Cutting hair in the name of empowerment
Hafsa Lodi speaks to the owner of Dubai hair salon Pastels, which is part of a scheme next month to train underprivileged women in the Philippines
Hair salons, whether they’re elaborate, sprawling spaces or tiny corner shops in lower-income neighbourhoods, are a common feature across almost all cultures. And they often act as an important hub for the women of any given community, even during testing economic times. Haircutting, therefore, can be an exceptionally lucrative trade to learn.
Ruksher Malik, a trained hairstylist and owner of Pastels salon in Dubai, which has been operating in the Emirates since 2004, certainly understands the value of being skilled in the hair-cutting profession, which is why she will be sending some of her employees on a volunteer mission next month, where they will share their knowledge.
On January 6, volunteers from Pastels will be travelling to the Philippines with a group of Australian and Canadian hairstylists. As part of an initiative organised by Hair Aid, the hairstylists will help train underprivileged women in Quezon City, near the country’s capital, Manila.
Hair Aid is an Australian nonprofit organisation that seeks to teach hair-cutting skills to uneducated women living in impoverished communities in the East. “They’ve run several programmes over the years and have gone to places such as Bali and Thailand – areas that require women to be uplifted from their lives,” Malik says.
She says that education is one of the key principles shared by Hair Aid and Pastels – each member of her own staff, Malik says, receives some form of training at least four times a year. “I like to support anything that promotes education. Even within our teams, our junior stylists and assistants never stay at that level – they always grow in the job,” she says.
But what resonates most with Malik about Hair Aid is its aim to help make women more independent. “I’m all about female empowerment, and I always have been since I was very little,” she says. “I knew for a fact that I did not ever want to be dependent on my husband or have to ask him for money, and that’s what has always driven me to work.” Malik has two daughters, and says that she has drilled this mindset into them, too.
The trip will be a no-frills, humanitarian journey. “We’ve been told it will be very basic – we’ll be staying in a one-star hotel, nothing fancy. You wear basic sneakers and shorts with Hair Aid T-shirts, and carry your backpack, water bottle and tools,” she says.
Cutting hair, Malik tells me, isn’t too tricky. She explains that the Hair Aid programme is straightforward and standardised: during the course of five days, the volunteers will be teaching five basic cuts.
Though Hair Aid is a project that deals primarily with hair-cutting, one of the Pastels volunteers travelling to the Philippines is also trained in nail-care, and may have a chance to teach women the skills required to give a professional manicure. “Though it’s not part of the programme, there’s really a big demand for nails, so we’ll see there if there’s scope for it,” Malik says.
In line with other salons in the city, a simple haircut and blow-dry at Pastels can cost close to Dh400, but Malik recognises what “privileged lives” many of us lead in the UAE. She hopes to cement her partnership with Hair Aid so that she can continue sending volunteers to help empower women from low-income communities in the future.
“I just want to help upgrade their lives so they can become independent,” she says. “It can make their lives better for them, and their children.”
Hair Aid is a non-profit organisation that seeks to teach hair-cutting skills to uneducated women