Bengaluru: From slums to salons - the transforming tale of beauticians

Bengaluru: Salons and parlours have become an integral part of city life, more so for women. While salons have been approached as a space for gender-specific-services, it has off late, emerged as a platform for employment, entrepreneurship and economic elevation. Through government’s skill training policy, the wand of beauty training has stretched to cater to young women hailing from economically and educationally underprivileged sections.

An ongoing project titled ‘India’s Changing City scapes: Work, Migration, Livelihoods,’ headed by Dr. Supriya Roychowdhury, Professor (Retd), ISEC and Dr. Carol Upadhya, Professor, NIAS studied the positioning of young women beauticians as the emergence of a relatively new class of service sector workers, among other urban-based livelihoods. With a case study based approach, the study traced beautician respondents from training centers to their places of employment by following up with them at regular intervals.

“We were not interested in pursuing studies further to class 10. Our school therefore referred us to a reputed beauty brand’s training academy in the city for getting trained in beauty service skills. We are now working in salons run by the same training centers for more than two years now,” said Bhuvana (name changed) and Chithra (name changed).

Hailing from families whose parents had worked as BBMP pourakarmikas, skill training and employment as beautician has helped these girls to contribute for the upward mobility of their families both socially and economically.

Arshiya Taj (name changed), a seventh grade, separated, Muslim woman had a narrow escape from being abandoned by her family. She attended free skill training offered by an NGO affiliated to India’s skill development scheme. The trying times of unemployment, thus, transformed to getting acceptance from the family on receiving employment in the salon.

While Bhuvana’s and Chithra’s case projects the socio-economic mobilisation, Arshiya Taj’s encounter with beauty skills helped her sail through a survival test. Through employment in salons, the trio have been exposed to contradictions of their living and livelihood spaces.