Beauty salons across Afghanistan were silent as of July 26, a day after a deadline from Taliban rulers passed in another sign of the curbing of rights and freedoms of women in the impoverished country.
According to a decree issued by the Taliban's Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, makeup artists and hairdressers had until July 25 to close their salons.
The move has sparked rare public opposition from many Afghan women, and it was not clear if any salons were not complying. The ministry has not said if it will use force to close those not following the edict.
The closure of salons leaves a major hole in the economic and social lives of many Afghan women, who have seen their freedoms eroded since the Taliban militants took power in August 2021 in the wake of the withdrawal of international troops from the country.
"I am not only upset because of the money I will lose, but my dreams are crushed," said Nada, a makeup artist in the capital, Kabul who opened her salon five years ago.
"To me, my salon held a spiritual value. The fact that I was a helping hand for an orphaned girl when I earned money meant everything to me. Where does the Shari'a (the legal code of Islam) state that women should not work or study?"
The Taliban said the salons needed to be closed because they charge exorbitant amounts of money for makeup and that some of the procedures performed, such as plucking eyebrows and adding hair extensions, are illegal. The regime also cited the high cost for the families of grooms during wedding festivities as being a reason for ordering the closure.
Dozens of women took to the streets in various protests ahead of the deadline, only to see the demonstrations met by security forces use water cannons and warning shots in the air to disperse the gatherings.
Roya and her mother are the owners of a beauty salon -- one of the few places where women can earn money -- they opened when they were struggling to make ends meet.
Roya says the Taliban’s decision to close salons is part of a series of harsh restrictions their government has put in place for Afghan women and girls, which has given rise to a feeling of isolation.
"No matter how much we protest, no one listens to us. Everyone is in pain and God knows it. We emptied this cupboard, I shed tears with every item I removed.” she said as she cleaned out her salon.
One salon owner in Kabul, who did not want to be named due to security concerns, told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi that the Taliban should find an alternative income source for those who have been forced out of work and can no longer provide for their family.
"The government should provide us with work. Twenty people work with me to provide for the family. Does the government have anything in mind for us? What should we do at home when we are unemployed?"
The Tradespersons’ Union of Afghanistan has told Radio Azadi that about 12,000 beauty salons, where around 60,000 women work, will be closed as a result of the order of the Taliban government.
In an interview with Tolo News private television station, Akif Mohajer, the spokesperson of the Taliban's Ministry of Good and Prohibition, said that the salons did not follow the recommendations of the ministry.
Media reports say these recommendations include that beauticians should offer prayers, that women should perform ablution before putting on makeup, that every beauty salon should have a place for doing ablutions and that women should wear a hijab, or head scarf, when inside the business.
Women makeup artists and beauty salon owners told Radio Azadi that most were observing those rules even though many did not receive official notice of them. Nor, they said, did the Taliban follow up or evaluate their recommendations, instead opting to head straight to the order of closing all salons.
The Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice of the Taliban rulers has already closed kindergartens where mostly women worked, while girls and women have been deprived of higher education. Women are no longer allowed to work in all nongovernmental and many government institutions.
The measures against women have prompted the United Nations to try and intervene, with the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) calling on the de facto authorities to halt the edict closing beauty salons.
"UNAMA has said that this restriction on women’s rights will impact negatively on the economy and contradicts support for women’s entrepreneurship, and we’re seeking a reversal of the bans,” UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said on July 24.
Heather Barr, associate women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch, said the situation in Afghanistan right now is "the most-serious women’s rights crisis in the world.”
“The crisis in Afghanistan is overwhelming, and Taliban abuses are deepening what was already a devastating humanitarian crisis,” Barr added.