The April Revolution also reached hairdressers in Portugal, seating bosses and employees side by side and letting down the hair of women who also felt freedom.
Until April 25, 1974, visits to hairdressers were scattered and in most cases coincided with holidays or on the eve of holidays and were differentiated depending on the classes they served.
“Concerns about image and hair care have arisen every week, not just on special days,” Miguel García, president of the Portuguese Association of Hairdressers, Hairdressers and Beauty Institutes (APBCIB), told Lusa.
Despite being 13 years old at the time of the revolution, witnessing the operations and exchange of eels in Lisbon, Miguel García often visited his father’s barber shop and eventually became involved in the same profession, which allowed him to observe and practice the changes that April promoted .
“There was concern about people being around each other more,” he said, adding that the revolution ended “this hierarchy of good women going to a certain salon and people working or working in other salons,” he added. He.
As a result of this approach, “the halls have become more ‘open’.” [espaços abertos] and working with people side by side with each other.”
Today, “anyone, even public figures, are in open space salons and have no problem talking to people in their neighborhood. They don’t even want to be closed and there is no fear that they will be looked after,” he said.
In addition to spatial organization, hairdressers have had to adapt their opening hours to accommodate customers who have become more busy since April 25th.
“Before April 25, the hairdresser usually opened at 10 or even 11 am. After that, they started opening earlier and earlier because women wanted to take care of their hair before going to work and couldn’t wait to open so late,” said.
According to various census data, the female labor force participation rate has increased from 18.7% in 1960 to 38.8% in 1981 and 49.9% in 2021.
For Miguel García, hair and scalp care has also become commonplace, as have the demands of clients, and later men, who are increasingly aware of what they want and need.
“I still remember going to Paris once or twice a year to learn about and buy the most advanced products. Today they are not only available to us professionals, but also the customers themselves are looking for them,” he said.
From an aesthetic point of view, Miguel García recalls that “the big boom in hairdressing came in the 70s and 80s.” [do século XX]with symmetrical and asymmetrical haircuts dictated by the Academy of English hairdresser Vidal Sassoon.”
“In the ’80s and ’90s, very messy hair came back, with a lot of waves, very curly, sometimes too much, like after April 25,” he said.
Since the 2000s, hair volume has decreased, partly due to the arrival of more and more Brazilian women, as has happened in other continents, as the culture of Brazilian women is to remove volume and straighten hair.
In this regard, Miguel García interprets the rise of hair salons targeting African and Brazilian populations as a sign of “globalization, market law and competition law.”
“Once everyone can move freely around the world, it will become normal for some more personalized professions, such as hairdressing, to spread around the world,” he said.
And he concluded: “In the 80s. [do século XX]There were already neighborhoods in Paris where only African hairdressers worked, working only with African hair. This type of African hairdressing has long spread throughout the world.”
There are about 38 thousand hairdressing salons and beauty institutes in Portugal, employing more than 50 thousand people.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Sandra Hansen, a news website Author and Reporter for 24 News Reporters. I have over 7 years of experience in the journalism field, with an extensive background in politics and political science. My passion is to tell stories that are important to people around the globe and to engage readers with compelling content.