Beauty salons in Afghanistan

Beauty salons in Afghanistan are small businesses that have been outlawed by the Taliban in 1996 and 2023.

Background
In early 2023, there were thousands of beauty salons in Afghanistan. Beauty salons represented one of the few employment opportunities for women in Afghanistan.

History
Beauty salons were forbidden by the Taliban from 1996 to 2001 and reopened after September 11, 2001.

After the taking power in 2021, the Taliban forbade men from entering beauty salons. Beauty salons were outlawed by Afghanistan's Vice and Virtue Ministry in 2023, who told all such businesses to cease operations before August 2, 2023. In Kabul, on July 19, 2023, about 50 women protested the ban.