MAKKAH, 20 December 2007 — Pilgrims gathered yesterday morning in large numbers at barbershops to have their heads shaved as a part of their Haj duties. Like every year at this time barbers increased their prices.
“Normally shaving doesn’t cost more than SR5 because it does not require any additional skill. They only use a blade to shave the whole head. The prices increased to reach SR25 and sometimes SR50. Barbers are taking advantage of pilgrims who all need to have their hairs shaved,” said Ahmad Ibraheem, an Egyptian pilgrim.
Rushdi Muhammad complained saying that the prices are high and that pilgrims should not pay that much to barbers. “What is annoying is the lack of health measures in the barbershop. There is hair everywhere and they are running after making profit that they forgot to hire someone to clean the place. The tools used are not clean and they have some blood on them. Unfortunately there is no other choice for us and we have to go for these barbershops,” added Rushdi.
Asad Haidar, a Saudi pilgrim who was waiting for his turn to get a quick shave, said, “Unfortunately they are making use of the Haj and they are not even doing it well. Most of the people hired to shave the head are not even professional and they have other jobs. You can see many heads of pilgrims bleeding after the shave. Where are the officials to see what is happening?”
Ahmad, another pilgrim, said that the prices vary from one barbershop to another. “You can pay anything between SR15 and SR50 for a head shave. If you want a quick shave, you would have to pay the high price to jump up the line,” said Ahmad. He added, “If you are strong you can push your way in and get your hair shaved first but that can cause a big fight among pilgrims.”
A barber, who did not give his name out, told Arab News that they wait all year for this particular day. “Some barbers earn SR7,000 in one day alone.”
He also added that they tend to increase the number of chairs and workers to get the most out of this day. He said, “Pilgrims should not blame us because this is our high season and people in every profession do the same in their high season, so why not us?”
The chairs added are mainly normal rather than custom design barber chairs specialized for barbershops. The workers are mainly overstayers and expatriates who come to Makkah looking for part time work during Haj.
Arab News noticed that barbers accept only pilgrims who want to shave their head bald rather than have a haircut. While touring around, a police officer went into a barbershop to greet a relative who own the place. Illegal and part-time barbers immediately ran away from the shop leaving pilgrims with half head shaved; they thought that the police officer was going in to arrest them. Another part-time barber apologized to a customer when a cleaning truck passed by. He left the shop without notifying the half-shaved pilgrim when he was going to be back. After he disappeared, it turned out that he was a cleaning worker and had to leave for his regular job.
