Iranian Barbers Warned Against Western Haircuts

Iranian police have warned local barbers against offering Western-style hair cuts or plucking the eyebrows of their male customers.

The action, later confirmed by an Iranian news agency, appeared to be another sign of the authorities cracking down on clothing and other fashion deemed to be against Islamic values.

"Western hair styles have been banned", a local newspaper 'Etemad' said in a headline.

Several hairdressers for men in Tehran offered cuts in the style of popular Hollywood movie stars and other celebrities, with the option of its male clients also having their eyebrows plucked.

The head of the barbers' union, Mohammad Eftekharifard, said police had instructed it to "exercise specific regulations in barber shops that work under its supervision".

Eftekharifard said barbers who do not follow these rules might be closed down for a month and even lose their permits to operate.

"Currently some barber shops apply make-up and use hair styles that are in line with those in European countries and America... An official order has been sent to the union... not to apply make-up on men's faces or do eyebrows... and hence the barbers are not allowed to do these things".

This comes a week after police launched a crackdown against the growing numbers of young women testing the limits of the law with shorter, brighter and skimpier clothing ahead of the summer months.

Under Iran's Islamic Sharia law, imposed after the 1979 revolution, women are obliged to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes to disguise their figures.

Violators can receive fines and imprisonment.

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