Some people think being a hijabi means we have long beautiful hair underneath our scarves, that we wear it all the time or that it means we are oppressed, but if you are a hijabis then you know all of those things are beyond ridiculous. It’s time we bust a few of those myths and expectations we have and show what it’s really like to be a hijabi, here are a few expectations vs reality you can relate to if you’re a hijabi:
People think because we have hair like princess jasmine under our scarves but truth is our hair is usually a mess and keeping it too long can be so annoying so cutting it short is the best thing ever. I’m sure ever hijabi has gone at least three days (if not a week) without brushing her hair because it’s always in a bun plus it’s less damage to your hair. And if you think that’s bad then loads of us walk around with hair that might have coconut oil in it or hasn’t been washed in three days, but we don’t care because no one sees it.
But I will say that loads of us hijabis have done weird things with our hair like dyed it all colours of the rain bow or had hair cuts which cannot be seen by another living soul because of how bad they were. Most of us don’t bother making it look amazing all the time, I mean I must only straighten my hair like once a year.
Expectation:
Reality:
Truth is we don’t have specific bad hair days because we tie it up and cover it with a scarf… but that doesn’t mean we don’t have the equivalent with scarves. Hijabis will totally relate to how annoying it is when your scarf decides it wants to go horribly wrong for the entire day. Either our hair isn’t tied right underneath or our bun is too high or the scarf hasn’t been tied properly, it ends up looking so bad! The worst thing ever is when you can’t find your pin so you’re standing there with one hand on your scarf and the other finding your favorite pin.
Expectation:
Reality:
Just how you take your skinny jeans off as soon as you get home and put a comfy pair of joggers on, we hijabis whip our hijabs off as soon as we get through the door and let our hair down. It’s the best feeling ever just getting home and letting your hair down after hours of having it in a bun wrapped in scarves. For some reason people seem to think we have it on 24/7, when we’re home, when we’re asleep or even when we’re in the shower!
Expectation:
Reality:
Public figures like Dina Tokio, Hibiba Da Silva and Amena Khan are amazing at breaking stereotypes but they’re creative with aesthetically pleasing Instagram posts and truth is we’re not all like that. People expect us to be great at make up and be able to take amazing pictures and some can but some of us don’t even know how to take a good picture, this even includes our outfits.
Expectation:
Reality:
All jokes aside, people think hijabis (muslim women in general) are oppressed by men, we can’t do anything we want and we’re forced to wear the hijab. Non of that is true! We are not oppressed especially not by wearing the hijab, in fact wearing a hijab is empowering because one of the main ideas behind it is wearing a scarf to conceal a woman’s beauty so that people will look past that and see the person we are on the inside. And yes a handful of people around the world are forced to wear a hijab but that doesn’t mean everyone is, for most of us it’s a choice we wouldn’t take back.
Expectation:
Reality:
People think that just because we wear a scarf around our head that we’re really good Muslims who do nothing wrong but truth is that we’re not perfect. Even though by putting it on we have the intention to be better Muslims and get closer to God this doesn’t mean we do everything right and we’re better Muslims than everyone else. We all sin in very different ways and sometimes a Muslim woman who doesn’t wear a hijab or doesn’t wear it “properly” can be closer to God than a woman who does. (I can’t put this in picture form but you know what I mean).
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