Steam bath banned in Jeddah barbershops

Barbers in Jeddah said they might face big losses due to the recent ban announced by the Jeddah municipality on sauna and steam bath services that bring high profits to barbershops. This decision will reduce their profits by 80 percent of their monthly income, some barbers claimed.
Many barbershops in Jeddah depend on sauna and steam bath services to pay for their expenses. A barbershop needs to earn at least SR400 a day so it can pay the salaries of its workers, rent, electricity bills and others costs. However, some shop owners need to earn at least SR5,000 per month. Haircuts and shaving are not enough to cover their expenses.
“Clients pay just SR20 for a haircut and SR10 for a shave. If I depend on only these services, I will earn at the most SR100 a day. At the same time, sauna and steam bath bring us SR350 at least per day,” said Mohammed Ihasn, an Egyptian barber.
“Many clients come here for a sauna or a steam bath. These are very popular services among our clients. Previously, our services were limited, but we had low costs as rents then were lower than they are today,” he added.
Rents of barbershops have increased by 30 percent. Some owners of barbershops say they do not want to reduce their shares of barbershops’ profits to avoid closing their shops and letting go their barbers and workers.
“I may close my barbershop when there are no strong profits. I have an agreement with my barbers to bring me SR5,000 as my monthly share in their profits. If they can no longer afford to pay my share, I have to close my shop,” said Abdul Aziz Al-Rehani, the owner of a barbershop in Jeddah.
“We cannot increase the prices for our haircut service. Therefore, we have to offer new services to attract more clients. It is unfortunate that the Jeddah municipality has prohibited barbers from offering these two services. It means any barber has to work according to the license of his barbershop. However, it is so hard to change our license. We have tried before to change our license, but our request has been refused without reason,” said Essam Qandoor, a Syrian barber.
Arab News tried to call Abdul Aziz Al-Nahari, spokesman of the Jeddah municipality, but he did not respond.
“The municipality’s move will have a negative impact on our business. We will lose the majority of our clients who will give up visiting our shops due to this ban,” Qandoor added.