Ladies' Salons

All the Ladies Salons here are sheilded from public view. At first, I found it hard to even find them in the mall. Unlike back home where there are large plate-glass windows with the salon chairs in full view, most of the salons here are a single closed frosted-glass door. The rest of the shopfront would be a wall or else more frosted glass. The salons are also placed in out of the way corners of the mall (little side hallways or far corners).

The reason, of course, is so that women can go in to have services without having to be seen by the public.

The first few times I went in, I almost felt like I was creeping into an inner secret sanctuary. I would tentatively open the door, not even certain it was open. Once inside, however, the place is completely like any salon or spa back home. Usually, the covered women will take off their head scarf (shayla) while in the salon and drape it over their shoulders. I'm sure it is much more cool and comfortable. Occassionally, depending upon the service they are getting, they will actually take off the body covering (abaya).

A large percentage (maybe 30-40%) of women choose to wear the traditional dress under their abaya (I wish I remembered what the dress is called). The dress is a long floor-length and made with very very colorful material. The dress is fitted in the body area, and then flows loosely to the floor. Depending upon the quality of the dress, there are usually jewels and embroidery at the neck, sleeves, and hem. Each dress is beautiful and completely unique. Another large percentage of women will wear western dress; jeans, sandals (usually jeweled - the Arabs LOVE them some bling), and shirt (usually a beautiful silk or jeweled shirt). I think that the division is also a reflection of age - the younger women and teens definitely tend toward western dress.

Most of the abayas in Dubai will completely cover the woman's clothes, from head to toe. Although, there are some women who will choose an abaya that just has about 3 buttons at the neck and then opens up - so you can see her clothes as she walks. Also, most of the women will completely cover their hair with a shayla or hijab. There are about 20% of women who will also cover their entire face (some even cover their eyes with a veil).

We saw a woman in line at the grocery store on Friday who had a black veil covering her face. It was the first time Lyra asked me why some women dress like that. Up until now, she seemed to take it very matter of factly - many of the mothers at her school dress that way and even her friends at school have mothers and fathers who dress in the abaya and dishdash. Anyway, what seemed to prompt her questions was this veil. Lyra asked me, "Can she see with that?" It was a pretty sheer veil, I could see the sun shining through and the woman's profile. I told her that yes, she could see. And then she asked, "Why do some women dress that way?" Honestly, I wish I knew more about why - I told her it was for modesty (which she then wanted to know what modesty was). While this was going on, the woman running the cash register (also in abaya and hair covered) and the veiled woman in front were smiling - I was trying very hard to be respectful in my answers, but it is hard sometimes to explain the faith of others.

Last night, I was having a manicure & pedicure and I realized how "normal" the salon set up now seems to me. I go to a spa where both women and men are served. The reception desk is in a common area and then women and men both go into their private areas for pedicures, foot massage, or body massage (of course that is in a private room). While in the ladies area, I was the only non-muslim in there. All the other ladies had taken off their abayas and shaylas for their foot treatmens (massage & pedicure). It struck me how, normal it felt - no sense of awareness that I was in a "different" world until I started to remember how odd my first trips to the salons had felt when I arrived.

That is definitely one thing that has changed for me. The vast array of arab and muslim dress is hardly noticeable now. I hadn't even noticed the veiled woman until Lyra asked her question. It has become normal - which is how it should be everywhere. I can now sympathize with how awful it must feel to Muslims and Arabs to be dicriminated and shunned based on their dress. For us in the West - it is very difficult to get beyond the emotions that seeing people dressed this way creates. We've been trained to feel a sense of anxiety. Living in the Middle East, I am glad that I'm learning how "normal" this place really is.