Appearances before marriage are obviously very important to young Saudi girls. In Jeddah, where many of the girls are not fully veiled, it is about appearing pretty, trendy, stylish. Their looks carry them past the single section of Starbucks, where hopefully they will catch the eye of some young ‘candidate’. Sitting in the family section they will carefully make split second eye contact with a boy across the room in hope of attracting his attention. Their looks, they hope, might start a love story.
In Riyadh, where the girls were more likely to be completely covered, it was explained to us that it is as much about appearing beautiful in front of other woman, as it is about finding a man. “Women are very competitive,” Jemma tells us. They won’t even tell their friends where they have bought a dress if they think they will buy the same one.
And yet, despite this concern, where we have felt the need to be beautiful most is amongst the married women. The women who have husbands it appears, have more to lose.
They spend hours scrubbing their skin in Moroccan baths to make them feel baby soft. They remove their body hair to ensure they stay clean and fresh. They have no concerns about peels, no fear of botox.
As a dermatologist told us at a local clinic in Riyahd, “women don’t care about how their skin feels to their own touch but how it looks and feels to others. They want their skin to feel like baby skin for their husband. Soft with no pigmentation or wrinkles.”
They do this not out of their own desire to be beautiful, but often out of fear in losing their husband to another. “I put my makeup on every night before my husband returns” one fully veiled mother of six explained to us. “I want always to look pretty for him.”
We met Dina in Jeddah. She is a ‘still giddy’ newlywed, eager to share her wedding photos.
The first time she physically touched her ‘husband to be’ was at the legal signing of the contract between the two of them. There she touched his hand, and later he gave her, her first kiss on the lips. “It was magical,” she told us.
We offered to take her to have her hair done, which she was quick to accept. At the salon she also arranged to have her makeup applied.
We were shocked by her transformation. When we first met Dina she was pretty, but by no means polished. Her hair was pulled back in a band and her makeup was heavy.
Within seconds of her salon experience we noticed a change not only in her appearance, but in her mannerisms. She walked proudly through the mall, enjoying the flirtatious looks from the men she passed. She called her husband frequently to tease him about the surprise she had for him that evening. She became more confident with the women around her. Her posture changed as she relaxed into a chair smoking her cherry flavored chicha (hubbly bubbly), while explaining to us the rules of Islam that are often broken by the women of Jeddah.
The little extra bit of beauty we gave her in those few hours transformed her from a young newly wed girl, to a confident woman ready to please her husband.
Opportunity: Their Beauty Gives Them Security and Strength
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