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Khalil The Lady Hairdresser Upsets Egypt’s Islamic Establishment

CAIRO (dpa) – Hairdresser Fatma Ahmed is a rarity in Egypt and to survive in this male-dominated society she needs all the optimism, determination and joviality of spirit she can summon.

Fatma Ahmed Khalil, 46, describes herself as the only woman in Egypt who specializes in trimming men’s hair – in every aspect of hairdressing, including shaving beards and moustaches.

If there are other women in the business, Ahmed is adamant that none offers her all-round service. Khalil first began trimming in the late 1970s, and by 1985 she had opened her own salon for men.

“Its called Magic,” she says, translating the name of her salon, which is tacked away on the edge of Giza, a few kilometres from down town Cairo.

When she applied for a licence for the business, it had not occurred to the officials who promptly granted her permission to operate that she would be doing the tasks herself.

Naturally, she says, “they assumed that I would employ other men to do the job”.

She jumps up, grabs a pair of scissors from her son, Ramy – who helps her out at the salon – and begins trimming a patron’s beard, lifting and tilting his head as she works.

Most patrons had difficulty accepting this kind of service from a woman, a chuckling Khalil explains, adding that a society dominated by male authority found this quite unacceptable.

As word of her talent spread, local imams who lead Moslem Friday prayers began to call for her expulsion – but she managed to win over some sympathizers who asked the imam if he would prefer her to dance or sell alcohol instead.

This argument effectively ended the debate about her job, although the preachers were not her only problem.

Khalil recalls how the family, particularly her mother, was dismayed when she found out what her daughter did for a living and decided to sever all ties.

“It was only after I married and my family discovered that my husband had nothing against what I did that things began to improve,” she adds.

The marriage, however, was short-lived and after a traumatic divorce she settled down on her own until she met her second husband, a “very understanding and supportive” veterinarian.

Before they married, he was a regular at her shop – and one of her biggest admirers.

Ramy, Khalil’s only son, has also picked up the profession and they work in shifts at the salon.

She claims she had no trouble breaking with tradition and adds that, anyway, she had always loathed doing women’s hair, a job which she describes as very demanding.

Khalil lights up a cigarette and blows the smoke towards the many posters of the Back Street Boys that adorn the walls of her salon – and no one blinks an eye.

“I prefer to have a young lady here to help me,” she says finally, “but it’s difficult in a rather conservative area like this”. Not that it’s wrong, she says – “it’s just a psychological thing”.

In a society where there are no women judges, where women taxi- drivers are hard to find and women car mechanics are unheard of, the idea of a woman hairdresser is – literally – hair-raising.

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