Dear Sisters,

We’ve been talking A LOT about all aspects of wearing hijab and how to make it a wonderful, comfortable, powerful, faith-ful, feel-good experience for you - not just this month with Haute Hijab Academy but for years now. As you venture out into the new school year or the working world or the paths you travel in caring for family, friends, yourself - whatever it is that you do - we encourage you to draw upon this blog as a whole and this cheat sheet of resources whenever you need them!

Here is our “best hits” list of resources and articles that should help you with your hijab journey! And just know - if you have any questions, chances are we’ve covered it on the blog. (And if we haven’t, we will, Insha’Allah, do so! If you need help in any way, we are just a click away!)

Having the best hijabs and accessories and styling tips is important, but what’s most important as you begin or continue on your hijab journey is a solid foundation of why you are wearing it and whom you are wearing it for. As Melanie writes here, “My advice to you: Do not shrink yourself to make others around you feel more comfortable with your hijab. Wear it proudly and step into your power as a servant of God. He created you with your own talents and personality for a reason. Find your purpose and be tenacious in its pursuit.

“Know your priorities and act accordingly. Do the inner work so that your soul is stable and unwavering no matter what’s thrown your way. Remember, despite what anyone may say, you are worthy because Allah (S) said so. Do not associate your strength and self worth with anything or anyone other than Him.”

As you continue on your hijab journey, whatever stage you’re at, here are some articles and resources to help you center your intentions, explore your inner thoughts around hijab and draw strength from the army of women supporters around you.

1. Is Hijab Fard? The why of why we wear hijab often starts for so many of us with this question - is it fard, or mandatory, for us to wear hijab? Melanie answers that question here.

2. Letter for new hijabis: If you’re new to hijab, Masha’Allah and Mabrook! As Melanie writes, “Our prayer for you is that you always, always center your intention around Allah (S). Wear hijab for Him, because He asked you to – not to please a family member or placate your community. Not to make a political statement, but because Allah (S) asked you to wear it to represent Islam and to be protected.”

3. Do I need to be perfect in my faith practices to wear hijab? Maybe you’re thinking about wearing hijab but don’t feel you’re “good enough” yet. Or you do wear it but feel disconnected because other parts of your faith life are imperfect. (Maybe you struggle to do salah, for example.) We want you to know that you don’t have to be perfect in your Islam to wear hijab.

4. How do I center my intentions around hijab? With all areas of our lives, starting anything with a proper intention that you are doing this for Allah’s (S) sake is so important. That isn’t just for when you wear hijab for the first time, but everytime you wear hijab. Are you renewing your intentions around it?

5. I’m not feeling my hijab. It’s hurting me. What do I do? If you’re feeling this way, something is wrong, and there are ways to make things better, whether that’s the physical wearing of hijab or examining your inner thoughts, feelings and intentions around it.

6. Why do many Muslim women wear hijab? What are their motivations? We asked our community this question, and 21 women got real with us in this post about why they wear it and what their intentions are.

7. I’m thinking to wear hijab. What should I know? How should I prepare? Don’t worry girl, we got you! In fact our whole community has your back. Here are 25 things veteran hijabis want you to know.

8. I just don’t feel confident when I wear hijab. What should I do? Nurturing our confidence in our hijab is one of the most important things we can do to center our intentions, keep us close to Allah (S) and help us to feel strong, comfortable and powerful. Here are 3 things you can do to nurture your confidence. If you’re a #girlmom, here are some ways you can nurture confidence in your daughters.

Are you new to hijab? Or, have you been wearing it awhile and are used to one kind of hijab, maybe one kind of style? There’s a whole world of fabrics, hijab collections and styling out there! Let us help you understand hijabs better so you can set yourself up for endless perfect hijab days!

1. Hijab fabrics and care: What are the differences between jersey, woven chiffon, satin and so on? How does each hijab wrap? How do you wash and care for these hijabs? Which ones need magnets/pins and/or underscarves? We’ve got all the details.

2. Chiffon: Are you a lover of chiffon hijabs or want to learn more about them? This post does a deep dive into our Everyday Chiffons with everything you need to know. If you're interested in the legacy of our Tuesday Drops and Chiffon Prints, you'll want to read this!

3. Jersey: Why are our Premium Jersey hijabs called the #KingofJersey and are affectionately called “sweatpants for your head?” Learn all about our Jersey hijabs here.

