How Indian barbers lower a monopoly for themselves in farway Brunei

Haji Abdullah is obvious why he frequents his go-to Indian barber in Brunei’s Kuala Belait city: “because of the price and the service”. Abdullah has been visiting the identical barber store for practically a decade and can’t consider visiting one other. So ubiquitous are these native barber outlets in Brunei, often called ‘kedai gunting’ in Malay, that for a lot of within the nation, a haircut or a shave would nearly actually imply a go to to an Indian barber.
Kedai Gunting barber store in Brunei.
“Everyone I know goes to an Indian barber,” Ida, a Brunei resident, instructed indianexpress.com. Several a long time earlier than Indians turned the dominant within the nation’s salon scene, it was the invention of oil that first introduced Indians to Brunei in 1929. The pre-World War II immigration of Indians to Brunei was divided into two teams, write Okay S Sandhu and A Mani of their e book ‘Indian Communities in Southeast Asia’. “The Indians who engaged in trading and commerce came of their own accord and set up their businesses in various urban centers. The second group consisted of labourers in the four rubber plantations of Brunei,” the authors defined. The labourers who have been introduced to those rubber plantations have been largely of Tamil origin, wrote Sridevi Menon in her analysis article ‘Narrating Brunei: Travelling histories of Brunei Indians’, revealed in 2016. Today, they kind a majority within the Indian neighborhood within the nation.
During late Nineteen Twenties, many Indian went to Brunei in search of work alternative.
After the invention of oil in Seria in 1929, Indian labour participation within the oil business elevated as a result of the petroleum firm paid the best wages, leading to Indians leaving the plantations for these alternatives, Okay S Sandhu and A Mani write. In the years that adopted, Brunei witnessed fast improvement, creating alternatives for Indian residents within the fields of training and well being companies. There are roughly 7,500 Indian nationals residing in Brunei and greater than half of the expatriates in the present day are semi and unskilled staff, who’re employed in development, retail companies, and so on, in keeping with a paper on bilateral relations revealed by the High Commision of India in Brunei Darussalam.
The nation presently has 7,500 Indians.
Izehar Ahmed’s household has been within the haircutting enterprise for at the least three generations of their hometown Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, and it was these abilities that helped Ahmed’s grandfather first transfer to Brunei some 4 a long time in the past, when few of their neighborhood had even heard of the nation. Soon after he arrived within the nation all these years again, Ahmed’s grandfather had realised that there was an enormous marketplace for the abilities that Indian barbers possessed, Ahmed instructed indianexpress.com.
A Bruneian youngster getting a haircut from an Indian barber.
It wasn’t simply their mastery at haircutting that set them aside from different communities within the enterprise. Indian barbers shortly turned identified for the particular companies that they supplied, not normally obtainable elsewhere, like head and shoulder massages, fast shaves and fundamental skincare, all provided at low costs—companies generally obtainable in native barber outlets in north India particularly in Uttar Pradesh, the place a big share of Indian barbers in Brunei are initially from. It isn’t solely barbers from northern India who’re engaged within the commerce; there are a number of from different components of the nation, like Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
There have been a number of home elements that helped create house for Indian barbers to develop their companies and flourish. Prior to Brunei’s independence in January 1984 from the United Kingdom, the enterprise of barber outlets and hair salons was dominated by Sarawakian-Chinese from Sarawak, Ida defined. “The Sarawakian-Chinese left after Brunei gained independence, because our currencies were no longer compatible. Pre-independence, the currencies in Brunei, Singapore and Malaysia were interchangeable. This meant that we could use both Singaporean and Malaysian money in addition to our own. Then one day in 1984, the year we gained independence, we were told that shops and businesses would no longer accept Malaysian notes and coins.”
When the ]Chinese barbers slowly started returning to Sarawak, that house was stuffed by Indian barbers. “Another thing to remember is that Brunei has a tiny population, which is not conducive to business competition. When the Chinese began losing their customers to Indian barbers, they just shut shop and moved back to Malaysia,” Ida stated.
Workers from totally different components of India run their companies in Brunei.
It was curiosity to journey and a want to see the world that made Mohammed Armaan Ahmed board a flight from Kolkata to Brunei a bit of over twenty years in the past. Armed with little else aside from haircutting abilities, Armaan landed in a rustic he had identified little about, however to at least one which he would shortly adapt.
“Everyone hopes to earn more money. The exchange rate was quite significant and so I was able to send a lot of money back home,” Armaan stated. Brunei’s barber outlets run by Indians are identified for offering fast haircuts that price something between BND5-BND7 (roughly Rs. 300 to Rs 400), with haircuts for kids costing even much less, generally lower than BND2, costs which might be considerably decrease than the BND18 (roughly Rs. 1,000) {that a} lower at a contemporary barber store could price—nearly thrice the worth.
A 2020 report by the World Bank marked Brunei as a high-income economic system.
In the outlets run by Indians, clients get a variety of companies at low costs, Indian barbers interviewed for this report instructed indianexpress.com. “In the modern salons, they will just cut hair for that price. They won’t give you a shave. We cut hair, we shave. We also give a head massage with oil. Bruneians love these head massages,” stated Armaan.
Modern barber outlets in Brunei cost for each service they supply and on most events, there isn’t any of Shah Rukh Khan’s songs enjoying on the store’s music system or the scope of discussing Bollywood movies with the store’s Indian workers. “I was not able to earn as much in India. Back there, I used to earn Re 1-Rs 2 for a shave, and Rs. 10 for a haircut. When I came here, I found that the people were good. The work conditions weren’t as harsh and I could work in an air- conditioned shop,” stated Armaan. A 2020 report by the World Bank marked Brunei as a high-income economic system, with a gross nationwide earnings (GNI) per capita of $32,230, the second highest in Southeast Asia after Singapore.
However, trendy barber outlets have additionally sprung up that target hair styling and remedy.
 
