Dubai battles to clean up beauty business

Dubai battles to clean up beauty business

Better safe than sorry: Dubai advises you to carry your own beauty kit with you to avoid diseases in the salon.

May 19, 2010 1:17 by shafeer

Kipp, just like everyone else, wants to look at its best, and beauty parlors are cashing in on this trend. Salons are springing up all over the UAE, it seems, for both women and men (the days when gents entered salons only for a haircut are long gone; now, there are many exclusive parlors for men who long to shine).

But just how safe are these beauty salons?

The Public Health and Safety Department of Dubai Municipality conducted 26,000 inspections in the 3,500 ladies and gents salons in Dubai last year. Shockingly, 2,006 violations were noticed, according to Eng. Redha Hassan Salman, Director of Public Health and Safety Department.

Nasty. But let’s look at the bright – or should that be, beautiful – side. Dubai’s government will battle it out. So don’t freak out; these inspections are a blessing in disguise. The Municipality has recently launched a month-long public campaign under the title “Together elevating standards of health and safety” aimed to focus on health awareness.

The campaign also intends to educate beauty parlors and barber shops on the hygiene practices necessary to preserve the safety of their customers; practices that will also reflect positively on their business investments.

Fines ranging from AED 500 to a whopping AED 50,000 will be imposed on violators. The scale of the fine will depend on the grade of the institution and the repetitions and severity of the violations, Salman told the Khaleej Times. Dubai residents can contact the municipality to inform it about violators through its toll-free number, or through its website.

Dubai seems genuinely worried about its residents’ safety, and keen to point out that the brisk business of a beauty salon is not the child’s play it may seem to be.

And it’s right – infectious instruments at a beauty salon can transmit fatal diseases including HIV/Aids, hepatitis B, C and contagious fungal infections. Beauty salons may be there to keep you beautiful, but they might also be endangering your health.