4. Satin: Not all satin hijabs are the same, and we’ve put a lot of thought and research into creating our Perfect Satin hijabs. With its liquid drape and ability to dress up everything from jeans to your fanciest party wear, here’s everything you need to know about our Satin hijabs.

5. Wovens: Two years ago we went on a search for a better, more sustainably-produced fiber to make our Wovens, and this resulted in our evergreen Bamboo Wovens collection, which took our community by storm! Here is everything you need to know about our beautiful. Bamboo Woven hijabs, and click here to learn about our first “Positive Threads” Woven Print collection and here to read about our second Islamic heritage-inspired “A Journey Through Time” Woven Print collection.

6. Sport: The debut of Haute Hijab Sport more than a year ago was one of our proudest moments at HH. We think every woman needs a carefully-designed sport hijab for all her activities, so we came up with four options, because no woman should have to deal with makeshift hijabs when she is engaging in physical activities.

7. Accessories and Foundations: One of the best ways to set ourselves up for success in anything is to begin with solid foundations, and that goes for our hijab-wearing experience. That means Ultimate Underscarves, Shaping Scrunchies and our best-selling No-Snag Hijab Magnets! Want to learn more about how to use these accessories to help you achieve a great hijab style? Click here to read about our underscarves, here to read about our magnets and here to read about our shaping scrunchies.

Ok, so we’ve talked about intentions, we’ve talked about finding hijabs and hijab fabrics and accessories that you like. Now, let’s talk about styling your hijab. We’ve done SO MANY articles and tutorials about hijab styling over the years that it’s hard to remember them all. But here are some core ones to help you get going. Don’t forget, one of the easiest places to start is with our Haute Hijab Style Guide!

1. Three ways to style for school: This post by our fashion writer Hakeemah takes you through the step-by-step process (complete with photos) for doing three drapey, beautiful hijab styles with chiffon, jersey and woven hijabs.

2. Work style: Are you having trouble figuring out how to dress for work and what your hijab style should be? We’ve got you covered with all possible scenarios - business formal, business professional, business casual or just casual.

3. Formal styling: Figuring out how to wear hijab with formal (or formal-ish) outfits can feel daunting, but it doesn’t have to! Our former fashion writer Rowayda gathers formal styling tips from a bevy of influencers to help keep your creative juices flowing!

4. Youth style: When you’re a tween or teen, fashion and styling can follow a different path of trends. Our fashion writer Hakeemah caught up with Menaal Seward, a young woman who offers wonderful advice on how to wear hijab and keep it looking fresh, youthful, easy and age appropriate!

5. 16 foolproof steps to wearing hijab: If you're looking for a post that takes you through every step you need to wear hijab, this is the one you need to click through. We start with niyyah, or intention), move on to hair prep (washing, drying, how you part it, how you tie it or put it in a bun) and every step from there to a finished hijab style.

6. You want hijab video tutorials? WE GOT TUTORIALS! We have tutorials going back years upon years! Check out our YouTube channel for our archive of hijab styling (and other) tutorials, and check out this post where we have gathered all the essential tutorials we think will help you explore and find the hijab style that works for you, depending on what type of hijab you are wearing.

7. Prints for non-print people: A lot of us wear the same hijabs and colors over and over, especially neutrals like Light Mink, Taupe, Buttercream or Black. And that’s all great, but have you ever considered trying prints? Print hijabs are much more versatile and sophisticated than you may think! In fact, swapping solid colored neutral hijabs for a similar printed hijab can elevate an outfit and add a touch of bold youthfulness and sophistication to any look.

8. Matching hijab colors to outfits: Do you wear a solid color hijab with a solid color top? What if your top has two or three colors in it? When does a print hijab look good? Melanie breaks it all down with her hijabi’s guide on matching your hijab to your outfit.

9. Matching hijabs to skin tones: Why does it feel like certain hijab colors look good against our skin and others just don’t pop? Understanding our skin’s undertones is a great way to figure out what hijab colors work best for you. Do you have cool, warm or neutral undertones? We can help you figure it all out.

We joke at Haute Hijab that if someone has a question about hijab or anything in general as it pertains to Muslim women, we probably have a blog post about it. More than ten years of writing, and we’ve amassed a pretty deep well of useful content!

Please refer back to this cheat sheet anytime you have questions, or reach out to us! Your friends at Haute Hijab Academy are always here for you!