Sexy babes on Iranian streets- I

Face is the only place which Iranian women are allowed to show. So, that's the place which most of attempts for self-beautifications are focused on. Right after the Revolution, when Islamic government regulated clothing codes, the thing that women were permitted to wear was long black loose mantueaus, with big headscarves on heads. Any kind of make up was strictly forbidden. The reason: beautiful women make men feel horny. So, according the Sharia' (the kind of Sharia that Iranian Islamic mentality believes in), it is strictly recommended that women cover themselves as much as possible. It was repeated over and over again that the best 'hijab' for an Iranian woman is chador. We could see banners around to call chador as a 'superior' hijab. There was even some messages from the martyrs:" The blackness of your chador is stronger that the redness of my blood!"

The years passed. The codes and regulations loosened. The mantueaus shortened and shortened which these days hardly can be called mantueaus at all. The headscarves got smaller and smaller. Now they more look like wide ribbons on heads and –of course- the make ups got stronger and stronger.

Last night I was in a queue in a traditional bakery. A young woman was standing before me. When she looked back to ask something, I could see her heavy make up as if she was on a party not in a bakery queue. That's something you can see here so repeatedly. In shopping centers, on taxis and on buses, you can't believe the women aren't heading a masquerade; the eyes are hidden under heavy eye shadows and mascara, lipoinjected lips are covered by a flashy lipstick and the blushers have left strong traces on the cheeks.

Just go to a beauty saloon. Imagine it just like a hive with honey bees whizzing around; crowded and noisy. Some are dyeing their hair with strange stuff, some are manicuring and pedicuring, some are tattooing the eyebrows, the lip lines, I don't know where else…The hands go into the purses, they come out with a thick bunch of banknotes. The employees take them, the money vanishes into the slides…..You can't believe that these women under the professional hands of the hairdressers, are ordinary women with a pretty low income. The fever for being beautiful is so high, drowning everybody in.

The efforts for making the women beautiful are not concentrated just in beauty saloons. The cosmetic surgeons are the ones who make the biggest money out of it. Speaking to a cosmetic surgeon in Tehran, I got to know that he does approximately 30 operations a week. Just considering that in Iran, beside the cosmetic surgeons, general surgeons and ENTs are allowed to make the cosmetic operation, you can calculate roughly how many women go under the knives of surgeons per week. The operations are numerous and diverse; nose job (occupying the first rank), lipoinjection, liposuction, breast planting, etc. according the location of the office, the price can be different. A very 'normal' price is about 1200 USD. Considering the average income of people to be 300-400 USD per month, you can get a picture of what's going on.