Arakhchis could be sewn of various textiles, such as tirma wool and silk. However, only one single-colour textile per arakhchi was used. The textile was made into a round shape fitting the head and then decorated with embroidery, lace, beads and even pieces of gold. Men's arakhchis were relatively plain, especially those used for religious purposes.[5]
In Western Armenia, men, especially freedom fighters, wore a red arakhchi draped with a bandana with tinsel as their native headgear to identify themselves.[2] The Armenian arakhchi was a truncated skull cap, knitted from wool or embroidered with multicolored woolen thread and a predominance of red. The way this traditional headdress was worn was a marker of its owner's marital condition, just as in Eastern Armenia, the right to wear an arakhchi belonged to a married man.[3] Even though the arakhchi was traditionally a man's hat, Armenian women wore this headress as well; especially in Muş where Armenian singer Armenouhi Kevonian was known for her colorful arakhchi at her concerts.[6]
An arakhchi could be worn alone or under other headdresses, such as papakhi, a turban or a kalaghai. Women's arakhchis worn as early as the sixteenth century often lacked a special sack intended for braids. By the eighteenth century, it was already one of the most widespread headgears.[7] Women used hairpins to secure their veils on the arakhchin.[8]
Arakhchins generally went out of use in the early twentieth century, with the mass adoption of European-style dress in Armenia and in what is now considered the Republic of Azerbaijan.