16 Unexpected Benefits Of Wearing Hijab

Hijab is more than just a headscarf, it is a dress code of total modesty loaded with physical and emotional positives. Here's why we love hijab!

1. No more bad hair days

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On any given morning, getting ready for work for the hijabi (wearer of hijab) involves scraping hair into a pony tail and fixing with a few bobby pins. Theres not alot that can go wrong. (I just won't mention bad scarf days... oh.. oops!)

2. Save time in the morning

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We ladies can spend at least an hour blowdrying, hairspraying, primping and preening before being anywhere near ready to face the world. But seasoned hijabi's can go from jammies to out-the-house-ready in 10 minutes or less.

3. Still running late? Wear your PJ's to work!

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How? There is a long loose flowing overgarment dress that most Muslim women own at least one of, called an "abaya" or "jilbab". You just throw it on over any regular clothes, add a scarf and voila, you’re done. It's not unheard of when running late for work or uni to just throw one on over your jammies and head to that early morning uni lecture or even the office. Super comfy too!

4. Be fearless with new hair colours

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Ever wanted to dye your hair a brazen bold new colour but felt worried it might go wrong, or that you won’t have the confidence to strut into the office on Monday morning with a drastic new look? Doesn’t happen.

5. Save a fortune on sunscreen

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Unless you spend alot of time sans-hijab in your own backyard, your friends pool or on your private beach/tropical island, and considering most face moisturizers have a built in SPF, the need for chemical laden sunscreen is pretty much zero. Long, loose, light opaque cotton works just fine thanks!

6. Preserve your skin

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This benefit cannot be understated. Whilst we all need a dose of sunlight, constant exposure is damaging to the skin in the long term. Keeping most of your skin shielded from the suns harmful rays the most of the time, preserves your bodies largest organ and keeps it wrinkle free for much longer, not to mention few or no sun spots.

7. No-one talks to your chest

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Ever get all tizzied up to go out, or wear a low-ish cut top to work and find, um, men, er, like, kinda talking to your décolletage area? In hijab people are given no other option than to to speak to your face, and no other option but to judge you based on your skills, intelligence and personality. No sexy overtones here folks!

8. Eliminate summer beach body anxiety

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So winter is over, spring has sprung and summer is a page turn of the calendar away. Are you panicking about being beach body ready yet? Are you on a low carb-hi-fat-fasting-gluten-free-dairy-detox doing 500 sit ups a day? Does the thought of exposing your pale dimply thighs in public give you a wave of mild anxiety? Have you booked in for your tanning chemical spray yet? Doesn’t happen.

9. Save on maternity wear

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As the hijabi wadrobe contains jilbabs, abayas and lots of ‘maxi stuff’, and less fitted garments, when those procreation years arrive your baby bump is already covered, so no need to splash out on maternity outfits (cue Musilm breeding jokes...)

10. Keep hair pollution free

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If you live in the city keeping your hair wrapped up all day protects it from the smog and fumes. As an added bonus, it gets a mini moisturising treatment everyday in its own natural oils.

11. Screen bad doors

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Hanging lengths of the headscarf can come in very handy in the presence of bad odors, like when you go into a not-so-nice smelling public toilet, or when someone drops gaseous remnants from last nights mexican dinner in a confined space.

12. Block out the world

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Lets face it, not everybody you walk past is nice and on occasion someone might murmur a little something when they walk past a migrant or other or lady in hijab. Good thing those layers dull soft whispers and you never get to really know if they said what you think they said. So there is absolutely no need to get upset and have your day ruined then. (and yeah... I see the oxymoron in this point :p)

13. Avoid cat calls

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Walk in peace. We have all seen the viral video of a woman walking around New York all day in a humble jeans and t-shirt. She was the recipient of 108 cat calls, leers and propositions.

A week or so later someone decided to repeat the scenario, this time with a woman walking around New York all day in hijab. She went about her business like a ghost, no one gave her second glance.

Nothing to see here people...

14. Get celebrity treatment at the hair salon

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Even in todays instagram world, who really wants to be seen through a shopfront window with a headful of foils? Some hairdressers in areas with a Muslim population provide a private service for hijabis. Get whisked off to your own private room at the salon.

15. Feel a tad royal on occasion...

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The hijab tends to impute an air of respect and one may find blokes apologising for expressing expletives in ones presence. One does feel touched.

16. Increased self esteem

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A recent study in the UK found that women who wore hijab appeared to have higher self esteem than those who don’t. And why wouldn’t they?

Women's dress in Islam kind of prevents us from buying too heavily into fashion and fads or placing too much importance on outer appearance. We don’t bother dwelling on imperfections the world will never see. We just happily wear as we believe God has instructed and get on with life.

Peace!

(no matter what you wear)