My checklist when I am hijab shopping

Assalammu'alaikum family, friends, readers and followers of this blog.

I received a few questions on what I see when I am getting a new hijab or when I go hijab shopping.

A lot of my friends know I can get anal and be very fussy about the hijab I want. Usually my first questions would be these:

1. Is it sheer?
2. What material is it made of?
3. What are the dimensions (for shawls)?
4. Do I need to wear a ninja inner?
5. How simplified can the styling be?
6. Price

Sheer:

I never buy anything sheer since I wore my hijab, unless I am willing to wear double layers to ensure full coverage. I only own one sheer top, but it is white, and I have a cooling white full sleeve inner to go with it so I am okay. So that is very important.

Material:

This is very important to me. I am a cotton person, and I feel safe with cotton anytime any day anywhere. I strike of chiffon (for its sheerness), jersey/spandex (for it usually grabs and reveals the shape of where the cloth lands), satin (for it is usually slippery) and wool (too thick).

Many people around me dislike cotton reciting it is warm, and thick. I beg to differ. Cotton is a material that keeps you warm when cold, and usually is an okay material for me even on a hot day. Maybe because I am petite and hardly sweat or feel warm, I am not sure. 

Dimensions:

For shawls, I now tend to go for something that is at least 2m long and 60cm wide. It is easier for me to gain full coverage with little effort. And it gives me room if I wanna up my style a little and go fancy with folds and such. After wearing big huge wide shawls, I now struggle to gain coverage with my smaller shawls (most of which was my first shawls when I started wearing the hijab). Wearing them now makes me worry and just uncomfortable because I feel like there is not enough coverage. I end up checking constantly, to see if my neck is exposed, if my chest was exposed, so much so I feel tired at the end of day. 

Ninja Inner:

I used to have plenty of ninja inners and have no issues wearing them. I started feeling uncomfortable wearing them after a few sisters and brothers shared their opinions on hijabis wearing ninja inners. Firstly, it pretty much looked like a nun when I have my ninja on with my hoodie top or hoodie hijab. Secondly, I am revealing the shape of my neck and shoulders when I wear a ninja inner and hoodie. With that I stopped wearing one, I gave away most of my ninjas, and kept just one for no reason. Maybe just to remind me.

Another thing about ninja inner is that it is kind of troublesome for me to put on a ninja, then put on my hijab, and some ninja inners are slippery, which makes it a need to me to put on another inner underneath the ninja. It makes my laundry pile up too quickly. So I totally avoid having to go thru the whole hassle of ninja inners. 

Simplicity of Style:

The art of hijab is to keep it simple so we keep the gaze of men away from us. So the simplicity of style in a hijab is important to me. I often ask, would I be attracting eyes to look at my hijab? Is it to much bling? Is the design having too much going on? If any of it says yes, I usually put it down for something simpler. No doubt, I have a few hijabs that is colourful, striking, and well nice.. But those I wore it with a plain jubah, so it gets pretty much toned down. So that is another question I will always ask myself, what clothes am I pairing this hijab with? Will it be too much, or will be get toned down?

This point made me chose De Divas Fashion's Cotton Plain Hoodie. Its simplicity caught my attention left and right. 

Price:

How much is too much? Subjective, ya.. So up to you. What's your budget like?

My big wide shawls can cost between $20-35. And to me, it is money well spent. I am sure you can find something of a cheaper range though. It is just that will all my restriction of checklist, this price seems an okay range.

So ya... that's my checklist, what's yours?

Wassalam,
Jun