Canberra’s only private hair salon dedicated to Muslim women is now available at Bentleys Hair of Canberra in Jamison. This discreet, upstairs salon will have a dedicated Iranian hairdresser, Arezoo, who boasts 20 years’ experience in hairdressing.

Owner June Irving has embraced Canberra’s rich multicultural community and created a comfortable, modern salon to cater exclusively to Islamic women, offering complete privacy, no male staff/clients, and a nurturing atmosphere of sisterhood.

“I came up with the idea because we do have clients who wear a hijab, wanting to have their hair done but we had nowhere private,” June says. “We’ve now got a little salon upstairs with four workstations and it offers absolute total privacy.”

Senior stylist Arezoo is Muslim and speaks Persian (Farsi), Kurdish and a little Arabic, so she can offer Muslim women conversation and cultural understanding. Arezoo has extensive hairdressing experience and her specialty is colouring.

The warm, welcoming salon boasts comfortable chairs, a lounge to relax on accompanied by tea, coffee and chocolates. Women are encouraged to bring their friends and come as a group, and are welcome to bring their children with them.

June identified the strong demand for a private salon after hearing feedback from her clients. Some Muslim women had to travel to Sydney for such a service. Recently, June hosted a husband and wife couple for a shared hair appointment and the feedback was overwhelming.

“The husband was over the moon, extremely happy,” June says. “They’d been to home hairdressers previously but couldn’t be assured of complete privacy.”

Bentleys Hair of Canberra offers Muslim women the full hair-care service including Weller treatments, colours, foils, perms, cuts and styles to suit everyone’s needs.

More than 14,600 people in the ACT identified their religion as Islam, according to the 2021 Census.

With a lack of private hair salons in Canberra dedicated to Muslim women, June hopes she can offer the considerate hair experience they need.

“The feedback is that it’s wonderful,” June says. “There’s complete discretion and Arezoo is very caring.” Bentleys Hair of Canberra is located at 3/9 Jamison Centre, Macquarie. Open Monday to Saturday and late nights (7.30pm) Wednesday to Friday. For appointments please call 6251 2681