How to Keep Your Chiffon Hijabs Looking New!

Chiffon hijabs have quickly become amongst the most popular fabrics to wear. The fabric is soft, light-weight, and delicate, making it an elegant touch to any outfit. However, stain removal from such a delicate fabric has proven to be difficult, especially if it happens to be a light coloured hijab. We have compiled a number of ways that will help you with caring for your chiffon hijabs, and removing those tough stains effectively.

• Voile chic premium chiffon hijabs are made with 100% polyester chiffon fabric. Therefore, the methods presented below have only been tested on this specific fabric, although it may be effective for other chiffon fabrics. 
• Always do a test patch before proceeding to clean the whole hijab.
• Be gentle with chiffon hijabs, avoiding a stain is much easier than removing it! 
• It is highly recommended that you hand wash chiffon hijabs, one by one. This ensures that the delicate fabric will not be damaged in a washing machine, and this will also make it easier to target the stains individually. 
• The longer a stain is left on the hijab, the more it sets in which makes it even more difficult to remove. For best results, try to clean the stain as soon as you spot it. 

There are a number of different fabric stains that can occur, each of which should be treated and cared for a little differently. Below you'll find the most common stains, and detailed step-by-step descriptions on how to remove them.  

Food and drink stains:

You've been enjoying those ketchup dipped fries so much that you suddenly miss your mouth and it makes an olympic landing on your hijab (it sucks, we know). Now your beautiful chiffon hijab has an obvious ketchup stain. Don't worry, your hijab will survive.

What you'll need:

• A large bowl
• A small bowl
• Tooth brush
• Laundry detergent 
• Spot cleaning stain remover (optional)
• Dishwashing soap 
• Baking soda (optional)

What to do:

1. Fill a large bowl with Luke warm water 
2. Add 1/4 of a cup of laundry detergent and mix it together 
3. Add a little bit of baking soda to the mixture 
4. Optional step: use a spot cleaner to target and lift the stain a little bit to make it easier to remove
5. In a small bowl, mix some dishwashing soap and baking soda together 
6. Use the tooth brush and the mixture in the small bowl to gently rub at the stain 
7. After releasing some of the stain, place the whole hijab in the large bowl for 30 min
8. After 30 min, gently massage and rub the hijab while it is submerged in the water
9. Drain all of the water and refill it with cold water and let it sit for 10 min
10. After 10 min, gently but thoroughly rinse the hijab under running Luke warm water. 
11. Hang the hijab to dry and make sure to hang the hijab flat to avoid any wrinkles
12. This should remove the stain, however if the stain is still visible, repeat steps 5-11

Sweat stains:

Sweat stains can easily show up on chiffon hijabs, especially if the hijab is of a lighter colour. They can also be very difficult to remove because they are often hard to pinpoint. Here is what you'll need to do to remove those annoying sweat stains.

What you'll need:

• Large bowl
• Small bowl
• Baking soda
• Dishwashing soap
• Tooth brush

What to do: 

1. In a small bowl mix baking soda and dishwashing soap
2. Take a look at the hijab and try to identify where most of the sweat stains are (you can use pins to easily locate them)
3. Dip a tooth brush into the mixture and gently rub at the stains
4. Once the stains are covered, sprinkle some baking soda over each stain and let it sit for about 10 min
5. After 10 min, fill up a large bowl with Luke warm water and place the whole hijab in the water 
6. Swish the hijab around by gently rubbing it under the water, then let is soak for 30 min while occasionally rubbing the hijab together
7. After 30 min, drain the water and refill with cold water, add a little bit of baking soda, and let it soak for 10 min
8. Drain the water once again, and thoroughly rinse the hijab till all the soap is gone
9. Hang to dry 

Oil stains:

Oil stains are probably the toughest stains to remove because they need to be addressed right away for the most effective results. If you happen to catch the stain right when it happens, applying baby powder to the area will help absorb some of the oil which will lift most of the stain. However, most of us tend to notice the stain hours later when we finally come home and take our hijab off. In that case, you will need to follow the steps above for sweat stains, but will need to repeat step 3 a couple times to ensure that the mixture releases the stain. In most cases, the dishwashing soap will help to remove it, so adding a little more to the mixture will help further break down the oil. Also, it is recommended that in step 4, you let it sit for about 30 min.

Till next time,

Jasmine F.