I PICKED UP THE HIJAB

 I'm slowly transitioning from a cleavage bearing, alcohol sipping Muslim woman to a full-time hijabi. 

Where do I start from? I've always wanted to be a hijabi but I didn't have the courage to do it, I admired Muslim women in their scarves and hijab, I gave it a go in Uni, tied a turban for a few weeks and I got bored and ditched it. 

Told myself I will pick it up when I get married, I still need enough time to flaunt my locs, bare my chest and wear dresses with slits going above my knees. 

I enjoyed sipping cocktails, drinking champagne and mostly Jack Daniels and coke, I quit alcohol a few times, the longest I went without alcohol was 12 months. I'm not an alcoholic, I go months without drinking on the regs,. especially when I'm in Dublin, but I need booze to survive in Lagos. A few shots once I get home from the airport, then Star Radler or Snapp before noon, this continues until I leave the city. 

My motto was " I can't be sober in Lagos". 

Then I got slightly tipsy on my birthday in December and put my charger in the bin, didn't drink for 6 months before this. January came and I had a conversation with a new friend about the negative effect of alcohol consumption as a Muslim. 

" I know we all sin, but some sins are just not worth it, you spend a lot of money on it, get intoxicated and end up with a terrible hangover. What do you gain from drinking and what will happen to you if you don't drink? " .

He compared it with sex, the comparison was slightly flawed but I got his point. 

Made up my mind not to drink, touch or buy alcohol that night, it's being 5 months and I've not been tempted, it feels great turning down alcohol every time someone offered. 

I decided to give the Hijab a go, started buying scarves, picked it up on the first day of Ramadan and I'm loving every moment of the journey, it's a bit weird with some of my clothes, I can't give away all my clothes, gave away the extreme ones and kept the rest. 

It's almost two months since I started, although I rushed out of the house for a medical emergency one night and didn't realise my hair exposed until I got to the hospital 

I went to the market, picked some nice fabrics to make Kimonos, now I wear them on knee-length or sleeveless dresses. 

I hide my cleavage under my scarf, slits under kimonos. 

The annoying part about covering my hair is getting called "Hajia or Alhaja", which wrecks my head.

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L D