Unheard-of during the reign of Saddam Hussein and unthinkable during years of violence, an unlikely innovation is slowly being rolled out in Baghdad by Iraqis back from overseas: the one-stop beauty centre.
Three decades of instability – from wars with Iran, Kuwait and the US-led invasion, to 13 years of sanctions and embargo, and a sectarian war in which thousands died – all but ruled out leisure activities for women, including trips to a beauty salon.
But Ali Bulbul, armed with over 30 years’ experience doing make-up for TV broadcasters, is determined to change all that. The 51-year-old left the country in 1990, after Saddam Hussein invaded neighbouring Kuwait. Having returned for good in 2005, he began working again as a make-up artist for Iraqi TV channels.
Early last month, he and an associate opened Specialised Beauty Centre in the centre of Baghdad. It is there that Mr Bulbul aims to offer a single-point attraction for the city’s privileged upper classes.
The centre features skincare and body treatments, a sauna and jacuzzi, yoga and aerobic classes, the last two of which are virtually unprecedented in Iraq. In addition there is a gym outfitted with shining, new exercise equipment and a weight loss centre, nail salon, tattoo parlour, and a make-up and hair salon.
Unusually in Iraq, the centre makes prolific use of technological devices and although for now the handful of clients are mostly housewives, men also attend on the two days a week reserved exclusively for male customers.
“We are more comfortable now,” said Farah Saad, a 27-year-old mother of two.
“We can go out and wear anything we want – we used to put on scarves, but not now. We are exploring life more and more.”
A pre-wedding hair and make-up session costs €225, while a subscription to the centre’s gym and jacuzzi is €75 per month, both of which are expensive in a country where the official rate of poverty is 23 per cent.
During the insurgency and sectarian war that raged across Iraq in the years following the US-led 2003 invasion, tens of thousands of people were killed.
Religious extremists in particular targeted hairdressers, most of whom closed their shops in fear. Women, few of whom were veiled before 2003, were suddenly forced to cover their skin and stay at home.