Wake up and get the kids ready for school “The only way to survive is to remain quiet, agree with whatever they’re saying, to not argue back, to talk to them sweetly, your voice laced with love,” she said. There was also the occasional difficult client. When she first quit her job at the salon and started working with GharPar, Shahbaz found entering other people’s homes jarring. “Because our income is tied to seasons, some months are really good, but there are dry spells, too,” Shahbaz told Rest of World. $228 Shahbaz’s average monthly income as a platform worker. She sometimes does five facials a day, while her husband tackles a rise in orders for clothes. The wedding season in December, when hordes of expats fly into Pakistan, is a busy time for both Shahbaz and her husband.

She usually has about three clients a day, which is enough for her to support her husband, who works as a tailor, and their three school-going children.

Launched in 2016, GharPar (Urdu for “at home”) operates in five cities across Pakistan, with around 1,000 beauticians on its roster.Īs a platform worker, Shahbaz’s take-home salary is about 70,000 Pakistani rupees ($228) per month. In 2019, Shahbaz switched to GharPar, an on-demand platform that provides in-home beauty services like waxing, massages, and blow-drys. During the wedding season, when the salon burst with clients until 2 a.m., Shahbaz used to stand for so long, her ankles would swell. She didn’t eat while she was on the clock. Lubna Shahbaz used to be on her feet for 12 hours a day, seven days a week, doing mani-pedis and facials in one of Lahore’s top beauty salons.

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