THE NIKE OF HIJABS? HOW TAJ CROWN IS MAKING MODEST FASHION EFFORTLESS
By: Hillary LeBlanc
For millions of women worldwide, wearing a hijab or head covering is a personal choice rooted in faith, identity and culture. But while these garments symbolize dignity, modesty and empowerment for many, they can also be the source of complex challenges—ranging from discrimination and stereotyping to questions of safety, self-expression or autonomy.
What might be less known is how covering the hair consistently impacts hair and scalp health. Covering the head for long periods can present practical concerns when it comes to maintaining healthy hair and avoiding damage to the scalp or hair follicles. TAJ Crown, a brand created by Besma Elgohary, was conceptualized to address this very common but rarely talked about issue. Many women who wear hijabs and scarves still want to have gorgeous locks in the privacy of their homes, for their own admiration, but until recently no product allowed breathability while covered.
Elgohary grew up in New York with immigrant parents who were entrepreneurs working with push carts selling food and eventually owning a doughnut factory. Elgohary thought that entrepreneurship wasn’t for her, instead she pursued a career in education, translating parent-teacher meetings for other Arabic speaking parents of children — but never anticipated becoming an entrepreneur herself.
Her journey with religion eventually led her to feeling a closeness to God, giving her the desire to wear a hijab. The minute she put on the hijab, it flattened her hair and felt it destroyed her beauty. “It is bad enough that I'm already out here covering [my hair], but now at home, in front of all these mirrors, I'm constantly being reminded how I'm not taking care of my beauty. My hair was falling out and was in a ratty nest all the time.”
Source: Taj Crown
Elgohary also felt she spent too much time adjusting the scarf. As a teacher and a mom she was often repositioning whenever a child tugged on it or anytime it slipped off doing simple tasks like grocery shopping. It’s position became a challenge - not only to hide hair - but to ensure it was straight, even and to ensure she didn’t look dishevelled.
After COVID shut the world down, she discovered a podcast that was promoting a design competition. She pitched an opportunity of awarding $1000 to someone who could solve these issues. The prototype developer is still on her team and went on to finalize the prototype with 3D printing once it became more accessible. The other goal with her prototype was to avoid flattening hair and causing hair fall out while being covered.
This led to the creation of TAJ Crown in May of 2022, a product made in both rubber and nylon with small nubs to hold the hair on one side and grip the hijab on the other. The product material choice depends on hair texture. The nubs allow for slight lift for airflow to the hair while the product adheres itself to hijabs. Users simply slide the TAJ Crown onto their desired location to expose as much front hair as they choose and align the hijab with as much flow within the material as they like.
People wear headscarves in a variety of ways and TAJ Crown aims to ease this versatility. Since creating the product, Orthodox Jewish women, Christian women and women just looking to cover their hair for fashion styling have become customers.
Source: Taj Crown
Part of Elgohary’s inspiration for creating the TAJ Crown came from watching a women’s basketball team at her local mosque constantly pause their game to adjust their hijabs. It was a small but telling frustration — one that resonated with many, including Ayesha Khan, who was new to wearing the hijab. As a softball player, Khan worried about her hijab slipping during games until she discovered TAJ Crown through an Instagram post promising no headaches and no slippage. “As someone who was relatively new to wearing a hijab at the time, i recall thinking that this could solve a lot of problems that I was experiencing,” says Khan. Since using the TAJ Crown she has found the product weightless with increased air flow for healthier hair.
Khan has shared that the community built around the use of TAJ Crown has been amazing. She has learned from others sharing similar experiences, found solutions and felt a ‘sisterhood and solidarity’ through her hijab journey. This has resulted in feeling more confident about her choice to wear a hijab and proud to represent her faith.
Elgohary has found success across America, where she feels the product made sense as the day to day life for women lends itself to the use of the TAJ Crown. She has just launched the product in Canada and hopes to continue to expand into Muslim and Arab communities globally. Elgohary has recently released a mini TAJ Crown and hopes to be seen as the Nike of hijabs, synonymous with a gear that makes day-to-day hijab and scarf wear easier.
Source: Taj Crown
While the decision to wear a hijab or head covering is deeply personal, it is important to create safe spaces where women can talk openly — not just about identity and discrimination — but also about self-care, hair health and wellbeing. TAJ Crown has proudly started a that conversation and more importantly, a movement to ensure that wearing a hijab or any head coverings can make being pious or fashionable easier.