Gaza City – Amani Dweima has come to the salon with her 16-year-old daughter, Aya.
The 39-year-old wants her eyebrows shaped, and Aya wants a full face of makeup; there’s a wedding planned for that evening after iftar.
“My niece’s wedding,” Amani says. “We’re celebrating the bride with a small family gathering before the groom takes her to their tent.”
The salon is a small blue tent with a single table inside topped with a damaged mirror, depilation tools, moisturisers, and some makeup.
Outside the tent in al-Shujaeya east of Gaza City, a white handwritten sign reading: “Noor’s Salon” hangs near the curtained entrance.
This is Noor al-Ghamari’s salon, a dream project for the young woman who quit nursing college to pursue her love of hair and makeup.
She set it up about three weeks ago on a destroyed pavement, the only option available when she and her family returned to the north from their displacement to the south.
After greeting Amani and Aya, she starts softening a small piece of sugaring paste, gently kneading it in her hands, and begins working.
“Since I opened, so many women have come to me with heartbreaking stories … about losing their families and loved ones. They arrive exhausted, their faces drained of light,” Noor said.
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