SAUDI ARABIA

The ugliness within

Fights the norm at beauty salons as Saudi and expat stylists clash over customers

July 22, 2017

Saudi Gazette report

THE beauty salon industry in the Kingdom has long been dominated by expatriate workers but in recent years, as an increasing number of Saudi beauticians and hair stylists have sought employment in the industry, salon owners have complained of frequent skirmishes and in many cases, discrimination by customers who question the credentials of Saudi beauticians and hair stylists.

Al-Riyadh daily reports on the infighting that is rocking the world of beauty.

Businesswoman Sahr Al-Mobeen put the blame on customers who she said often discriminate between a Saudi female stylist and a non-Saudi one who work at the same beauty salon. This sort of biased preference shown by customers is enough to create animosity between employees.

“While it is true that most non-Saudi beauticians have great skills, some of them are unqualified and need a lot of training. But customers assume that all non-Saudi beauticians and stylists have the same level of skills, which is not true. Saudi beauticians and stylists are as good as their non-Saudi counterparts,” she explained.

Amina Al-Sultan, a beauty salon owner who has been in the business for 30 years, agreed with Al-Mobeen and said customers must learn to trust Saudis.

“I have noticed several times that customers leave the salon if they do not see female non-Saudi beauticians and stylists. In fact, most customers prefer Filipino beauty professionals. That is why any salon that hires Filipino workers will be successful and full of customers,” Al-Sultan said.

She has somewhat succeeded in striking harmony between her Saudi and non-Saudi employees.

“Women are jealous by nature; hiring workers of different nationalities will definitely create a form of competition among workers that can lead to fights,” she said.

Al-Sultan owns several beauty salons and always tries to make sure that her staff are on good terms with one another and do not get involved into disputes over customers.

Despite her efforts, she admits that tempers do flare up occasionally. On one occasion, Al-Sultan said a stylist who was embroiled in a fight with another stylist over a customer attempted to throw flammable material on the other.

“Luckily, I happened to be in the next room when the altercation took place. I stepped in and contained it immediately before things got worse and terminated the contract of both employees on the spot,” she said.

Nawal Abdullah, also a beauty salon owner, said her four beauticians – three Filipinos and one Indian – were always fighting with one another. When she hired two Saudis, the women stopped fighting with one another and united against the Saudis, who they viewed as a common threat.

“After I hired the two Saudi beauticians, all fights and arguments between the Filipinos and the Indian stopped. Now the four expatriate workers have united against the two newly-hired Saudis women. Sometimes, fights happen in front of customers, which is bad as this effects business,” she said.

For customers, being caught in the crossfire of warring beauticians and stylists is not fun. Asma Al-Salih was having her hair and nails done when a fight broke out between the workers. Things escalated and one of the women had to be transported to the hospital.

The experience left Asma shaken and she vowed to never go back.

“It’s scary when all of a sudden the women who are working on you start fighting. There are so many chemicals around someone could get hurt. Owners should do more to keep their employees happy,” she said.


July 22, 2017
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