Burkha Under My Lipstick May 2026

The Burkha Under My Lipstick: On Duality, Choice, and Being a Woman in Between

Let your hijab sit next to your highlighter. Let your prayer mat sit next to your vanity table. burkha under my lipstick

Living with the "burkha under my lipstick" means accepting that I will never fully fit into a neat box. I am too religious for the feminists and too liberated for the fundamentalists. The Burkha Under My Lipstick: On Duality, Choice,

Sometimes, I walk into a boardroom wearing a silk headscarf and a power lip, and the women look at me with pity. They assume my husband picks my clothes. They don't realize I picked him because he lets me pick my own clothes. I am too religious for the feminists and

Choosing to cover in a world that wants you naked is an act of radical agency. Choosing to wear lipstick in a community that says beauty is only for your husband is also an act of radical agency.

For a long time, I thought these two parts of me were at war. I thought the burkha (or more accurately, my hijab and modest clothing) was the enemy of my femininity. I thought the lipstick was a betrayal of my faith.

The burkha taught me discipline. The lipstick taught me joy. Islam does not demand ugliness; it demands modesty of the gaze. And makeup, when worn with the right intention, is simply art on the canvas God gave you.