Inside the secret beauty salons of Afghanistan
Bahara uses a single room simultaneously as a sewing workshop and a beauty salon. She has lost about 90 per cent of her clientele since the Taliban crackdown.
What you need to know:
- After the Taliban ordered the closure of around 12,000 women's salons in Afghanistan, many female hairstylists secretly moved their equipment to homes to continue working despite threats.
- Facing economic hardship and constant fear of raids, these resilient women are defying the Taliban's oppressive restrictions to support their families.
- Despite immense challenges, they persist in their fight to regain their basic rights and pursue their profession.
This publication is part of the “Towards Equality” Sparknews-led program, a collaborative alliance of 16 international news outlets highlighting the challenges and solutions to reach gender equality.
In July 2023, the Taliban’s Ministry for Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice ordered the closure of about 12,000 women’s salons in Afghanistan. As a result, tens of thousands of women who had been working in the cosmetology profession for years found themselves unemployed.
Despite ongoing threats from the Taliban, some of these women haven’t abandoned their fight for the right to work. To continue to support their families, they’ve moved salon equipment to their homes, creating workshops.
Operating with fewer customers and low wages, they persist in maintaining hope for a better future.
Bahara*, a married mother of six, has been working as a hairstylist for approximately 18 years. She says that she is currently facing both economic and psychological hardships following the prohibition of salon activities by the Taliban.
In a bid to secure a better future for her family, Bahara has transformed her salon into a women’s tailor shop while continuing her hairstyling work. This allows her to discreetly exercise her natural right to equal employment.
She has nevertheless lost about 90 per cent of her clientele, and the remaining 10 per cent seek her services much less often. In spite of the decline in income, Bahara still has to contribute financially to the Taliban, as her shop is still listed in their financial records, and she must continue payments until the end of the fiscal year, possibly beyond.
“During the previous government, my business flourished, and my income was good. But now, I’ve lost nearly all my customers. Only 10 per cent still visit. I can’t perform my job properly due to fear of the Taliban. While working, I constantly worry that the Taliban might attack, and customers, out of fear of being detained, refrain from coming.”
Fatima*, another female hairstylist in Kabul, has been compelled to move her salon equipment to her home, where she works in spite of the challenges imposed by the Taliban.
For her, this work is the sole means of providing for herself and her children.
“Despite the negative societal perceptions surrounding this profession and the numerous obstacles I faced, I considered hairstyling a legitimate profession, and I made an effort to learn it. I worked independently for six years, providing for my necessities and those of my children. Now, the Taliban not only deem my profession against Sharia, but also view female hairstylists with disdain, labelling us as impure.”
Salons in the provinces have been affected as well. Humaira (pseudonym), a female hairstylist in Baghlan Province who has dedicated 20 years of her life to this profession, says the imposition of Taliban restrictions on women in the provinces surpasses that in cities.
The single room that serves as a sewing workshop and a beauty salon. The Taliban view female hairstylists with disdain, labelling them as impure, says Fatima*.
Following the Taliban’s order to ban the operation of women’s salons, she too has been forced to relocate her business to the basement of her home.
“The Taliban restrictions force us to work in fear, and customers are afraid to come. Previously, many bridal companions used to accompany the bride, but now we say only the bride should come, and if they bring an extra person, they should not enter my house together. We don’t even allow brides to leave the salon in their wedding dresses.”
Humaira relates that after the closure of salons in her province, the Taliban raided the homes of female hairstylists to ensure they hadn’t transferred their beauty supplies home. She adds that one of her friends had built a salon in her home, but the Taliban found out, attacked her house, assaulted her husband and destroyed all her beauty equipment.
A number of female stylists have repeatedly approached the head of the Taliban’s Directorate for Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice to discuss their occupational needs, but have been met with only armed and disrespectful responses.
Since the Taliban’s resurgence in Afghanistan, their most restrictive orders have been against women’s activities.
In recent incidents, they have detained women from various provinces on charges of not adhering to the group’s compulsory hijab, then have taken the women to undisclosed locations. These actions have led to increased confinement of Afghan women to their homes.
Still, there is a significant number of women in Afghanistan, especially hairstylists, who are striving to circumvent these unfavourable conditions and change the country’s restrictive atmosphere. Amid these dire circumstances, they are fighting to keep the hope alive that they will one day regain their natural rights.
*Second names hidden to protect the women's identity.
