Street barbers offer Pakistanis risky cheap cuts

By Islamuddin Sajid and Yusuf Hatip

ISLAMABAD

Street barbers are a common sight in Pakistan’s towns and cities, with scissor-wielding stylists setting up shop by the roadside and amid market stalls.

In the capital Islamabad, Ashraf Khan, 32, has run a roadside barber shop -- consisting of a chair and mirror -- for the last 25 years in the busy Aabpara market.

“I can do every style of haircutting for a very cheap price and low income people prefer me for cheap and fast shaving,” he told Anadolu Agency.

“The city is expensive and I couldn’t afford to rent a shop.”

He is assisted by his younger brother, who provides the added service of shoulder and head massages.

Customer Khalid Shah, who owns a small shop in Aabpara, said: “I pay only 70 rupees [$0.66] for a haircut here but if I will go to the main market, they will charge me over 300 to 500 rupees [$2.85-4.75].”

However, street barbers’ customers run the risk of infection due to poor hygiene standards and the barbers are thought to help spread hepatitis B and C.

Dr. Muhammad Akram, of the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, said dirty scissors and razors often transmitted hepatitis.

“Street barbers are one of the most common cause of the spread of hepatitis,” he told Anadolu Agency. “As mostly it is poor people going to street barbers, we see that most hepatitis patients are poor.”

Hepatitis affects the liver and is commonly spread through the blood. Symptoms include vomiting, fatigue, fever and abdominal and joint pain.