I have recently undergone chematherapy for cancer. The drugs I was taking made me lose my hair. The problem is I am of West Indian origin and usually plait my hair for it to grow. Because the hair is so short the only thing to plait is synthetic strands intertwined with my hair to help it to grow. Once the hair is at a reasonable length then I would not need to do this anymore. Is this permissible?

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.

First of all, we ask Allah the Almighty to bestow His cure on you and make this illness expiation for all your sins.

Plaiting the hair by lengthening it with hair is forbidden for both men and women. There are authentic Ahadith proving that.

Al-Nawawi said: "It is forbidden to lengthen the hair with hair for both men and women. The Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) said: "Allah curses those ladies who practice tattooing and those who get themselves tattooed, and those ladies who remove the hair from their faces and those who get their hair removed from their faces and those who make hair pieces and attach them to other women’s hair and the women who have their hair lengthened by artificial hair."

As for lengthening hair with synthetic strands that are not similar to hair, there is disagreement of scholars over it. Al-Nawawi said: "As for plaiting it with silk strands that are dissimilar to the hair, it is not forbidden."

Ibn Qudama also preferred the opinion that states that plating hair with a material different from it is lawful."

To conclude, in Islamweb we believe that it is lawful to plait the hair with strands that would help it grow, provided that these strands do not look like natural hair.

Allah knows best.