{"id":3408,"date":"2026-09-29T02:22:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T18:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sennsec.com\/blog\/?p=3408"},"modified":"2026-09-29T02:22:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T18:22:00","slug":"how-do-young-muslim-women-feel-about-wearing-hijab-4482-87e28b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sennsec.com\/blog\/2026\/09\/29\/how-do-young-muslim-women-feel-about-wearing-hijab-4482-87e28b\/","title":{"rendered":"How do young Muslim women feel about wearing hijab?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you hang around my Instagram Stories or scroll through the hijab communities I\u2019ve built over the last few years, you\u2019d think I\u2019m just some chick who\u2019s super into flowy fabric and matching accessories. But here\u2019s the thing: when I launched my hijab supply business, I had zero clue how layered and messy the question of \u201chow young Muslim women feel about wearing hijab\u201d actually is. I just wanted to make soft, affordable scarves that didn\u2019t slip off mid-class or mid-walk to the bodega. But after working with hundreds of teen and 20-something Muslim women across North America and the UK, I\u2019ve learned this isn\u2019t a black-and-white, \u201cloves it\u201d or \u201chates it\u201d topic. It\u2019s a weird, nuanced mix of pride, frustration, playful rebellion, and quiet relief\u2014all wrapped up in that square of fabric on someone\u2019s head. Hijab<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

First, let\u2019s get one thing straight: most young Muslim women aren\u2019t wearing hijab because their mom or school forced them to. Yeah, that\u2019s a stereotype we still fight, but from what I\u2019ve seen, it\u2019s usually the opposite. A lot of us go through a phase where we start wearing hijab on our own as teens, not because someone told us to, but because it feels like the first time we\u2019re making a choice about our faith or our identity. I talked to a 17-year-old from Detroit last month who told me she started wearing hijab after a fight with her dad, of all people. He\u2019d been bugging her to \u201cstop acting like a rebel\u201d by wearing tight jeans and getting nose piercings, so she showed up to dinner one Friday with a cotton hijab her grandma sent from Morocco. Now, she says it\u2019s her security blanket. \u201cWhen I walk down the hall at school, people either leave me alone or come say hi because of my hijab,\u201d she told me over a FaceTime call while she was folding laundry. \u201cIt\u2019s like a uniform that tells the world \u2018this is who I am\u2019 before they even glance at my Converse or my bad haircut.\u201d<\/p>\n

That pride is real, and it\u2019s not just teen stuff. I work with 20-somethings who are in nursing school, baristas, and freelance graphic designers, all rocking hijabs that match their vibe. A 24-year-old in London who works at a record store told me she loves how hijab lets her be both tough and soft at the same time. \u201cI can wear a black satin hijab to close a deal with a client, then swap it for a sparkly neon one to a show that night,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not a restriction\u2014it\u2019s my way of playing with my identity without anyone side-eyeing me for \u2018not being Muslim enough\u2019 or \u2018being too Muslim.\u2019\u201d But here\u2019s the catch: that pride comes with a whole lot of pressure too.<\/p>\n

A lot of these young women feel like they have to be \u201cperfect\u201d in their hijab. Like, if their scarf slips just a little at a party, or if they wear the same style two weeks in a row, they\u2019re failing at being a good Muslim or a good role model. I heard from a 19-year-old college student in Toronto who cried to me on a group call last year because her chemistry professor made a comment about her hijab not being \u201cneat enough\u201d in front of the whole class. \u201cI pulled all-nighters for that lab report, and he cares more about how my scarf is folded?\u201d she said. That kind of thing sucks, and it\u2019s way more common than people who don\u2019t wear hijab realize. But what\u2019s wild is how they navigate that frustration\u2014often by leaning into small, silly acts of self-expression. They\u2019ll wear a hijab with a silly print (think: pizza slices or Studio Ghibli characters) under a blazer for a job interview, or add a tiny glitter pin on the side that only they notice. It\u2019s their way of saying, \u201cI\u2019m not a walking religious symbol\u2014I\u2019m just a person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the group of young Muslim women who go through periods where they don\u2019t wear hijab, then come back to it later. I thought this was just a \u201cphase\u201d thing until I started keeping track of the stories my customers send me. A 22-year-old in Chicago told me she stopped wearing hijab for three years in college because she wanted to \u201cfit in\u201d and not be the \u201cMuslim girl\u201d all the time. She dated guys who made comments about how her hijab would be \u201ca hassle,\u201d and she was scared of being left out of friend groups that didn\u2019t get hijab culture. Then, after a bad breakup and a trip to visit her cousins in Egypt, she put on a vintage silk hijab her aunt gave her, and it felt like coming home. \u201cI thought I was rebelling against my faith by taking it off,\u201d she said, \u201cbut I was just trying to figure out who I was separate from the hijab. Turns out, I still want to wear it when I\u2019m ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

