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What closing beauty salons means to the women of Afghanistan
Alma Begum* authored this report for the Zan Times in Persian, and it was translated into English by Rustam Seerat.
On July 6, the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice declared that women’s beauty salons were wasteful and “against Islamic law,” It ordered them to close “from next month onwards.” After I learned about the decree, I visited a salon that I used to frequent from time to time. The hairdresser is a young woman from central Afghanistan. Mina and her two apprentices work out of a humble shop. All the equipment is second-hand, worth less than 10,000 afghani. There is a three-legged unstable stool that would topple an unsuspecting customer, two full-length mirrors, and a worn-out cabinet that holds only a few beauty supplies. But the owner is a skilled beautician who does a good job with limited resources.
We exchange pleasantries, and after a few minutes of silence, I ask: “I’ve heard that they have issued an order to close the salons.” The hairdresser raises her head and vents her frustration. “What to say, everywhere I look, there’s sadness and sorrow,” she explains.
I ask why she chose this profession. She sighs, runs her hands through her hair, and says: “Out of…
