Question:
Is a woman’s hair a covering? It appears that it is from 1 Corinthians 11:15: “If a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.”

Answer:
Yes, a woman’s hair is “a covering,” but 1 Corinthians 11:6 makes it clear that the Lord desires women to wear another covering (as well as her hair) when praying or prophesying. “For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.”

Notice we are told that if she is not “covered” she might as well be shamefully “shorn,” or have all her hair cut off! So the covering she is to wear is more than her hair.
You also go on to ask: “I have heard it said that if women have hair that is not all chopped off and is long (and I guess that that is up to every individual before God to decide) it is a covering. Yet I just don’t see how that ties in with wearing a head covering.”First Corinthians 11:15 says: “But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her.” The more a woman hides herself the more beautiful she is. The hair shows modesty and submission, which is her true position and her glory—the position that God has given to her. The order of creation shows that the woman is not to present herself with the boldness of a man. Very short hair would be a sign of authority taken by woman over man. (See 1 Peter 3:3; 1 Timothy 2:9.)