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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at STCU chapter.

I posted a question on my instagram page (@fardosakadar) to all my hijabis out there. I wanted to know the struggles we as Muslim women face every day wearing the hijab and having our religion be the first thing people notice about us. Wearing a hijab is hard, yes we get hot in the summer too! Unfortunately, air conditioned hijabs aren’t for sale. Below I have listed some of the major everyday problems we all face.

 

1. The perfect hijab doesn’t exist -@hey_sagal

Contrary to many, many beliefs, the hijab can come in many different forms, textures, lengths, and colors. Since the hijab is an international piece of clothing, different nations around the world wear their hijab differently from the square hijabs in Turkey to the burkas in Saudi. Many people also tie their hijabs differently; some may throw it over their shoulder while others do complicated pin maneuvers to get their hijab looking perfectly, well, complicated. It all depends on how we are feeling and what mood we’re in to be very honest.

 

2 Having your hijab knock things down -@fathiyaahmed

A major problem for all the sisters that wear the jilbaab. The jilbaab is a type of hijab that is full length sometimes reaching the knees. Since they are so long and majestic, one stride past a table, and everything on it crashes to the floor. The “oh my God I’m sorry” is already forming in the mouths of our fellow jilbaabis.

 

3. Sliding off your head like they have somewhere to go -@the.fatuma

For the sisters who have naturally straighter hair, my heart goes out to you. If you don’t own a underpiece for your hijab, then this struggle is for you!

 

4. Using it as a napkin -@the.fatuma

Okay you’re lying if you have never used your hijab as a napkin, intentional or not. I don’t know about many of you, but everytime I go somewhere with cake or anything with frosting, it somehow always gets on my hijab! How? The universe must know.

 

5. Getting your neck exposed on a windy day -@samhada

This is a triggering one for most of us. The wind’s agenda seems to be that it just wants to knock off our hijabs by the way it refuses to give us some peace! Hijabi sisters, we all know that horrible feeling when the wind comes and lifts your hijab up and you can feel the cold air come whooshing against your once-warm neck. I’m shuddering just thinking about it, but we got to give the devil’s it’s due because the wind may be annoying, but it also makes hijabi pictures amazing!

 

6. Oil the enemy of hijab

Calling all curlies, this one’s for you. As a fellow curly hair gal, I know the struggle of the oil. We want to hydrate our curls and make them look amazing, but we also don’t want oil stains on our beautiful hijabs because we all know how hard oil stains are to get rid of. I now learned to just wear black on hydrating days.

 

7. Not being able to hear properly with certain hijab types -@zshirex

Have you ever said “huh” one too many times and now you are just sitting there fake smiling and nodding along because you never heard what the person is actually saying? Yes that us when some hijab fabrics are too thick to hear through. We are usually wearing those hijabs because their pretty and not for their ability to let us hear properly.

 

8. Getting asked stupid questions

A popular question: do you shower in your hijab? YES.

 

9. Sleeping over at a friend’s house in the living room and waking up to men -@sumerakhan16

 

This one is self-explanatory. How awkward is it to wake up to men just in the living room without your hijab? Time to duck back under the covers! Yikes.

 

10. The looks you receive for doing absolutely ordinary things -@zaynab.hadi

Yes, and yes. Hijabis, have you ever felt that someone was staring at you that one time you were at the store trying to buy some candy, and you look up and there’s almost always someone staring? Directly at your hijab? Many of us have ignored the stares so much that we don’t even notice it anymore, but they’re still there! Especially in suburban/rural cities.

 

 

11. Thinking your hijab is messed up 24/7 -@fecan_

ALL hijabis struggle with this whether we admit it or not. While we do have bad hijab days, we also think our hijab is messed up even when we know for a fact it’s perfectly fine because we were just in the bathroom fixing it!

 

12. Why are modest clothes so expensive??

Seriously why do some companies like to milk people they know are going to buy their clothes? A regular shorter hijab is usually $5, but some companies sell them for over $15. I came across one that was $25 and it was just a plain hijab!

 

To all my hijabis out there, even though the struggle is real, stay beautiful!

 

*all gifs are from www.giphy.com

Fardosa Kadar is an undergraduate student majoring in nursing. Aside from her health studies, Fardosa enjoys reading, writing and watching international dramas.
Andrea Duarte-Alonso is a grad from Saint Catherine University where she received her bachelor's of Art in Political Science, Women's Studies, and English. She founded HC STCU in order to include voices that are hardly ever represented in media. Andrea is a storyteller, writer, and a political enthusiast. Her areas of interest lie in writing (check her website storiesfromunheardvoices.com that was created for her community), traveling, and fighting for social justice issues.