From eyeshadows and lipsticks to “vaginal rejuvenation” pills, women in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan can find a wide range of beauty and health products in stores and online, despite a nationwide ban on beauty salons. With women’s movements in public tightly restricted, online stores on Instagram and Telegram offer discreet door-to-door deliveries.
After the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, women – as expected – were their primary target. First, women working in the public sector were forced to stay at home, then women in the private sector. Girls were banned from schools, young women from universities, and in July 2023, beauty salons were closed nationwide. All of this – work and education for women, and makeup in public – was considered “haram" by the Taliban, forbidden under their fundamentalist interpretation of Islam.
