Aya, a 27-year-old Syrian girl explained the choice that she made and put her family's needs ahead of her needs by giving up on buying personal care products due to financial hardship.
She said, “I have given up on buying many beauty products after their costs exceeded my financial ability. Taking care of me has become a secondary matter against my family’s needs; therefore, I decided to give myself up to work to fend for my family at the expense of my sense of femininity.”
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Women around the world consider skincare, beauty products and visiting beauty parlors as the basic necessity to promote their sense of femininity and self-confidence. Now, Syrian women have to leave all these beauty products due to the current economic crisis. Many women from Syria are forced to abandon the self-care “luxury” products, which are considered basic everyday needs by women living outside Syria.
Aya is a mathematics teacher in a school for four years and now, her life is all about school and her family. Her monthly income barely covers the needs of her family, beauty and skincare products are out of the pocket.
As per the report published by the local pro-government newspaper, al-Watan, the costs of haircuts and hairstyling issued by the barber association are totally different from the prices asked by the beauty salon. The price is fixed according to the area of the beauty shop is located, the name of the hairstylist, his-her experience and fame. The report further mentioned that a haircutting and hair drying session in some beauty salons could cost between 4000 and 7000 Syrian pounds (1.203 and 2.105 USD), while the bridal care package costs between 100,000 and 1 million Syrian pounds (30 and 300 USD).
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Due to these high prices, one those women visit beauty parlors who are wives of officials.
Women like Aya have also found a solution to their problem and have started growing the Aloe Vera plant, used for soothing, moisturizing, and cooling. Aloe Vera is a perfect substitute for beauty products.
On this situation of Syrian women, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has shared a report, which read, “The consequences of fighting on Syrian women have been particularly brutal.”
It further mentioned, “Many Syrian women tend to be the ones who sustain the resilience of families and communities, trying to keep their families healthy, fed and together. In many cases, they have become the sole breadwinners overnight, after losing husbands and fathers to the conflict.”