After Daesh, Mosul embraces makeovers

mosul (iraq) — For three years, Mosul’s women were covered in black from head to toe and its men had to keep their beards long. Salons were shut, and plastic surgery considered a crime.

But more than a year after the Daesh group’s ouster, the Iraqi city is flaunting its more fabulous side.

Need to zap away a scar or a burn? Cover up a bald spot with implants? Whiten teeth for a dazzling smile? Mosul’s plastic surgeons and beauticians are at your service.

Raji Najib, a Syrian living in Mosul, recently made use of the city’s aesthetic offerings.

The 40-year-old had long been self-conscious of his bald spots, until his friends told him what had worked for them — hair implants at a new clinic in their hometown.

“They told me the equipment was modern, the nurses competent and the prices good,” Najib said.

In Mosul, the average hair implant procedure costs around $800, including the follow-up after the operation.

Nearly 90km to the east in Arbil, or even further north in Turkey, the same operation costs at least $1,200.

Plasma injections to prevent hair loss cost around $63 in Mosul, but at least $20 more in Arbil.

In addition to the difference in price, Najib would have had to put up money and time for travel.

“Going to a clinic in Mosul is much easier, as I don’t have time to travel outside Mosul,” he said.

Mosul, and Iraq more broadly, have been shaken by waves of conflict since the 2003 US-led invasion and paved the way for a war. Hardliners forced women to cover up or stay at home, and extremists in particular targeted hairdressers, many of whom closed their shops in fear.

Another shock came in 2014 when the Daesh group swept across much of Iraq’s north, with the militants making Mosul their de facto capital.

The religious police of Daesh enforced ultra-strict rules on dress for all residents, making sure women showed no skin and men wore ankle-length capris and long beards, with no moustache.

The city has since gotten a makeover. Five beauty clinics have opened since Mosul was recaptured last summer by Iraqi security forces, and they can hardly keep up with the flow of customers, most of them men. —