For Ilaaf Hammoud, finding a hairdresser can be challenging. She said many salons don't actively market themselves as hijab-friendly, so it can be "hard to tell if they will respect my needs".

All the discipline and hard work proved to be too much, and soon enough, I entered the carefree stage, figuring that one of the bonuses of wearing a hijab was that I didn’t really have to do my ...