The Halal Nail Polish: Religion and Body Politics in the Marketplace

In January 2013 the Polish cosmetic company Inglot introduced the first ever halal nail polish, the O2M line of breathable nail enamel. Wearing nail polish is a contentious issue for pious Muslim women, both symbolically and materially. While some religious scholars emphasize that looking beautiful is a requirement in Islam, others call for a refrain from any action that would attract the male gaze. Moreover, wearing nail polish interferes with ablution, a ritualized body cleansing process that every Muslim should undertake before prayer. Because nail polish sets a permanent barrier between water and nail, ablution cannot be performed without first removing the nail polish. Inglot claims to have devised a formula of breathable nail polish, which allows water to penetrate nail, hence is suitable for prayer. In this paper, I use halal nail polish as a case to interrogate the complex ways through which social, cultural, material and religious interpretations of body intersect with marketplace dynamics and in form identities. The perception and evaluation of one’s own body and physical appearance contribute significantly to self-concept (Thompson and Hirschman 1995). Within the logic of consumer culture, body turns into a site of endless choice and possibility. However, the relationship between body and choice becomes complicated in the context Muslim identities. As substantial amount of research has shown the concept of modesty plays an important role in shaping Muslim identities and practices related to body. While modesty requirement applies both men and women, it is the female body that modesty becomes embodied, most prominently in the form of Islamic veiling (Ahmed 1992; El Guindi, 1999; Mahmood, 2005; Sandıkcı and Ger, 2010). Increasingly, the discussions of a modest body take place in the marketplace. The veiling industry and related Muslim lifestyle media promote products and images that promise women fashion able yet modest looks (Sandıkcı and Ger 2007). Underlying these is an understanding that modest dressing, like other body management practices, is a choice for individual women. This emphasis on choice resonates with the construction of the neoliberal consumer subject and aligns religious norms with market logic. The introduction of halal nail polish exemplifies this mutually informing relationship between Islam and neoliberal consumerism. However, what is interesting in this case is the product’s capacity to invoke internal debates about female body and concepts of modesty.