Beauty salons, which once provided Afghan women with safe space following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 after American-led coalition forces pulled out of the country, were outlawed since 2023, forcing many beauticians and their clients underground.
‘They can stone us and flog us – I will keep using makeup’: why women risk everything in Afghanistan’s secret salonshttps://t.co/lSDPzozG0M#EndGenderApartheidInAfghanistan @WRNAfghanistan@EGACampaign@guardian pic.twitter.com/rkVKgEOwK3
— Sara (@Sara98ahr) August 4, 2024
But this ban did not stop many beauticians and their customers from covertly visiting secret beauty parlors, despite the risks of running these secret salons and visiting them, such as the possibility of facing fines, jail time, or worse.
This was the main topic of The Guardian’s special report on how beauty salon owners, hairstylists, and beauticians, as well as their patrons, are carrying on despite the Taliban’s sweeping suppression of beauty salons, which was implemented in 2023 because a number of the services they offered, such as applying makeup and shaping eyebrows, were violating their strict and ultraconservative interpretation of Islamic law.
The ban devastated the more than 12,000 beauty salons in Afghanistan and the 60,000 women who worked in this sector. But the salons did more than employ tens of thousands of Afghan women. They also served an essential social function by providing women with safe, female-only spaces where they could meet outside their homes without needing a male guardian.
An Afghan beautician, whose identity has been kept anonymous shared the story of how she has managed to continue her work despite the Taliban's ban on beauty salons.
Visit https://t.co/3j2DXrUYCI for more. pic.twitter.com/b8xcaZ22y0— Global South World (@g_s_world) August 13, 2024
However, this is not the first time the Taliban cracked down on beauty parlors in Afghanistan. During their first stint in power from 1996 until 2001, they banned beauty salons, which was lifted during the Western military occupation of Afghanistan, where thousands of beauty parlors popped up in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and other cities in the country.
Many beauticians secretly defied the ban by continuing their work to feed their families, as financial hardship is the leading driver for the country’s beauty sector, which was forced underground following the 2023 ruling, implemented two years after the Taliban took over the country and initially promised a more moderate rule.
Some women transformed their homes into clandestine salons, while other beauticians would visit their customers in their homes. However, Afghan beauticians must observe strict rules to continue their work, such as hiding banned products in their burqas or using branded plastic bags from well-known grocery stores to carry their tools.
Beauty salon staff in Kabul paint over the images of women on their hoarding , because the women aren’t wearing hijabs #AfghanWomen pic.twitter.com/uqYm3AfDEi
— Akshita Nandagopal (@Akshita_N) August 17, 2021
Continuing this kind of work comes at a huge personal risk, as beauticians risk being turned in by their neighbors, makeup suppliers, or fake customers working as informants for the Taliban. Mass surveillance, introduced by Taliban authorities to enforce their strict interpretation of Sharia law, also aggravated this risk.
Since coming to power, the Taliban cracked down on even the most basic rights for Afghanistan’s 21 million women and girls. Confined to their homes, unable to work or study freely, or even visit public spaces such as gyms, parks, and restaurants, the number of Afghan women taking their own lives is increasing, while sexual abuse is at an all-time high.
