Those who don't wear hijab, those that are men and wonder, and those who do wear it and can sympathise, here is a post for you. What is going on with women's Hair under the hijab?
I have been wearing hijab for 8 years now alhamdulillah and have been in many kinds of places of differing weather conditions.
Before I start though remember this disclaimer:
I have different hair than many women, I have limited funds to do nice stuff with my hair at a Salon, I am personally against myself going to a Salon for something I CAN do in my house (again, I'm not against others going to Salons, just myself, yes I have ISSUES)but I will go for something I CANT do, and as I have children my needs may not reflect many other women.
*sigh* ok glad I got that part off my chest.
Now I have been super bored out of my mind for ages now with my hair.
I have done coloring, perms, crazy cuts over the years but nothing catches my interest for very long and it all begins and ends with one very important thing. The hijab AKA Veil of Modesty.
Disclaimer #2: I love my hijab, never will take it off, and my rant on hair has nothing to do with my belief that hijab is Fard, and is beneficial for all Women, Muslim or not.
Lets be honest: it totally messes up your hair! Lets start with the basics eh? When placing your hijab on you MUST do something with your hair. You have two options: up or down.
Let's go with down first. Either you leave it hanging down your back or you braid/plait it and let it hang. Depending on the length of your hijab and your hair either it can remain outside your abaya or under it. If the weather is HOT it will stick to your neck and back and create a rivulet of sweat trailing from your hair line down your spine to your bottom. If the weather is cold it might feel nice and keep your neck warm. Either way though when you take off your hijab it will be a frizzy mess unless you use a hair product against frizz. Along with helmets and hats, the hijab too will cause your hair to do amazing things that will most likely NOT flatter your features. Future spouses of hijabis be warned, give her a few minutes to make it look nice okay. Don't think this glamorous wave of hair will tumble down for you to run your hands through.....you'll catch your fingers in lots of knots and create more tangles.
So if you want to prevent tangles there is the other option of putting it up.
Now here is a great debate on how to put it up. You can use a claw clip to flip it up off your neck. You can braid it and fix it up somehow with clips or ties. Or you can do as most women do since the beginning of the Human Race, pull it up in a bun. Buns though come in dozens of styles. Some do a simple one, some to a wavy one, some do a floppy one. Some use special clips or ties, some even use flowers or clips that give the hijab a bump or puffy look in the back. For an explanation fatwa and discussion on the bump I refer you to Aalia's Chasing Jannah.
As this is my personal rant though I will tell you my personal style. I collect my hair back as if I'm making a pony tail then begin to spin it around tightly clockwise until I have a thin line of twisted hair then it naturally twists on itself and I wrap that twist around its self clockwise until I have a a swirly bun. I then secure it with a single medium sized scrunchy directly on the back of my head. Not on the nape of my neck and not up higher on the crown area. This keeps the hijab material away from my neck and doesn't look silly or make me hot.
The thing about me though is I wear my hair pretty much 24/7 like this. I have two young kids and the thought of them pulling my hair is enough to make me want to rip my hair out. ;) So I HAVE to keep it up. My hair being pulled or my hijab being tugged on is like nails on a chalkboard to me. So I always feel like a cliche librarian. Very dowdy and boring.
Even though the style is HARAM and I HATE it, you have to admit these Emirati girls with their bangs hanging out of their hijabs have interesting hair even when it is piled up in a bun or clip. So many different style you can do with bangs. Even when your hair is up 24/7 like mine you still got hair flipping about your face looking awesome and fashionable. I was determined to have bangs. So I informed my husband and he had his reservations about the idea of me chopping up my hair (again). I carefully combed my front hair around in different ways until I figured a style I wanted. *Snip Snip* Voila now I have bangs. YAY! Now yes, even with my hair severely tied back out of my way, I too can look fab.
Or so I thought until I left to the Mall last night and tried to squish them back into place under my hijab. Let me tell you about my hijab first. I wear an under cap of cotton that keeps my hair from slipping out and in hot weather soaks up any sweat that dares try to drip down my neck. Gross detail but true. Over that I wear a variety of regular hijab that cover properly. Well last night my bangs were refusing to be pushed back and kept trying to peep out and check out the world. I had to continuously push them back into place but they were sticking up funny under the hijab material and itching like crazy. I was miserable. I had to escape to the bathroom finally with my kids in tow to fix it all. I flattened them straight to the sides with a good quantity of water before tugging my cap back on and adding the top hijab. Seemed to work better.
When I fianlly got back home though, you guessed it I took my hijab off and it stood up on end like Edward Scissorhands was my stylist. I quickly scraped it down with my fingers until it looked decent. But I sighed frustrated. I wish I had glam hair like other sisters I see in their homes. Somehow, even though they have to stuff it up under hijab they still manage to look fab at home. I look like a cliche librarian with fab bangs, therefore I must have moved up the scale to McDonalds worker. You know how they look, buns and bangs....with a nifty McD's Visor.
So I come to you all for suggestions. How can you make your hair fab yet manageable even though you wear hijab? And not have it down for kids to grab and mangle. Is there a better, more glam , more fun way to put my hair up under the hijab and still let it be awesome when i take hijab off?
Do you have a trick or are you bored out of your mind too?
Some days I'd love to do what many women do and just get a pixie cut or cut it shorter then shoulder length. But I've had those styles before and they didn't ward off the boredom they were just easier to manage. I like my hair length and I want to keep it but I just want it to look awesome for once in my life. The only time I liked it was when i went to a wedding and had it perfect but then I had to wear a special protection around my hair so the hijab wouldn't mess it up and it made it look silly.
So again to clarify I want a look that does well without hijab on in the house, and a look for under the hijab so when I take it off it doesn't look aweful. Any ideas? Any bad hair stories? Any hair rants?