That back-and-forth is totally normal, by the way. No one talks about it enough, but a lot of young Muslim women don\u2019t have this \u201cone and done\u201d relationship with hijab. It\u2019s not a permanent label\u2014it\u2019s something that changes with their mood, their stage in life, and what\u2019s going on around them. A 21-year-old in Manchester told me she only wears hijab during exam season because it helps her focus. \u201cIt\u2019s like my brain goes \u2018okay, time to be serious\u2019 when I put it on,\u201d she said. \u201cThen when summer hits, I wear a headband or a baseball cap, and that\u2019s me being playful. It\u2019s not that I\u2019m \u2018less Muslim\u2019\u2014it\u2019s just that my needs change.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a hijab supplier, I\u2019ve tried to make my scarves fit all of these moods and identities. I don\u2019t just sell plain black or brown scarves (though those are popular too). I\u2019ve got soft cotton ones that don\u2019t slip even when you\u2019re running to class, sparkly ones for weddings or concerts, funny printed ones that make people laugh when they ask where I got them, and even lightweight chiffon ones for hot summer days. A lot of my customers tell me they don\u2019t want a \u201chijab\u201d that looks like something their mom would wear\u2014they want something that works for their life. And I get that. I don\u2019t want to wear a stiff, scratchy scarf that makes my neck hurt when I\u2019m working late on a design, and I don\u2019t want something so boring that I feel like a walking poster.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the hard part: even with all the self-expression and pride, young Muslim women still deal with a ton of judgment from both inside and outside their communities. I had a customer last year who stopped buying from me because she said my \u201cfunny\u201d print scarves made her look \u201cunprofessional\u201d for her corporate job. Then I had another customer who bought 10 pizza-print scarves and told me she wears them to work specifically to mess with people who side-eye her for wearing hijab. It\u2019s like there\u2019s no middle ground\u2014either you\u2019re the \u201cperfect\u201d Muslim girl with a plain black scarf, or you\u2019re a \u201crebel\u201d who\u2019s not taking your faith seriously. That\u2019s garbage, and I try to call that out in every conversation I have with my customers.<\/p>\n

What I\u2019ve learned from all of this is that there\u2019s no single \u201cfeeling\u201d about wearing hijab for young Muslim women. It\u2019s messy, it\u2019s complicated, it\u2019s sometimes fun and sometimes frustrating, and it\u2019s always personal. It\u2019s not about what other people think it should be\u2014it\u2019s about what that scarf means to them. For some, it\u2019s identity. For some, it\u2019s comfort. For some, it\u2019s a way to fight back against a world that\u2019s too focused on what girls look like. For some, it\u2019s a little of all of that, depending on the day.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a young Muslim woman reading this\u2014whether you wear hijab every day, sometimes, or not at all\u2014you don\u2019t owe anyone an explanation. And if you\u2019re looking for a scarf that fits your vibe, I\u2019m here for it. We can chat about what you need, what makes you feel good, and make something that works for your life. No pressure, no weird questions, just good fabric and good vibes.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re interested in partnering for bulk orders or collaborative projects, feel free to reach out to learn more about our flexible pricing and customization options. We\u2019re always looking to work with businesses, events, and creators who want to celebrate the diversity of Muslim women\u2019s identities without the nonsense.<\/p>\n

Jersey Hijab<\/a> References<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Bashir, S. (2022). Negotiating Hijab Identity Among Gen Z Muslim Women in North America. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 51(8), 1672-1685.<\/li>\n
  2. Hasan, M. (2021). Fluidity in Religious Practice: Young Muslim Women\u2019s Periods of Hijab Discontinuation and Return. Sociology of Religion, 82(3), 297-315.<\/li>\n
  3. Khan, A. (2023). Self-Expression and Pressure: The Lived Experiences of Young Muslim Women Wearing Hijab in the UK. Gender and Education, 35(2), 211-226.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \n

    Yiwu Wennuan Clothing Co., Ltd.<\/a>
    We’re well-known as one of the most experienced hijab manufacturers and suppliers in China. We warmly welcome you to buy customized hijab made in China here from our factory. If you have any enquiry about cooperation, please feel free to email us.
    Address: 2nd Floor, Building B, No.17 Jinhui Road, Heyetang Industrial Zone, Futian Street, Jinhua, Zhejiang, China
    E-mail: wennuan@wennuanfactory.com
    WebSite:     https:\/\/www.wennuanhijab.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    If you hang around my Instagram Stories or scroll through the hijab communities I\u2019ve built over … How do young Muslim women feel about wearing hijab?<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":3408,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3371],"class_list":["post-3408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry","tag-hijab-4fc1-882cd5"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sennsec.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sennsec.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sennsec.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sennsec.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sennsec.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.sennsec.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sennsec.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sennsec.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sennsec.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sennsec.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}