Baghdad, Iraq (AP) - Umm Doha cuts hair and waxes eyebrows in secret from her living room because making women look pretty can get a person killed in her Sunni-dominated Baghdad neighborhood.

Hardline Muslim extremists who believe it is sinful for women to appear beautiful in public have forced many beauticians to move their trade underground.

Sunni and Shiite militants began blowing up salons roughly two years ago. They killed several stylists and bullied others into putting down their scissors and makeup brushes for good, all in an effort to stamp out what they view as the corrupting spread of Western culture.

In the past year, most beauty salons in the Shiite-dominated southern city of Basra went underground, as they did in the Sunni-controlled neighborhood of Dora in west Baghdad.

But despite being targeted by militants, stylists say women here still want to look good - and stylish. Refusing to get a haircut or having their makeup done would be giving in to the violence and despair surrounding them.

Days after her small shop was destroyed, she converted a room in her home into an underground salon. She said she had no choice: Her husband's low-paying clerk's job does not pay enough to keep food on the table for their three children.

While danger is rife for beauticians, those plying their trade in areas that have been secured by Iraqi and U.S. troops, or controlled by Sunni tribal groups opposed to al-Qaida in Iraq, seem to have more latitude to work.
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This is yet another example showing how damned crazy that country is.

I wonder what the REAL reason is as to why some people are so scared of things like hairdressers and women making the most of themselves. They are shallow and I am not talking about the women having their hair done or the beauticians or hairdressers either.

Ya know, I dont get that mentality. Is it culture, or nature vs. nurture? This is a very honest question.

I'm gonna throw my lot in with culture, You are how you are tought, what you see, what you learn, what you deciced to be..YADA YADA YADA. Maybe 90% of the time in the grand scale of humanity.

There are some defects out there. You cant mass produce with out some glitches.IMHO.

Ya know, I dont get that mentality. Is it culture, or nature vs. nurture? This is a very honest question.

I'm gonna throw my lot in with culture, You are how you are tought, what you see, what you learn, what you deciced to be..YADA YADA YADA. Maybe 90% of the time in the grand scale of humanity.

There are some defects out there. You cant mass produce with out some glitches.IMHO.

Ya know, I dont get that mentality. Is it culture, or nature vs. nurture? This is a very honest question.

I'm gonna throw my lot in with culture, You are how you are tought, what you see, what you learn, what you deciced to be..YADA YADA YADA. Maybe 90% of the time in the grand scale of humanity.

There are some defects out there. You cant mass produce with out some glitches.IMHO.