Due to the great demand, a number of salons have raised their prices from SR10 to SR20 to shave a beard. The price of a haircut has been raised from SR20 to SR30.
Regardless of the price hikes, salons are attracting more and more customers. They are open 24 hours a day to be able to handle the demand.
The barbers, mostly foreigners, and the mainly Saudi shop owners are both keen to exploit the season to the maximum.
Talking to Arab News, Saudi customer Turki Aql said Saudi men — young or old — were keen to have haircuts and beards either shaved off or trimmed before Eid.
"We start visiting barbershops from 28th day of Ramadan and onward until the first day of Eid to cut our hair," he said.
Aql said a number of barbers would exploit the situation by increasing their prices without any justification. "It is a season for barbers and shop owners to make extra money," he said.
Mashhour Abdullah, another Saudi, said he visited three salons to discover that prices were ranging SR30 to SR35 before he finally found one that asked for SR20.
"The municipality has fixed SR10 as a price for a shave and SR20 for a haircut but no one is committed to these prices during the last few days of Ramadan," he said.
Hassan Alim, a pilgrim, said he knew very well that the price of having the head shaven was SR10, but the barber asked for SR20 and he had to agree.
He noted that the salon was full of empty chairs to be manned by temporary barbers who have been called in to help.
Some barbers told Arab News that their shops make between SR18,000 and SR20,000 each on Eid night alone.
