me. Unless they are crazy eccentrics I always respond with the “excuse me but did you read my profile- why are you interested?”
The response carries the undertone of “you looked whacked and I was bored at work- so I contacted you.”
just an interesting side point that im not sure you guys know. rav ovadia paskens that sheitels are absolutely assur because it kills the whole purpose of wearing wigs. so much for the “hair is different that other ervot” logic.
also, it seems that the whole shaving head thing isnt exactly praised in a purely halachic outlook. it seems that halacha would actually frown on this since it undermines shalom bayis and a husbands attraction to his own wife.
also, just because back in the day people were less “frum” by not covering their hair, doesnt mean it is permissible to do so.
I always thought that the whole purpose of shaving the head was for women caught in battle- so to make sure the women was caught for the right reasons- they would shave her head and if the dude still wanted his prize he could have her.
Your right about back in the day, Halacha was still the same- many poskim actually hold that one may not daven in front of a women with her hair uncovered- of course this would mean that one should not go to shulls with many uncovered women or low mechitzas. Such tzaras we would have.
i don’t know why people care about what a woman decides to cover her hair with. it’s between her and her husband. i have a really nice sheitel i wear for weddings and other events, because i’m sorry but hats don’t look as nice as hair and are much harder to match to outfits, and i have a bunch of hats, scarves, bandanas and those big israeli kippa like hats for the rest of the time. of course i get comments cuz i don’t cover all my hair, for me its more the symbolic i’m married aspect, and if i’m going to a more religious relative i might scrunch my pony under my hat out of respect.
well said
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. ???????? ??????, ????????????? ???????????. ??? ???????! 
I am writing to inform you that there is No codified Halacha that a married woman must cover her hair totally and constantly whenever she steps out of her house.
The Halachah has been MISinterpreted.The true interpretation of the Halachah is as follows:
A married woman is required to cover her hair when she lights the candles to welcome in Shabbat and Yom Tov – lechavod Shabbat ve Yom Tov – and when she goes to the Synagogue, because that is the place of Kedusha.
The Halacha does not require anything more from married women.
This misinterpretation of the Torah is completely Assur, and a TWISTING of the Torah.The Torah must remain straight.
In ancient times, a woman would only cover her hair upon entering the Beit Hamikdash.Similarly for the Sotah-otherwise she would not be required to cover her hair ordinarily, day to day.
It is very important for people to know and realise that when a married woman covers her hair with ‘Real Hair’ the woman is covering herself with 100% Tumah. This is totally against the Torah.
Nothing could be more nonsensical than for a Jewish woman to cover her hair with someone else’s hair -who was not Jewish as well!She can never fully be sure that this ‘hair’ has not come from meitim-despite any guarantee by the seller.This ‘real hair’ is doubly and in some circumstances, triply Tumah.
1.It will contain the leftover dead hair cells from another person – however much it has been treated, the tumah is still there.
2.This other person (likely to be a non-Jew who most likely was involved in some kind of Avodah Zarah) may have eaten bacon, ham, lobster etc, all of which are totally forbidden as unclean and non-kosher foods in Halacha.
3.If the woman happens to be the wife of a COHEN, then she is bringing her husband into close contact and proximity with meitim and Tumah Every day, and throughout their married life. This is clearly strictly against the Torah.
There is nothing more degrading and demeaning to a woman than to make her cover her hair FOR LIFE upon marriage.It is an abhorrent practice.
Any man who makes such a ridiculous demand on his wife, or wife-to-be, should similarly also be required by his wife to wear: long white stockings, even in the summer; a fur streimel; grow a long beard; wear a black hat and coat constantly, and cover his face when he speaks to his wife.Wigs were merely a fashion item in the time of Louis XIV-they are not for the Jewish woman!
Rabbi Menachem Schneeersohn tz”l, was unfortunately wrong in this instance.He gave the directive that a married woman must cover her head with a “sheitel.”This needs to be corrected.Rabbi Schneersohn a”h, was a Tzaddik, – but on this – he was, unfortunately not correct.
It is extremely unhealthy and unhygienic for a woman to cover her hair constantly.The hair needs oxygen to breathe.A woman’s hair will lose its natural beauty and shine, she may have scalp problems, some of her hair may fall out, she may get headaches, and she may end up cutting it short like a man, when she always wore it long, in order not to have too much discomfort from her hair covering.
Do you think that HaKadosh Baruch Hu commanded this of women? I can assure you that He did not.The commmandments are not meant to cause so much repression and oppression in women.Was Chava created with a wig? Of course not! Did she start wearing a wig? Of course not!
Not a single “dayan” or “rabbi” has the slightest bit of interest in correcting the situation for the women.Therefore, the women will have to correct the situation for themselves.
