Iran women splurge on makeup despite Islamic
restrictions
TEHRAN, June 1, 2010 (AFP) - Banned after the 1979 Islamic
revolution, cosmetics like lipstick and nail polish have flooded
Iran so much in recent years that it is now the Middle East's
second largest beauty products market.
Following the revolution, the morality police patrolled the
streets, fining or even arresting women who flaunted the strict
rules until they were eased after the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.
And most women were quick to catch on after a decision to
allow imports in the mid-1990s with many taking to the streets all
dolled-up, especially chic young urbanites.
Iranians spend about two billion dollars a year on cosmetics and
the country of 74 million accounts for 29 percent of the Middle
East market, which is dominated by Saudi Arabia, according to a
recent survey.
Most beauty products are now imported or smuggled into Iran, as the
country produces little of its own makeup but has a vast, porous
coastline just across the water from modern Gulf city states like
Dubai.
Almost all popular international brands like Yves Saint
Laurent, Guerlain, L'Oreal and Bourjois are
available at trendy uptown malls and stores in cities and large
towns.
"Most specialists estimate that about 700 to 750 million dollars
worth of products are imported to Iran illegally," said Abbas
Najafi, the head of Iran's counter-trafficking bureau.
Vista Bavar, who promotes the recently launched European brand
Caprice in Iran, was of the same opinion, stressing that "many
products are smuggled into Iran."
"The health ministry is very precise about its criteria, which is
very good as consumers can be sure about the quality when there is
an official seal of approval," Bavar said.
"But 50-percent duty fees and red tape work against legal imports,"
the entrepreneur added.
People involved in the beauty business admit that smuggled goods
tend to be of poor quality.
"Over the past years the market has been flooded with low-quality
Chinese products which do not meet the required standards," said a
major importer of cosmetics who asked not to be named.
But "Chinese products account for about 30 percent of illegal
imports and they have their own market in provincial areas and
among people with lower income," he added.
According to a survey conducted by TMBA, a private economic
research institute, about 14 million urban Iranian women aged
between 15 and 45 spend seven dollars on average per month on
cosmetics.
With the minimum wage in Iran set at 300 dollars and the average
monthly income between 600 and 700 dollars, that is a fair
amount.
TMBA said Iranians splurge on cosmetics probably because most of
the population is young and urban: half the population is below 30
years old, and 65 percent is urban.
Since 1979, women have had to observe the Islamic dress code,
mandating that hair and body be modestly covered in public.
To abide by the code, outside the home most urban women wear a
headscarf, and a loose coat over their regular clothes.
Women have also constantly challenged the dress code by sporting
shorter, tighter Islamic overcoats and flashing locks of dyed hair
under loosely-worn scarves, drawing condemnation and occasional
crackdowns by the hardliners in power.
Women in government jobs still can not wear makeup at work.
"Because of the veil (dress code), young Iranians pay a lot of
attention to their faces," which together with hands are the only
body parts visible in public, said Mina, who sells cosmetics in the
Iranian capital.
"Some girls spend over an hour in front of a mirror to get ready.
If the fashion in Europe is to appear natural, in Iran the youth
prefer to wear makeup," she said.by Siavosh Ghazi