BAGHDAD: The sign is a small but significant indication that the security situation is improving in Iraq. It reads: 'Rasha's Salon for Women'. So far, business is buzzing at the four-month-old salon in the heart of the al-Salihiya district, considered one of the most secure neighbourhoods in the capital."My dream was to open a famous hairdressing salon," said owner Rasha Amin, 28. "Now, I am fulfilling my dream." It's a dream that might not have been possible as recently as earlier this year. Militants who view salons as anti-Islamic have threatened and killed hairstylists since the US invasion in 2003.
Just eight months ago, a hairdresser in the northern city of Mosul was murdered. Salons have been blown up. Many hair stylists left the country altogether. But with security in Baghdad improving, Amin was able to convince her father that it was safe -- both physically and financially -- to open the salon.