What happens after the hijab comes off?

In this deeply personal solo episode, Salma Hindy shares the year-long journey between deciding to remove her hijab and finally taking it off publicly. She opens up about the immense pressure she put on herself to do it before turning 30, the secret double life she lived during that transition, and the fear that she would lose everything that had defined her.

She reflects on questioning her faith, navigating family expectations, announcing her intentions of removing the hijab for the first time on stage, and rebuilding her identity from the ground up. From discovering her natural curls for the first time to wondering whether she was even funny without the hijab, Salma shares what it felt like to perform stand-up comedy without the identity that had shaped both her life and her career for over two decades.

She shares the late-night rooftop moments that changed her, the panic attacks before posting the announcement, why she kept wearing the hijab on stage after taking it off in real life, the backlash from her community, and what it was actually like to rebuild her confidence, sexuality, friendships, comedy career, and identity from scratch.

Conservative communities often assume that leaving religion means your life will fall apart. Western society often assumes that leaving means instant liberation.

The reality is much less glamorous. You start from scratch.

You have to discover who you are without the safety blanket of the hijab as your identity. You have to figure out what you actually believe, how you want to dress, what your hair really looks like, whether you're still funny, how you want to date, and what kind of life you want to build.

The non-traditional path isn't easier than the traditional one. It's just different. Instead of following someone else's rules, you now have to write your own. It doesn't automatically make you free. It gives you more choices, more uncertainty, and more responsibility. Every decision becomes yours.

The reality is…you're probably not going to become a homeless heroin addict. You're probably not going to become Kim Kardashian either. You're just going to become yourself.

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CREDITS:

Host & Creator: Salma Hindy
Executive Producer: Salma Hindy
Associate Producer: Noor Jehan Ansari
Videographer & Sound Engineer: Patrick Samaha
Written By: Salma Hindy
Edited By: Salma Hindy
Studio: 30 Irving Studios
Artwork: Rana Omar
Social Media Intern: Noor Jehan Ansari
Grants & Sponsorship Intern: Christina Saoud

© The Secret Sex Lives of Muslim Women, 2026

Instagram: @thesecretsexlivesofmuslimwomen

YouTube: @thesecretsexlivesofmuslimwomen

HOST'S INSTAGRAM: @salma.hindy

HOST'S TIKTOK: @salma.hindy

Your body is talking to you right now. But what happens when your body gives you an answer you weren’t expecting?

In this episode, Salma sits down with “Aisha,” a Muslim woman in her early 40s who grew up trying to be the perfect “good girl” while carrying years of religious shame, sexual conditioning, and chronic pelvic pain (which she first noticed when she started having sex with white, non-Muslim men).

Aisha shares her journey with pelvic floor dysfunction, painful sex, vaginismus, and the mind-body connection, including how trauma, anxiety, suppressed emotions, and inherited beliefs around sex showed up in her body. Despite living with vaginismus and other pelvic floor conditions, Aisha is able to have penetrative sex in ways that actually feel good. She talks about building a sex life rooted in communication, curiosity, and play, and how having a patient, loving partner helped her expand intimacy beyond pressure and performance. Unlike many women with vaginismus, Aisha’s husband puts absolutely no pressure on her, and that safety has been a catalyst for deeper intimacy and healing.

Aisha also opens up about her miscarriage and the complicated relief she felt after months of excruciating pain during pregnancy. That experience led her to listen to and care for her body more deeply, and to question what motherhood could look like for her: alternate paths to building a family, becoming a motherly figure in other ways, or choosing a child-free future with her husband.

Together, Salma and Aisha talk about religious deconstruction, sexual shame, pelvic floor healing, miscarriage, motherhood, marriage, somatic tools to regulate your nervous system when triggered, and the terrifying freedom of realizing that you can change your life. Whether it’s a relationship, a job, a friendship, a family expectation, or a version of womanhood you inherited, this episode is about learning to trust your body when it says: this is not working anymore.

Listen to your f*cking body. She knows.

HELP KEEP THE POD ALIVE FOR 2026, DONATE TO OUR GOFUNDME: https://gofund.me/f646f3082

CREDITS:

Host & Creator: Salma Hindy
Executive Producer: Salma Hindy
Written By: Salma Hindy
Edited By: Salma Hindy
Artwork: Rana Omar

© The Secret Sex Lives of Muslim Women, 2026

Instagram: @thesecretsexlivesofmuslimwomen

YouTube: @thesecretsexlivesofmuslimwomen

HOST'S INSTAGRAM: @salma.hindy

HOST'S TIKTOK: @salma.hindy

In this deeply personal solo episode, host Salma Hindy shares what really happened during six ayahuasca ceremonies in Egypt: including visions involving family trauma, religion, sexuality, heartbreak, vaginismus, emotionally unavailable men, and the hidden emotional pain carried through generations. What begins as a spiritual exploration slowly turns into something far more unsettling, healing, and transformative.

Across multiple ceremonies led by facilitators, shamans, and complete chaos in the Sinai desert, Salma describes purging grief from her body, revisiting childhood wounds, confronting her relationship to men and “the male energy,” and uncovering disturbing patterns surrounding shame, consent, religion, and silence within Muslim families. The episode also explores the emotional aftermath of loss, creative collapse, romantic heartbreak, and the search for spiritual meaning during periods of deep isolation.

This episode contains discussions of sexual assault, trauma, religion, mental health, plant medicine, and family abuse. It also somehow includes: Quran played during ayahuasca ceremonies, hot tattooed Egyptians, shared puke buckets in the desert, a Brazilian shaman threatening to cancel a retreat, a Taylor Swift ego death moment, and Salma sobbing over a 21-year-old while being held by a man who looked like he walked off the set of Gladiator. Proceed carefully.

Content Warning: This episode contains discussions of sexual assault, marital coercion, family trauma, religion, mental health, and plant medicine.

HELP KEEP THE POD ALIVE FOR 2026, DONATE TO OUR GOFUNDME: https://gofund.me/f646f3082

CREDITS:

Host & Creator: Salma Hindy
Executive Producer: Salma Hindy
Videographer & Sound Engineer: Patrick Samaha
Written By: Salma Hindy
Edited By: Salma Hindy
Studio: 30 Irving Studios
Artwork: Rana Omar

© The Secret Sex Lives of Muslim Women, 2026

Instagram: @thesecretsexlivesofmuslimwomen

YouTube: @thesecretsexlivesofmuslimwomen

HOST'S INSTAGRAM: @salma.hindy

HOST'S TIKTOK: @salma.hindy