Indian beauty parlours
- PDF / 326,685 Bytes
- 3 Pages / 536 x 697 pts Page_size
- 80 Downloads / 175 Views
Indian beauty parlours Rita Rupal
Whenever I plan a trip to India, I am excited, not just because I am about to visit a vibrant and hugely diverse country, nor the fact I shall be getting together with dear friends and relatives, but what I really look forward to is visiting the Indian beauty parlours. As an NRI, which the government has classified as Non-Residential Indian, I am struck by the difference between some parlours here and the ones in India. I rarely visit white beauty parlours in England. I actually find them cold and intimidating – the immaculate white women in white coats, clinically perfect, either with their scrubbed English rose complexions, or their permanent tans. My feeling of not belonging is accentuated. The parlors in India are rather more reminiscent of the barbers in England in the 1970s. Some are a bit shabby and full of seventies kitsch. Upon entering, one is likely to be assaulted by shiny pink plastic mingled with the smells of bleach and wax. The latest Bollywood pop songs blast from the 1950s radio. I am grateful that the windows always obscure us from any passing prying eyes. Well at least from the outside world. The fact that beauty parlours are seen everywhere in India is obviously an indication of the demand from women for this service. The love of pomp and ceremony presents many opportunities for visiting one’s favorite parlor for a make over or intricate hairstyle. The elaborateness of bridal make-up dictates the necessity of hiring a beautician, though not always exclusively for the bride. Beauty parlours are also attractive to women set on running their own businesses, as all that is required to start one is a room in your own home and some basic tools of the trade. One which attracted me in South Delhi had a sign on the door, ‘WOMEN ONLY – NO MEN’. I went in – no appointments are necessary, you just enter. I felt instantly comfortable, as it was very relaxed. The parlour was cool with electric fans whirling away. It was a spacious room, but had many chairs crammed into
88
feminist review 71 2002 c 2002 Feminist Review. 0141-7789/02 $15 www.feminist-review.com (88–104)
it with an area that was screened off. I flirted with the idea of a bikini wax, but came to my senses immediately. I sat down next to what appeared to be a college girl. She was sitting with bleach frothing on her top lip. Hair removal and lightening seems very big in India. Another woman was having her eyebrows threaded – I had thought this was unique to the Asian subcontinent, but have since learnt it is also practised in many other parts of the world. The parlours cater for women of all economic classes. The more up-market they are, the more they resemble parlours from the industrialized countries with beauticians wearing the dreaded white coats. The beauty parlours attached to five-star hotels such as the Hilton or Hyatt are a far less colourful experience than the ordinary beauty parlours situated in busy high streets. Packed into everyday places of bazaars and markets which women frequent, the parl
Data Loading...
