Can a Woman Shave Her Hair If She Thinks There Is Form of Layer Due to Permanent Hair Treatment?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
Can a woman shave her hair if she has doubt or is sure that there’s a form of a layer on hair because of permanent hair treatment, which may prevent water from reaching the hair? If the woman is married, can she do it? Or if there is any other way because she’s worried about her ritual purity.
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
I pray you are well.
Please don’t worry; your wudu will be valid after a permanent hair treatment. This is because when the solution is applied, you wash it deep inside; it becomes part of the hair fibers inside and does not form an outer layer.
You don’t need to shave or cut that part of the hair.
Obligatory (fard) wudu is to wipe one-fourth of the head, and sunna in wudu is wiping the entire head, once, and the ears with the same water. So, in your case, each time you do wudu, wipe your head as a whole, this will have covered more than the fard, and the wetness of the water will have reached the requirement area. Rest assured; please do not worry.
Shaytan puts doubts in many people in many matters, from belief and purity to the issues of worship, causing many doubts, misgivings, and undue stress. The doubt and anxiety here are – the fear of water reaching the obligatory area or the doubt of it. Stay firm; just wipe the entire head if anxiety persists.
Related:
Will Permanent Hair Straightening Prevent the Validity of My Ghusl?
Ritual Purity: A Reader
I pray this helps with your question.
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.
