If you grew up watching your mum, aunties or grandmothers put on a toub, they probably made it look ridiculously easy. Then you try it yourself and suddenly you have 4.5 metres of fabric and no idea what to do with it 😭.
If that sounds familiar, this one’s for you.
There are different ways to wrap a toub, and everyone eventually finds the way that feels most comfortable for them. But if you’re completely new to it, here’s a simple place to start.
1. Start with what you’re wearing underneath
Before you even pick up the toub, make sure you’re wearing something comfortable underneath. This could be a dress, skirt and top, or whatever works for you.
Try to choose something the fabric can sit comfortably over without creating too much bulk.
2. Start the wrap
Take the shorter end on your right and leave the longer length of fabric on your left.
Bring both ends around to the back and tie them together in a knot at the middle of your back to secure the toub.
From there, you’ll be wrapping with the longer side from the left, moving anti-clockwise around your body if you were looking down from above.
Once that first knot is secure, the rest of the wrapping becomes much easier.
3. Decide how fitted you want it
From here, you can wrap the longer side around your body once, tucking the fabric in slightly as you go to keep everything secure.
Some people skip this step completely and take the fabric straight over the shoulder or head instead.
You can also wrap it around twice before bringing it up. This leaves you with a shorter jed3a and usually gives a more fitted, snatched look around the body.
So really, this part depends on how you like your toub to sit.
4. Bring up the rest of the fabric
Once you’ve wrapped it the way you like, take all the fabric you have left and bring it up over your shoulders or over your head, almost like you’re putting on a hood.
From there, you can arrange the fabric around your head and shoulders and adjust the jed3a until it sits how you like.
This is where you can really play around with the look — some people like more coverage over the head, while others prefer to keep it mostly over the shoulders.
5. Create the wazna
At this point, the rest of the fabric should be hanging on your right side.
Before you throw it over your left shoulder, arrange the fabric across your chest to create the draped look you want. This part is called the wazna.
The word comes from the idea of balance — you’re basically balancing and arranging the fabric until it sits how you like. You can make the draping look neat and even, or leave it a little more relaxed and uneven if that’s more your style.
Once you’re happy with the wazna, whip the remaining fabric over your left shoulder to finish the wrap.
6. Finish with the jed3a
The part that hangs over your shoulder is called the jed3a. The name comes from the idea of throwing the fabric, because this is the part you keep throwing back over your shoulder as it moves.
That’s also why you’ll always see aunties at weddings and parties casually throwing and readjusting their jed3a throughout the night 😭
Once it’s over your left shoulder, you can leave it loose, pull it higher or keep adjusting it until the whole toub sits exactly how you like.
And most importantly: practice
Your first attempt probably isn't going to look like your mum's — and that's fine 😭.
Wrapping a toub is one of those things that becomes easier the more you actually do it. Take your time, play around with the fabric and figure out what works for you.
At Tiyab Mahanna, part of making the toub more accessible means making sure we're actually showing you how to wear it, rather than assuming everyone already knows.
And if 4.5 metres of fabric still sounds a little intimidating… we might be working on something for you 👀🤭✨
We’ve linked a little throwback video on how to wrap the toub for now 🤭
We’ll be filming our own step-by-step tutorial very soon and adding it to this post once it’s ready.
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