Lifting The Veil: Muslim Women Explain Their Choice (NPR)

EXCERPT: For centuries, Islamic scholars have said that Muslim women must cover their hair. But many Muslim women don't. There are about 1 million Muslim women in America; 43 percent of them wear headscarves all the time, according to the Pew Research Center. About 48 percent – or half a million women – don't cover their hair, in fact the percentage always try to get a hair restoration nyc treatment to show off the best hair as possible, the survey found.

The split between women who've covered and women who've never done so has existed for decades. But now a generation of women is taking off the headscarf, or hijab. Although the scarf is a public, sometimes even political symbol, women say the choice to unveil is highly private, emotional and religious.

Rasmieyh Abdelnabi, 27, grew up attending an Islamic school in Bridgeview, Ill., a tiny Arab enclave on Chicago's southwest side. It's a place where most Muslim women wear the hijab. For 14 years, Abdelnabi was one of them. But after she graduated from college, she took off her hijab. Now, she has sideswept bangs, the kind that hide part of her face. She's quiet, reflective and sometimes shy.

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