Beauty salons banned for neglect of guidelines: Afghanistan's ministry

Following ban on women's beauty salons in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Vice and Virtue said they were banned because they neglected to bring into effect the guidelines provided by the ministry

Following the ban on women's beauty salons in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Vice and Virtue said they were banned because they neglected to bring into effect the guidelines provided by the ministry, reported TOLO News.

The ministry added that the guidelines were sent four months ago to the women's beauty salons but were not followed by them.

According to the guidelines, there were several instructions which were supposed to be followed. Some of them were, that female make-up artists should perform prayer during prayer time and they should observe the Islamic hijab. There were many instructions regarding ablution such as, women should take ablution before taking makeup, as well as, the place for ablution should be provided in every woman's beauty salon.

Moreover, female makeup artists were also not allowed to go to the clients' houses, TOLO News reported.

Mohammad Akif Mahajar, a spokesman for the Ministry of Vice and Virtue said, "We have allowed them in whatever condition for several months but as they didn't fulfil the guidelines in the letter and it was not implemented, they were closed."

Whereas, the Union of Women's beauty salons said that the Ministry of Vice and Virtue did not have any plan to monitor the implementation of the guideline after it was submitted to the women's beauty salons.

They added that the order to ban the women's beauty salons was made abruptly, according to TOLO News.

Meena Sultani, Head of the Union of Women's beauty salons in Kabul said, "They told us and we coordinated it with the female make-up artists that tattoo should not be performed in your salons… the clients should not be without hijab and observe hijab inside your salons."

"We are Muslim. We prayed and we took ablution. We don't charge our clients with expensive prices," said Wazhma, a woman's beauty salon owner.

However, the female make-up artists said that they will follow any guidelines provided by the Taliban, but their shops should not be closed, according to TOLO News.

"They should have done a survey and checked the beauty salons and monitored who does not observe the 14 principle guidelines, and those who were not implementing it, should have been held accountable," said Sadaf, a female make-up artist.

Mahtab, another female make-up artist said, "I call on the Islamic Emirate to give us a chance. Those who fulfil the guidelines should be allowed to work as they are the breadwinners of their families and those who don't fulfil it, their shops should be closed."

Furthermore, according to the Union of Female make-up artists, more than 50,000 workers who are working in around 12,000 women's beauty salons are likely to lose their jobs if the order goes into effect, reported TOLO News.