Taliban View Even Women’s Cosmetics as a Threat to Their Rule

Beauty parlours have vanished from the streets of Afghan cities, erased under Taliban rule. Credit: Learning Together.

•  kabul
• Monday, April 07, 2025
• Inter Press Service

KABUL, Apr 07 (IPS) - The author is an Afghanistan-based female journalist, trained with Finnish support before the Taliban take-over. Her identity is withheld for security reasonsWomen in Afghanistan have borne the brunt of the Taliban’s extremist Islamist rule. Four years on, there appears to be no end in sight.

In a country where women are denied the right to education, work and the freedom to travel without the company of a mahram – a male family member – the Taliban now seek to erase what little remains of women’s autonomy, even going so far as to confiscate their cosmetics.

In February this year, the Taliban launched house raids to seize women’s beauty products, yet another act that marks a new low in their campaign to oppress and exclude women from pubilc and private life.

As Farida, (pseudonym) a woman from Sar-e-Pul city in northern Afghanistan recounts the shocking incident, "I was sitting at home that day when suddenly there was a loud banging on the door. My heart started pounding. My husband opened the door with trembling hands, and before he could utter a word, armed men in white clothes burst into the house”.

“They searched every room and turned everything upside down in our home”, she said, “as if a burglar had entered the house, but this time, the burglars were the very people who consider themselves rulers of this land”.

They hurled out everything, said Farida, while one of them picked up a lipstick and with contempt, said, “This is disgraceful! Muslim women don't need this”, and carried the cosmetics away in a bag.

Afghan women are no longer safe even within the four walls of their own homes; frequently subjected to humiliation, threats of violence and no longer even have a choice over their personal belongings.

With tears in her eyes Farida said, "I felt like they had crushed my entire being”, in reference to the raid, “it was no longer just an attack on collecting cosmetics; it was an attack on our dignity. It felt as if all our rights and privileges as women had been stripped away," she says.

Buying and selling cosmetics in Sar-e-Pul city has not been an issue, but following a recent tip off, members of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice happened to have seized all cosmetics while conducting a search for women’s hair salons and beauty parlours who were operating secretly in the area.

Tamana, (pseudonym) a 22-year-old woman in Sar e Pol city who was prevented from furthering her education, chose hairdressing to support herself, but she is now in despair.

In a telephone conversation, she said, “all I wanted was to complete my studies and become a doctor but unfortunately, with the arrival of the Taliban, we were denied the opportunity to continue further.

“For a year”, Tamana said, “I ran a hair salon at home, where women would come secretly – mostly at night – and receive beauty and makeup services”.

The Taliban have begun raiding homes in Afghanistan to prevent women from using makeup. Credit: Learning Together.

But according to her, that ended when spies tipped off the Taliban and they attacked their house, destroyed all the furniture, seized all the makeup, and made them promise not to do that again.

“Now, I have no other source of income”, she complained, and asked, “Why are they so afraid of women? Why can't they show us mercy even in our own homes?”

Tamana complained bitterly that the beauty services she provided to women was her only source of income, which supported her elderly father who works “tirelessly from morning until night, repairing people's shoes, but earns very little to make ends meet”.

To Farida, seizing women’s cosmetics “makes no sense”. As she points out, “buying and selling cosmetics is freely available in shops around the city, and women have no difficulty buying them”.

Besides that, she say, “women like me, who are currently housewives with no jobs, cannot afford a wide range of cosmetics. Therefore, “we have only basic cosmetics such as makeup, eye shadow, mascara, eyeliner, lipstick, nail polish, and perfume, which we mostly use for weddings and birthday parties”.

Given that situation, the Taliban's raids on people's homes and seizing cosmetics is seen as more than just a repressive act. Rather, it reflects the Taliban’s fear of women’s independent identity and their femininity. For the Taliban, the capacity of women to make decisions for themselves, even concerning the most private matters, is a threat to their rule.

They want to turn the women of Afghanistan into obedient, colourless, and voiceless beings. To the Taliban, wearing makeup, even in its simplest form, is a sign of a women’s desire for beauty, identity, and independence, and that has to be crushed.

The consequence of the house raids is that women become anxious and fearful; they even decide to destroy their own cosmetics. In doing so, they are not just discarding belongings—they are casting away a part of themselves and their sense of identity.

"The fierce faces of the Taliban are still in my mind and continuously haunt me”, recalls Tamana”, after the raid was conducted. “After they left, I felt worthless. It was as if nothing was left of me. They not only took our cosmetics, they took our hope and self-esteem with them."

But despite all the repressions, Afghan women have not given up. They persist in their silent resistance, subtly demonstrating admirable courage.

In spite of the restrictions, they have not abandoned their dreams, hoping that one day, the darkness will lift and light will shine on Afghan women once again.

© Inter Press Service (2025) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service