melaya head scarf

[mehndidancer]

I have the pom pom head scarf scarf for the melaya dress. I am having a hellava time putting it on. i tried several different ways even bobby pins to hold it in place. It is probably easy but why can't i do it? anyone can help i know it is probably so simple i can kick myself
Is there a correct way of tying it?


Alrana

[kashmir]

from http://www.raqs.co.nz/howto/mandil.html
Place the plain side of the mandil across your head.
Gather and twist to form a cup.
Tie the long ends under your hair at the back.
Bring them back to the front and tie on one side.

Most common reasons for it not staying in place is it is too small. The "legs" need to be quite long (1.6-1.8m on th elong side). The tourist stuff in Egypt is often too small.

[sabrinabellydancer]

here is a little trick i use:
anything that goes on my head for bd gets wig/toupe clips sewn in the under side. then 2 pieces of elastic [close to hair color] from the undersides behind ears and ties under the hair at back of neck.

these usually hide from the audience but give security to head pieces.
hope this makes sense and helps

[fayzah]

I´ve seen many variations on how to ware the headpiece. A egyptian teacher once told me that when you are doing the more conservative varition of the melaya you should ware it over you hair with the pom poms on top of your hair and just tie it hard. If you on the on the other hand are doing a "cheeky melaya" in shorter dress you can,if you want to, roll the headpiece up and tie it around your head and let your hair show. It is not necessary for the ends to fall down on your back, you can even tie them up around the head for double amount of pom poms to frame your face. But remember to tie quite hard.

Another trick i´ve heard of is to put a thin elastic on the headpiece and ware it as a normal hair-thing that comes with costumes. This way the "legs" will fall down nicely on your back.


This photo is take at the stockholm bellydance festival last may. The idea was to perform a "Cheeky melaya" and we wore cheap melaya dresses because the whole group (14 if i remember correctly) didnt have fancy melaya dresses.
Personally i liked it when the piece was rolled up and the double set of pom poms framed the face. I had quite short hair at the time and my clip-in extensions had not arrived yet.

http://soheir.blog.is/album/SBDF2007/image/214694/

[bahaia]

i have baby soft and fine hair so nothing ever stays.
find a thin black headband and hot glued it to the front edge of the scarf and then tie as you like. or you can match the headband to your haircolor.
bahaia

[deelight]

I'm so glad you started this thread!!! I've been wearing a pom-pom scarf on my head for years and had no idea where it came from or what it was originally for. I've got a picture of myself wearing one on the home page of my web site: http://bellydancedeelite.tripod.com

[mehndidancer]

Thanks for the great advice. my pom pom scarf has pom poms all around. I like the elastic and clip idea.Thanks for the pics and directions. I now have choices on how i want to wear it. I appreciate all the help thanks.

Alrana

[danidance]

Now you'll have learn to do Melaya to wear the pom-pom scarf properly!

Originally Posted by deelight

I'm so glad you started this thread!!! I've been wearing a pom-pom scarf on my head for years and had no idea where it came from or what it was originally for. I've got a picture of myself wearing one on the home page of my web site: http://bellydancedeelite.tripod.com

[deelight]

Totally planning on it!