Barber shops, beauty salons see drop in footfall

AMMAN — A significant decline in the number of clients of beauty salons and barber shops has been observed during the holy month of Ramadan, according to a sector representative.

In a phone interview with The Jordan Times on Sunday, President of the General Syndicate for Beauty Parlour Owners Eyad Samara said that men and women visit salons and barber shops less frequently during the fasting month. All the while the sector continues to face major closures across the Kingdom.

“No less than 15 per cent of Jordan’s beauty salons have closed. With time, the situation is only getting worse, however, we still hope that the government would gradually remove curfews and Friday lockdowns, which have been having a strong negative impact on all economic sectors,” according to Samara, who added that 6pm closures of all shops in compliance with the defence orders have meant that people have less time to visit salons and barber shops.

Anwar Mohammad, a Jordanian barber, told The Jordan Times that many of his clients who used to come to get a shave or a haircut stopped coming since the onset of the pandemic and now with Ramadan and the early closure of business facilities his business is “quite low”.

“Many of my clients started using at-home haircutting kits while others started coming less frequently. As a result of the reduced workload, some employees had to leave the business and currently only two workers remain in the job” Mohammad said.

Beauty lounges during Ramadan and in particular before Eid Al Fitr used to bustle with customers in the previous years, Wafaa Al Manaseer, a Jordanian hairdresser, said on Sunday. She said that her clients enjoyed coming because it was a place to get service and socialise.

“Ramadan and Eid were always special seasons. Now work has dropped by more than 50 per cent,” Manaseer added.