Hello my lovelies. I’m a little late sharing this, my hijab anniversary was on 10/10 but maybe it’s fitting. Because nothing about my hijab journey has been rushed. It’s been slow, intentional, deeply personal… and often unfolding long after the moment passes.
Three years since I woke up one morning and realized I was ready; not because life was easy, not because I had everything figured out, but because something inside me quietly whispered: “It’s time.” Putting on the hijab didn’t magically fix anything. It didn’t simplify my world or silence the noise around me. But it did something even more important; it anchored me back to myself.
When I look back at the girl in the first clips adjusting her scarf, testing colours, searching for a version of herself she hadn’t met yet, I feel this gentle ache in my chest. I didn’t know what I was stepping into back then… only that something inside me wanted softness, intention, and a different kind of grounding.
This journey hasn’t been aesthetic and hasn’t been perfectly curated or always confident. There were moments I questioned myself, moments I felt misunderstood, moments where the world felt heavy. But there were also moments, powerful, quiet, real where I met parts of myself I never would’ve known without it. Moments where the hijab softened me, strengthened me, reminded me of who I am when everything around me feels fragile.
Three years later, I’m not celebrating a piece of fabric, I’m celebrating the woman I’ve become inside it. A woman who has grown into her softness, who stands taller (petite in shape not attitude!), a woman who embraces her femininity, her depth, her contradictions. A woman who chooses herself, her values, her peace… every single day.
This anniversary isn’t about perfection it’s about choice; a choice I continue to make with love, with intention, with grace even when it’s hard. So here’s to year three, to the determination and courage I didn’t know I had, to the woman I am still becoming, quietly, fiercely, beautifully.
The hijab didn’t transform me overnight. It shaped me slowly in the days when I didn’t feel confident, and in the moments when it felt like the only thing holding me together. Some days it protected me, other days it challenged me, but somehow it always brought me closer to the woman I wanted to grow into.
Three years later, my hijab feels like home. A reminder of who I am, what I value, what I want to carry with me, and what I want to leave behind. It hasn’t always been easy, but it has always been meaningful. It taught me strength in softness, beauty in modesty, and peace in becoming.
Sometimes the hardest part of wearing the hijab in Lebanon isn’t the fabric but unfortunately it’s the mindset you have to constantly walk through. I’ve lost count of the times PR companies ghostes me, one even told me, “the client doesn’t want a hijabi,” as if my presence somehow dilutes their image. As if professionalism, creativity, or talent suddenly disappear the moment a woman covers her hair. And every time it happens, I am even more determined: I don’t want to be associated with anyone who doesn’t respect my hijab, because my hijab has never stopped me from doing anything. If anything, it’s the reason I keep moving forward. It protects me, it grounds me, it brings me clarity in spaces that try to shake me. The perspective here needs to evolve, because hijabi women are not limited, not less, and definitely not optional. We are here, we are capable, and we are rewriting the narrative whether they’re ready or not.
To every woman on this journey, whether you’re starting, returning, struggling, or simply curious, I see you. Your story is yours alone, and it’s valid, beautiful, evolving… just like mine.
And if the post made you feel something, tell me. I’d love to read your story too.
With love,
Stay Fabulous and updated; subscribe to my blog, my Instagram, and my Youtube channel, and follow my Instagram, Facebook, tiktok, Pinterest, threads and X pages. Don’t forget to shop my favorites from Revolve and Fwrd.
XOXO
La Petite Hanine
Leave a reply to PtitNFit Cancel reply