Fear of beauty parlors spreads in Afghanistan as Taliban crackdown on women’s freedom

Afghan makeup artist Fatema Aaraa said on Saturday that women clients no longer come to her beauty salon because they fear the Taliban.

“Until two months ago, many brides used to sit at this table [for makeup] and it was very crowded here, but as you can see, now no one (women) leaves their house out of fear, and they are not willing to go to beauty salon,” Aaraa told Reuters.

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When the Taliban was in power two decades ago, women had to cover their faces and those who broke the rules sometimes suffered humiliation and public beatings by religious police.

While the new Taliban regime has promised to allow women more freedoms, there have been reports of women being barred from going to work, and some being beaten in recent weeks for protesting Taliban rule.

World News Afghanistan Taliban tell hundreds of women in Afghanistan to stay home, not report to work

“Women tremble and are afraid that the Taliban will enter the beauty salon and say why are you in this shape? Why are you doing make-up? Or, this is a non-Islamic place. In general, people are afraid,” said Aaraa.

In recent weeks, a number of beauty salons’ signs in Kabul, which usually show women and brides with make-up, have been sprayed with white and black colored sprays to hide the faces.

The facade of a beauty salon is pictured with images of women defaced using spray paint in Shar-e-Naw in Kabul on August 18, 2021. (AFP)

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