Whether you wish to accept the correction–which is true–is up to you.Are you going to live by the truth?Are you going to use the spark of intelligence that Hashem gave to you and all women?Or are you going to follow rabbis and dayanim who tell you to wear a wig in a Heat Wave–and you thank them for it as well?
Please Wake Up.
And use the spark of intelligence that Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave to you and blessed you with.
And give your wig back to your husband if you wear one.
There is No codified Halacha that a married woman must cover her hair totally and constantly whenever she steps out of her house.
The Halachah has been MISinterpreted.The true interpretation of the Halachah is as follows:
A married woman is required to cover her hair when she lights the candles to welcome in Shabbat and Yom Tov – lechavod Shabbat ve Yom Tov – and when she goes to the Synagogue, because that is the place of Kedusha.
The Halacha does not require anything more from married women.
This misinterpretation of the Torah is completely Assur, and a TWISTING of the Torah.The Torah must remain straight.
1. To all the women who are wondering about the sources:
We have all been created, “Betselem Elokim” – “in the image of Elokim.”
This means that we have been given something called “intelligence.” The source is the very first Parsha, Bereishit – 1:27. It is time that people use the spark of intelligence and Kedusha with which Hashem has blessed them.
If your rabbi will tell you to go and jump into the depths of a glacier, presumably you would do that too – and give me a source for it?
“According to the Zohar”, I should also be covering my hair with a wig when I have a bath. “According to the Zohar and the Gemara” and all the sources that have misinterpreted the Halachah, and MIStranslated the Zohar, I should also have been born with a WIG on my head.
Those who tell me about their sources which are incorrect, should also tell me about these “translations” and these “sources.”
2.Remember that the Jewish women are very, very holy. They are much more holy than the men. Look at the exemplary behaviour of the women at Har Sinai.
The women never sinned at the Eigel, and so are greatly elevated. Many of the men, unfortunately, ran after a calf made out of a lump of gold – after they had just been given the Torah, and seen the greatest of all Revelations. The women refused to give their gold for the avodah zarah of the men.
The women were greatly elevated after such a wonderful display of Emunah, and they are regarded very highly in Shamayim.
That is why women are not even required to pray. They can pray at home on their own. Nor do women have to make up a minyan. That is how holy the Jewish women are. Men have to pray 3 times a day to remind them of their Creator.
The men are telling the women to put the hair of a non-Jewish woman who may have eaten things like snakes and sharks and alligators, and has worshipped in churches, Buddist temples or Hindu temples : on their own Heads. They had better wake up.
If the men don’t want to wake up to the truth, and the true interpretation of the Halacha, the women will wake them up – whether they like it or not.
3. Look at the Jewish women in history, and remember how holy they are.
(a) Yaakov, who was the greatest of the Avot, came to marry the 2 daughters of Lavan, Rachel and Leah. Lavan was not exactly a tzaddik. Yaakov went to Lavan, of all people, to marry his 2 daughters – not 1 daughter, but his 2 daughters. Nothing could be greater than that.
(b) Rut, who came from Moav, became the ancestor of David Hamelech.
(c ) Batya, the daughter of Paroh, was given eternal life because she rescued Moshe from the river. No one could have been more evil than Paroh.
(d) Devorah, was a Neviah, and also a Judge.
Women, who came from such adverse backgrounds, with wicked fathers – were able to become builders of Am Yisrael. That is how holy the women are, and how much more elevated they are than the men.
This was never the case with men. It never happened the other way round.
Don’t tell me it is holy for me to wear a WIG! Hair over my hair. This is ridiculous!
Similarly, don’t tell me it is holy for me to plonk a permanent head covering on my head for the rest of my life. This is equally vile.
Please Wake Up.
Use the spark of intelligence that Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave to you and blessed you with.
And give your wig back to your husband if you wear one.
4. Remember: Not a single “dayan” or “rabbi” has the slightest bit of interest in correcting the situation for the women. Therefore, the women will have to correct the situation…………….for ………………themselves.
Whether you wish to accept the correction–which is true–is up to you. Are you going to live by the truth? Are you going to use the spark of intelligence that Hashem gave to you and all women? Or are you going to follow rabbis and dayanim who tell you to wear a wig in a Heat Wave–and you thank them for it as well?
The next things the bloody “rabbis” will come up with is to tell the woman to wear a CARPET on her head. Not a sheitel AND a hat, but a Carpet. Or you could go for 5 shaitels on your heads and a rug.
And do you know what the Jewish woman will say to her husband?
“Yes, husband! I am now wearing a carpet on my head!”
You women must either be extremely thick, or petrified.