Being a Muslim hairdresser is far from easy. I can hand on heart say I truly believe it to be virtually impossible to complete a halal days work if working in a mainstream regular salon as an employee (unless you have one heck of a sweet and understanding manager) I am a self-employed mobile hairdresser and I still have trouble lol.
Many Muslim women are in different levels of their religion and sometimes are not really fully aware of certain prohibitions in Islam regarding salon beauty treatments and hair styles along with their various procedures. I have many times tried to explain in the nicest way possible why I do not provide certain services but have still somehow managed to offend my Muslim sister client ;(
In sha Allah, I have taken the time to write this blog to hopefully offer some light and understanding to the matter.
Let me start by sharing this translated aya of Quran from surah al-Maa’idah in the hope that it can explain some things:
“Help you one another in Al‑Birr and At‑Taqwa (virtue, righteousness and piety); but do not help one another in sin and transgression. And fear Allaah. Verily, Allaah is Severe in punishment”
[al-Maa’idah 5:2].
As a female Muslim hairdresser I am firstly, only allowed to work on Muslim women & children, but thats not all, my clients have to be PRACTISING Muslim women that understand the teachings of Islam in regards to their modesty and femininity to make my job halal. I, as your sincere Muslim sister in Islam do not want bad for you, nor do I want to help you sin and take part in it. I only want to help in good and righteousness in sha Allah. I want to earn a halal income with my sisters in Islam by offering a trusted and reliable service in a private environment. This means I have to trust my client to comply with the following prohibitions:
1.The client must not flaunt or show her hair and beauty to non mahrams (this means any male other than her husband, father, brother, uncle or nephew). The Muslim hairdresser generally helps the client maintain a healthy and often attractive hairstyle, their passion is to make your hair look and feel it’s best in sha Allah, this being the case, if the client is showing off their hair to non mahrams, free mixing in non halal places etc, the hairdresser is then participating in this sin too and will be held accountable for it.
2. The client can not show her hair and beauty or even the non awrah parts of the body to non muslim females. This is because they may speak of it to someone else without thought and describe your personal traits/features that are usually concealed. Also in the society we live in currently, it has become impossible to know what ones sexuality really is, women who are attracted to women or a man impersonating a woman etc etc.
image credit: https://www.pinterest.cl/pin/575757133596273758/
3. When completing a party hair and makeup service, the client must not attend a party or celebration with any haram linked to it, such as free mixing with men, music, alcohol etc. In the event of wearing party makeup a Muslimah is advised to even cover her face in public, or in front of non mahrams, until she arrives at the halal and safe party environment she was invited to. Otherwise the hairdresser/beautician will be helping them in their sin of tabarruj, and causing haraam adornment to appear on them before non-mahrams.
4. We as a MUSLIM Hairdresser must refrain from using cosmetics and makeup that contain chemicals that are harmful to the body as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “there should be no harming or reciprocating harm.” Using makeup containing animal fats & alcohol are also questionable which is why it’s important to research the products thoroughly or just stick to what you know is halal. It is a Muslim hairdressers/beauticians responsibility to make sure that the products being used on their Muslim clients are safe and halal.
image credit: https://evedare.com/blogs/news/7-harmful-ingredients-to-avoid-in-skincare-products
5. We must refrain from plucking the eyebrows & tattooing the skin. The evidence for that is the hadeeth of ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Mas’ood (RAA) who said: I heard the Messenger of Allaah (PBUH) say: “Allaah has cursed the woman who does tattoos and the one who has them done, the woman who plucks eyebrows (al-naamisah) and the one who has it done (al-mutanammisah), and the one who files her teeth for the purpose of beauty, altering the creation of Allaah.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 5931; Muslim, 2125). Note that both the one who is doing it together with the one who has it done is mentioned to be cursed!
image source: https://www.muslimsandtheworld.com/are-muslims-allowed-to-pluck-their-eyebrows/
6. We must refrain from adding hair extensions or wigs. The evidence for that is in the following hadeeth of Al-Bukhaari (5937) and Muslim (2122) narrated from Ibn ‘Umar (RAA) that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: “May Allah curse the one who adds hair extensions and the one who has them added, the one who does tattoos and the one who has them done.” In another hadeeth Al-Bukhaari and Muslim (2122) narrated that Asma’ bint Abi Bakr said: A woman came to the Prophet (PBUH) and said: “O Messenger of Allaah, I have a daughter who is newly married, and she had the measles and her hair fell out. Can I give her hair extensions?” He said: “Allaah has cursed the one who fixes hair extensions and the one who has that done.”
image credit: https://www.popsugar.com/beauty/Hair-Extension-Before-After-Photos-45007271
7. We as a MUSLIM Hairdresser must refrain from looking at or removing hair from another sisters awrah. The women’s awrah is from her navel to the knees, so we can only perform hair removal treatments to the lower legs/shins starting from the knees, feet, full arms & underarms and hands. From the face, the upper lip and between the eyebrows are allowed to be removed and in the event that a sister should have heavy hair forming around the beard area, she is permitted to remove this as well.
image credit: https://www.expatwoman.com/dubai/salons-spas/different-types-of-waxing-in-dubai-youll-find
8. We must refrain from cutting, styling or dyeing the hair in ways that resemble immoral women and non Muslims because the Prophet (PBUH) said, “Whoever imitates a people is one of them.” (Narrated by Abu Dawood, 4031.) “And if any amongst you takes them (as Awliyaa’), then surely, he is one of them” (al-Maa’idah 5:51). A muslim woman is not allowed to shave her hair or cut it in a style that will be disagreeable to her husbands taste. If you are thinking of having a haircut always talk it over with your husband first and come to an agreement on what suits you best. A woman usually cuts her hair to reduce the length and thickness for ease and there are many permissible styles to accomplish this, however there are certain hairstyles a Muslim hairdresser should not carry out, such as cutting the hair shorter than the earlobes, shaving parts of the hair and leaving other parts, cutting certain areas of the hair short and leaving other areas very long so that there is a disconnection. (I am planning to do a more detailed post about this very soon, please subscribe to stay posted)
image credit: https://cherellejardine.com/rihanna/
9. Applying false nails is harmful to the nails, misleading, unhygienic and invalidates your wudhu by not allowing the water to get to the real layer of the nails. On the occasions that women are not praying and wish to have pretty nails for themselves or for their husbands, one must still bare in mind that wearing attractive colours and designs while going out in public can still be seen doubtful if it draws too much attention, and Allah knows best. In either case it’s more convenient to remove varnish/polish before going out than removing glued on fake nails!
image credit: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/beauty-hair/nails/news/a48117/acrylic-nail-addiction-damage/
10. Applying false eyelashes is not permissible because this comes under the ruling on wearing hair extensions where the real eyelashes are extended with the false ones. Moreover some doctors have mentioned that false eyelashes lead to chronic allergies in the skin and eyes, and to infection in the eyelids, and may even cause the eyelashes to fall out! So using them is harmful, and Allah SWT forbids that as the Prophet (PBUH) said: “There should be neither harming nor reciprocating harm.”
So, in conclusion, I hope you have found this article useful, if you should have any input and or any experiences and advice to add please do so in the comments section. It would be most beneficial to elaborate a bit further on these topics 😉
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