Until 2013, haircutting in Brunei was restricted to barber outlets run by Indians and Southeast Asians. But over the previous decade, trendy barber outlets have sprung up that target hair styling and remedy, that’s frequented by a clientele particularly in search of these companies, who’re prepared to pay thrice extra.
The rising presence of those trendy barber outlets nonetheless, doesn’t imply that Brunei’s youth are drawn to them or desire their companies over Indian and Southeast Asian-run outlets. Thanks to their low cost charges, Baz, a 19-year-old resident of Bandar Seri Begawan, has solely visited Indian barber outlets as a baby and says that it’s the similar story together with his pals. “Most of them frequent the Indian barber shops in their local neighbourhoods or in the shopping district at Serusop, Brunei-Muara District,” stated Baz.
The outbreak of Covid-19 suspended the issuance of latest work visas for Indians.
These barber outlets, generally additionally known as ‘corner shops’ in Brunei, are normally small institutions, sufficient to suit some 5 chairs, and scattered throughout the nation. Almost each neighbourhood may have at the least one barber store run by Indians. There aren’t any actual figures for what number of Indian barbers work in Brunei, however the Indian High Commission had discovered that the quantity could also be round 500 throughout a casual survey performed final yr—excessive numbers for a rustic that’s solely barely bigger than the state of Sikkim, the place a lot of the inhabitants is concentrated within the capital Bandar Seri Begawan.

“In Brunei, 90% of the barber shops are run by Indians. The remaining shops are run by Chinese and Southeast Asians, but over the past few years, a handful of Bangladeshis have also entered the trade,” stated Armaan. As phrase unfold over time of the success that Indian barbers discovered and the work situations in Brunei, it inspired their relations in India to journey to the nation for work, ensuing within the creation of a subgroup inside the Indian neighborhood. “The business grew when Indians started coming here and began understanding that there was a demand specifically for Indian barbers,” stated Ahmed. “Back home, relatives watching the financial success and prosperity that the barbers found, were inspired to try their own luck here.”

“It’s like this: I came, then I called someone I know. He called someone else,” stated Armaan. Most Indian barbers work on employment permits that repeatedly get renewed until they attain the age of 60, after which they retire and return to India. Their jobs are shortly stuffed, as a result of there may be at all times somebody again in India ready to exchange them. “If I leave Brunei, someone from my family or neighbourhood will pick up my work,” defined Armaan.
The outbreak of Covid-19 suspended the issuance of latest work visas for Indians hoping to journey to Brunei. As a end result, since 2020, there have been no alternatives for hopefuls wanting to affix their relations and acquaintances within the barber store enterprise within the nation.

The companies of a selected Indian barber in Brunei is beneficial by phrase of mouth, stated Abdullah. “I’ve been coming to Armaan for 10 years now. It’s almost like a friendship. I’ll say, ‘barber A is very nice, very kind, their service is very good,’” Abdullah stated, explaining how he recommends Armaan to his pals.
“I just call and say ‘Armaan, I am coming at 2:30 pm’. If I don’t call, I will wait for him. If he is with a customer, he says, ‘give me half an hour. But I’m willing to wait because the service is good,” stated Abdullah. Ten years in the past earlier than he discovered Armaan, Abdullah visited a number of Chinese barber outlets and some run by Indians. Dissatisfied with their companies, he chanced upon Armaan and has by no means thought-about going elsewhere.
It isn’t uncommon to listen to tales of three generations in a household visiting the identical barber in Brunei. “I have been in Brunei for over 20 years. The young boy whose hair I used to cut, got married and is now a father of two children. He brings his children to my shop for haircuts. There have been times when I have cut the hair of four generations in a family—first the nana (grandfather), then the abbu (father), then his son and then the grandson. That’s how it is,” Armaan stated.
Over the years, hair merchandise and face lotions have come and gone in Brunei, however a glass bottle of Axe model’s Minyak Angin Cap Kapak has been a everlasting fixture on barber store cabinets for so long as the neighborhood can bear in mind. ‘Axe oil’ as it’s typically known as within the nation, is a concoction of menthol, eucalyptus oil, camphor, methyl salicylate, important oils and different secret substances, and is usually discovered throughout Southeast Asia. This oil is used within the area as a house treatment to treatment every part from colds to muscle ache. A haircut in an Indian barber store is completed with a therapeutic massage utilizing just a few drops of this oil, to alleviate aching shoulders and stiff necks, and is likely one of the hottest companies amongst Bruneians above 30, barbers instructed indianexpress.com.
These days, Abdullah prefers shaving his head totally each time he comes into Armaan’s store. After his shave, Abdullah has a set routine with which his barber is well-acquainted: a head therapeutic massage, adopted by a face therapeutic massage. “The thing about Indian barbers is that they know what style the customer wants. When I come in, Armaan knows what style I want.”