Saturday, September 19, 2009

Hijab question.

Hello again, all. : ) Question to those of you who wear hijab/cover: Did wearing hijab change what you wear?

To clarify: I am not a girly-girl. I have never been into make-up (although I loved nail polish at 15-16-17). I don't wear dresses or skirts or girly blouses or those dreadful "baby doll tees" (I hate the ridiculously short sleeves...they show the -for most of us - most unflattering part of the arm). I've always been a "jeans and t-shirt, no shoes if I can get away with it" kind of girl -- especially after enlisting in the Army. Who wants to wear heels after tormenting their feet in boots for over 4 years?

Since wearing hijab, though, that's changed a bit. I've found that my previous almost-aversion to "frou-frou girly stuff" has loosened up enough for me to wear florals and pink and...just "girlier looking" clothes. I think that being able to wear my t-shirts and jeans under abayas has helped. I pick cheerful colors for my hijabs because most of my abayas are black, to help brighten them up a bit.

P.S. Also, do any of you speak Spanish?

8 comments:

  1. me too as a former military no girly girl type of girl, i have been wearing girlier stuff. The clothes did become looser as my hijabs became longer and even more so once I started wearing the niqab. Most of what i wear I have made sets off. I am hispanic and my style is usually influenced by hip hop.
    http://hijabswappers.blogspot.com/2009/09/covered-girl.html

    http://hijabswappers.blogspot.com/2009/09/school-colors.html

    http://hijabswappers.blogspot.com/2009/09/urban-native.html

    that is more of my style just looser. I also started wearing skirts (Hated them with a passion before) and girly blouses. My hijabs got prettier and lighter in color although occasionally I still wear UFO parachute pants. LOVE them

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  2. Yeah, I've started wearing skirts more now that I wear pants under them. :) I've also (finally) moved away from wearing t-shirts every day and have a few professional-looking feminine shirts...which will be a big help since I should be interviewing for my first "grown-up" job soon.

    On the other side of that, I think sometimes I actually look more masculine now, since I really like the t-shirt and jeans look and now don't have the hair around my face to feminize it. But I think I definitely balance the two styles more and better now.

    (I don't think I've commented here before. I think I found your blog through Amber and have been reading for a couple weeks. I love your posts!)

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  3. The only thing other than putting on the head covering is that I have a tendency to wear longer skirts over my trousers than previously. Not entirely sure whether it's because the knees of my jeans (have to wear men's Levis - they're the only thing long enough to more or less reliably cover my leg) are more faded than the rest and look funny under a shorter skirt or tunic, or whether there's more to it than that. Other than that, no change at all - same old trousers with skirt or dress on top.

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  4. Lol.. I used to be into punk-ish stuff before I started wearing hijab. Now I wear plainer clothes I'd say, still colorful but without crazy patterns. Besides everything getting looser. And I hated long skirts!! Now I think they're beautiful.

    Yes, I speak spanish very well since I'm latin. haha.. may I help you?

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  5. I was really into the punk scene before I converted, so a couple piercings had to come out. Other than that, I still have and love my baggy jeans and band t-shirts, but I wear those inside the house. I wear abaya full time, either closed or open (and at hubby's request, occasionally a maxi dress as jilbab with khimar). The abaya (and occasional khimar) was my choice...actually, he doesn't like it so much. My style really changed when I got married. I wear skirts once in a while and I wear "girly" clothes for my husband, but if he's not around, I'm totally in pjs pants and a comfy tshirt.

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  6. Funny! I was a punk rawk kid too. I wonder why there's so many of us here?! Anyway, I was strictly jeans and T-shirts until I started hanging with the modestly dressed Messianics. I picked up a few skirts, but didn't realize that they weren't really modest if they were tight and too short.
    Anyway, I really changed for the better when I saw how the Somali muslimahs dressed in MN. I went to their shops and started wearing mostly really long skirts. Now I still wear those mostly, but also have some wide leg jeans that are nice for rainy portland since my skirts all drag the ground.
    Don't worry, you'll find what works for you.

    Oh and the long khimars are really awesome b/c you can wear them like a cape when its really hot with just a tank top underneath. Just pull it over your head and wear another hijab on top.

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  7. Hmm...well, I was never much of a girly-girl. Jeans, tshirt and tennies for me, though I never got mistaken for a guy.

    The clothes have, upon reflection, gotten more feminine. I reach more for the skirts now, than pants. Less tomboy, I suppose is the general gist.

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  8. well yeah, b4 i wore hijab, i used dress, my mum was ok with because i was only a child, but since i start to have period, i can see that its not appropriate to wear dress, or skirts, im old enough for those kind of clothes, i wear sumthing dat cover my body, but since i got my 1st abaya 2years ago, i wear em at least once in a week,

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