So there is a lot of buzz about a “halal nail polish” that allows Muslim women to wear a nail polish and pray without having to remove it in order to make wudu.
For my non Muslim readers, Muslims are required to perform ablutions and wash up before our 5 daily prayers. This includes water reaching our nail beds so that we are pure when we pray to God.
When you wear traditional nail polish, the polish prevents water from reaching the nail bed which is why most Muslim women abstain from wearing nail polish unless they are not praying (breast feeding, menstruating etc).
The cosmetics company Inglot has introduced a polish called O2M which allows water vapors to reach the nail bed. Initially, I was skeptical since vapor does not sound as substantial as water. However, according to Suhaib Webb’s site, it seems that doing a simple coffee filter test shows that water does reach the nail bed.
So there you have it! While I personally will still avoid wearing polish till I can’t pray, at least there is a new option on the market.
What are your thoughts?
Hijabi Life 
My thoughts are, that it seems too good to be true. In the case of a special event, where you would wear it for a day or two, I think its great. But I would rather be safe than sorry…
Thank you for sharing this informative piece! Just a note, as I am sure you know this, that when you mention “breastfeeding” as a time when a muslim woman does not pray, what is meant is the immediate postpartum. J.A.K.
Thank you for the correction! You are right, that is what I meant. 🙂
I’m not a big nail polish fan to begin with, but if these claims are valid, than I think many Muslim women will be really excited about it. We are vain creatures and we do like to beautify ourselves. Aside from cost and drawing attention to oneself, I believe one’s intention plays a big part of this issue. Why, do you wear nail polish? Does it make you feel pretty, does your husband like it, are your friends all wearing it, the list can go on and on. In the end, it’s a minor issue in the bigger picture of life. It’s important to be informed and educated but don’t get bogged down on things that really don’t matter.
Actually, several tests done by people have shown that it is not permeable to water. A few bloggers have also compared inglot to it’s Canadian competitor Tuesday in Love and have shown the latter to be water permeable as they claim. You can find youtube videos of these tests as well:
Hope this sheds some light on the issue 🙂