Caring for your Tudung/Hijab

I will update this section as new information/methods become available.

The safest (and easiest!) method is always to dry clean. You get your tudung/hijab back in pristine state this way, hassle-free! But for those of you who desire other, more environmental- and monetary-friendly ways to launder your tudung/hijab, read on... The ladies who dry clean may skip the following section and scroll straight down to the section on Storage.

Washing:
Do NOT toss it into your washing machine; as it may stain other clothes and the awning will be mauled out of shape.

With normal jersey/knit material, wash as delicates. Use a gentle detergent, or softener, or body shampoo (I have tried Shokubutsu!) to lightly wash and rinse your tudung/hijab.

For tudung/hijabs with brocade and thai silk awnings, the safest way is to dry clean. However, I personally gently wash my tudung/hijabs under running water, while making sure the awnings do not come into contact with water as much as possible. I concentrate on areas with sweat stains. If some stains do get onto your awnings, very, very gently apply softener/body shampoo to the stain, and rinse under running water for as short a period of time as possible. It is always a good idea to minimise the contact between silk/brocade and water as much as possible.

Do NOT soak your tudung/hijab, especially those with brocade awnings. Brocade awnings tend to shrink horribly.

Also some knits are prone to discolouration, so DO rinse separately.

Try not to wring your tudung/hijab; just gently press out excess water if you must. The best is always to hang it soaking wet. This also makes for minimal or no ironing when your tudung/hijab is dried. :)

Drying:
Air-dry in the shade, away from the sun. They dry really quickly in this tropical weather. I have also air-dried mine in an air-conditioned room, it was dried within 2 hours.

Use a hanger or clothes line to drape your tudung/hijab over. Do NOT stick the hanger in your tudung/hijab and dry it that way; instead just drape it over the horizontal bar of your hanger. Do NOT pin up the hijab by its ends/awning as you might stretch it out of shape. Be careful about the clothespin you use, as some have sharp bits that may pull at your tudung and leave bits of string sticking out.



Ironing:
Use the SILK setting at the most. Steam irons are really good for this. Ironing the underside of your awning will, in most cases, remove any dents that occur in the awning. Most of the time, with proper air-drying, there is hardly any need for ironing (which suits me just fine :)).

Storage:

Drawer Method: With most of the tudung/hijab, you simply roll up the body of your tudung/hijab, and tuck it into your awning, which is then easily organised in a drawer. The downside is that with your hijabs in a drawer it makes it hard to coordinate your outfit with your tudung/hijab. Things also might get disorganised if you are in a rush and simply rummage through your drawer.Another caveat is that you might accidentally dent your awnings by piling your tudung/hijab one on top of another.

Hanger Method: Just drape your tudung/hijab on a hanger and hang away! Use clothes pins to secure onto hanger, but be careful which ones you use as some may have splintery bits that may pull threads from the soft knit/brocade material. You need a LOT of hangers for this.

IKEA Method: Purchase one of these from IKEA and drape your tudung/hijab through the rings, making sure the awnings are in front, not smashed against the back. Holds scarves/tudungs/hijabs aplenty. Hijab tip to Cynosure who first showed this to me!!!