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

Review for De Divas Fashion - Plain Cotton Hoodie

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

Once again, another review to write! Alhamdulillah..

I have been watching De Divas Fashion, just waiting for a good time to jump and order their hot pancakes. One of which was what Kak Dila Jazzy is always talking about the hoodie.

I was skeptical at first, worrying about the coverage it can offer, the hassle of wearing one and such like that. You all know how particular I am with my hijab, I always go for super wide and big shawl, with material that is not see-through or too easily torn with frequent use of pinning, not slippery, etc etc.

I have a long check list whenever I wanna get a new hijab, but seeing her donning it, I find it fully covers, than I heard it can transform to a mini telekong, then I saw how easy and nice other people dons them. And so I finally succumb and PMed Kak Dila, asking her the price.

When she told me, I was in disbelief! I was expecting quite a high price so I can ditch the idea and stick to my wide shawls, but it was half the price I pay for most of my big wide shawls. I immediately told her I wanna have two colors. It was out of stock, and I said ok to the Plain Jersey Hoodie (again Jersey isn't my favorite and I usually avoid them). Somehow, I got too busy and caught up and didn't pay for my items on time, after several attempts of reminders.

And then Allah showed me why. The Plain Cotton Hoodie was going to be restocked - that's why! So I quickly told Kak Dila I'm sorry and that I want the plain cotton and drop my Jersey order and quickly paid.

It took just 2 days for it to reach me, I tried it on immediately, and it is sooo super comfortable!

See the inset picture, that is how it looks like when I wear it down as the mini telekung. The convenience of a 2-in-1.

Then I tweaked the way I style it to imitate Kak Dila's style.

The side up brings a bit of style eh.. And look at the massive coverage I get in front! And I get the same coverage at the back too.

The best thing that made me return to buy some more is the fact that it is comfortable and it gives warmth in the office with the aircon blasting my head off. PLUS, it works find as a telekung as well, that leaves me more space in my luggage when I want/need to travel.

And so I now own, a light grey, dusty pink, chocolate and butter. My mom took a Forest Green and she love it! However, due to her big size, she prefer to wear it down, and it doesn't turn into a mini telekung for her, but it is comfortable nonetheless for her. Most instant hijabs, will fall short for her, but because this was really huge, it felt nice on her, she just drapes it around her neck area for that flowy look and pin it at her shoulder with a brooch and it will look perfect!

This definitely wins all my instant hijab, for it is fun to style - the other instant hijabs I have, has got no room to style - as in it has to be worn as is. So this is definite definitely fun to try and give it your own signature way of styling.

Another plus point? It can be at the living room and all you need to do is reach to it, put it over and it covers well for those rush to cover aurah when the door bell rings. It does fine without an inner (doesnt slip off easily), and if I wear it down it covers my hands so it can do even when I am wearing just a tee underneath. So I shall put this as a must-have for Awesome Muslimahs!

With very smooth and understanding liasing with Kak Dila, I shall rate De Divas Fashion an awesome 4/5.

They do have apparels too, so do check them out!

Have fun shopping!

Wassalam,
Jun