Faced with shortage of beauticians, salon owners and beauticians alike have urged the Ministry of Labor to consider their case on par with school teachers in the Kingdom by giving them work permits without having to transfer their sponsorship.

The request comes in the wake of the ministry directing several small beauty salons in the Kingdom to shut down for not having legal sponsorship.

Many salon owners couldn’t transfer the sponsorship of beauticians, which forced them to shut down their salons. This heightened the problems for women who prefer going to nearby salons.

One of the reasons that forced salon owners to shut down was lack of staff. Most beauticians avoided sponsorship transfer due to low salaries. The salaries for beauticians in small beauty salons range between SR1,500 and SR2,000, and they are paid extra on rush days or on some occasions.

Fatimah from Al Shama Beauty Salon at Aziziya district runs the salon alone. “It’s a small business and it would be unfair on the staff if I ask them to transfer their sponsorship for low salaries,” she said.

Anjum Rahman, a beautician at Beauty Salon in Al-Bawadi district, said that although she was approached by the owner of the salon to transfer her sponsorship, she refused. “It’s a very difficult situation to transfer our sponsorship on a low salary and absence of any benefits, which are virtually nonexistent in the small-scale sector,” she said.

Many female workers have left their jobs on similar grounds, forcing the salon owners to shut down.

Several existing salons that survived the inspection campaign have doubled the prices for all the services they provide.

Commenting on this, Saadia, the owner of a beauty salon, said: “We planned to employ beauticians under our sponsorship but they asked us to increase their salaries, which will indirectly affect the prices of salon services.”

Moreover, the few salons that are still open have high standards of professionalism than the small local salons that offer cheaper services to clients. Most women shy away from the thought of paying more money for a haircut or a facial.

Hiba Al-Bassam, expressing her anxiety, said: “This is a major problem as there are few salons and they are run by one person leading to a long queue and waste of time. Additionally, prices of various services have doubled making frequent visits impossible. It’s not reasonable for regular clients to pay high amounts.”

Another customer, Syeeda Sarah, said that all the salons in the vicinity of her house had pulled down shutters, forcing her to visit a new salon quite some distance away which requires transportation. She insists that the salons nearby were safer as the clients got used to the staff.