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span class="inline inline-left">No men allowed: A female-muslims-only beauty parlor in Jakarta puts up a sign barring men from entering the premises. (JP/Corry)A cashier, Rita Wahyuni, opened a locked door with a sign saying “Laki Laki Dilarang Masuk” (No Men Allowed) in front of beauty salon Moz5 on Jl. Palmerah Barat in West Jakarta one afternoon, when a woman approached the door.

After the woman entered the salon, Rita locked the door of the salon again, which has a tagline “Salon for muslimah [Muslim women]”.

“Our salon is sharia, so no men are allowed to enter,” Rita said, while dealing with the customer.

She said none of the customers complained about their regulations and most of her customers wore a hijab and so would feel uncomfortable if men were around.

Rita said the business was quite good.

“The customers need to book first by phone one or two days in advance,” she said, adding that the booking was to avoid customers waiting or coming in vain.

Business people have responded to the growing market of hijab-wearing Muslims in Jakarta who want private places to enjoy leisure activities, like spa treatment and sports.

According to Islamic law, women are only allowed to show their hands and face in public. Hence, they need private space for activities related to their bodies.

After deciding to wear a hijab in the second year of high school in 2004, Satyanaya “Naya” Widyaningrum, 23, considered going to salon was a serious business.

“I should go to salon once a week because my hair becomes soggy fast when I use a headscarf,” she said, adding that she could no longer go to any salon.

Naya, a medical school graduate, eventually found a salon and a swimming pool in Tebet, South Jakarta, designated for women only.

Naya, who enjoys a hair cream bath and body scrub, said only the salon for women made her feel comfortable to do activities related to her body.

Moz5 co-founder Lindawaty said she and her sister, Yulia Astuti, started the business based on their necessity as women who wore headscarves.

“We wanted to have a modern beauty salon, especially for female Muslims because it was so hard to find one at that time,” Lindawaty said.

She said they opened the first Moz5 salon in Margonda, Depok, in 2002 and their business has continued growing ever since.

Moz5 now has 26 branches and franchises in various provinces — Jakarta, Banten, West Java, East Java, South Sumatra and South Kalimantan.

Lindawaty said she also expanded the business by opening a boutique and launching halal-certified
cosmetics.

Halal means permitted or lawful according to Islamic law, which forbids the use of ingredients considered unclean and harmful to the body.

Lindawaty said the salon would take part in a franchise exhibition in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, this month, “to expand our business to Malaysia”.

Besides leisure, Jakarta’s fashion industry is also enjoying a growing chunk of the market of women wearing a hijab, and the city could become a Muslim fashion capital as suggested recently by Jakarta Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.

Hundreds of millions of rupiah circulate every day in Pasar Tasik, a series of markets offering inexpensive and fashionable Muslim attire in Block F2 of Tanah Abang — the largest textile market in Southeast Asia — and in the basement of Thamrin City, both in Central Jakarta.

According to city-owned market operator Pasar Jaya, shoppers from across the archipelago and even abroad, like Malaysia, shop for their Muslim attire in Tanah Abang market.