Realities of wearing it: most of the time I forget I'm even wearing it. The cloth is so light although you can get thicker materials which might make you feel hot but I pick the thinner ones.
I've been wearing it since I was about 16. Just one day got up and wore it. I wasn't even in my home town. Quite random really lol.
I can tell you when I first wore it I was still at school and going after school activities with Muslim kids. I didn't wear it at school, just used to take it off at the school gates and on when I left. I did used to wonder what my non muslim friends would think because for me, Islam is a 24/7 thing and is not foreign to me, we wake up making a prayer praising God and go to sleep like that. We eat starting a prayer and the way we eat is also how our messenger peace be upon him advised us to eat ie split the stomach into 3. One for food. One for water and one for air to breathe. Similarly we have a way of living that is recommended to us and that's for our own health benefit. I'm going a little off topic here so to bring it back quickly, because Islam is 24/7 to us eg even when looking out the window I can see a tree and we believe all living things like that are praising God hence we shouldn't pick leaves or flowers and let them be unless theyve fallen...
So for me wearing it was a next step for me in my religion and way of life. To another person it would just be, why would you cover your face? So I used to wonder what they'd think... To be honest they were happy to recognise my voice one day when I was out and talking and my friend called out my name, as in is that you?
Now in my 20s I still forget sometimes I'm wearing it as it becomes a part of you but I'm still me inside. I'm still the Londoner who grew up in London but sadly like many, I moved as it was too much of a rat race and less time for family. That's not what I think life is for. And I guess God puts us wherever we are for a reason. So in London I had no problems with niqab, but moving out about two and a half hours away, my oh my. People don't hesitate to make a underhand comment. This isn't all the time but in some places you notice it more. I mean they could just come and say it clearly to me and not under their breath but this is one of the wonders of people I guess! Generally everything is normal as can be though.
Since Boris had his say, I noticed that it's like being a celebrity or something. Not really. But more than a handful of times I've seen people of all ages see me, have their mouths wide open and then prod the person next to them so they can see me too and don't miss it. Lol. It's like oh my gosh I've actually seen a niqabi! That lasted about two days and everything is normal again.
In Islam we believe that God does not look at our outer appearance but what is in our hearts. Perhaps this is one of the wisdoms behind the Islamic dress is men and women dress pretty similar (long dress) except women cover their face. We can all look quite similar and you'd see this in Makkah when people go for the Hajj or just in general, no matter what colour or race, where people are from, everyone looks the same as everyone dresses Islamically. The focus is prayer and getting closer to God and getting rewards for the hereafter. So in general we shouldn't exert too much effort and money in flashy clothes etc, keep simple, live simply and get more in the hereafter. Focus on being kind, generous (to family and to charity) and being helpful. Hence I don't have to worry about curling my hair or straightening it, I just need to be neat and clean so I'll brush my hair, change my clothes and put on niqab and go out. Then when I'm home and relaxing if I want to go all out and curl my hair or dress up or whatever I can.
If you have any specific questions about the realities of wearing it just ask those and I'll try and come back to answer.