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Frequently Asked Questions
1. What does this activity cover?
It covers operating a gents salon: haircutting, trimming, styling, finishing, scalp and hair treatments, and the grooming extras that complete a man's visit.
2. Who are the typical clients?
Regulars with standing appointments, professionals wanting a sharp look, and younger clients after the latest style, across the UAE.
3. How is this different from a shaving service?
A gents salon focuses on cutting and styling hair. A dedicated shaving and beard trimming service is a separate activity, though both serve men.
4. Can the salon sell grooming products?
Yes. Selling grooming products alongside the cut and styling is part of running a gents salon under this activity.
5. Is this for women too?
No. This activity is a gents salon. Hairdressing for women, or unisex hairdressing for men and women, falls under a separate activity.
Start a Gents Haircutting and Hairdressing Salon Business with Meydan Free Zone
The men's salon has become a destination, somewhere to get a sharp cut, a style, and a bit of downtime in the chair. A gents salon is where men go for the fade, the classic cut, and the grooming that finishes the look, and where many of them keep a standing appointment.
Men across the Gulf now spend on grooming the way they spend on anything they care about. The GCC male grooming market was worth USD 4.79 billion in 2025 and is forecast to reach USD 8.04 billion by 2034, according to IMARC Group1.
The wider regional salon market is larger still, with the Middle East and Africa salon services market worth USD 21.83 billion in 2025, according to Fortune Business Insights2. For a gents salon, that is a deep, growing pool of men who groom regularly and pay for quality.
Men across the Gulf now treat the salon as a regular stop, not an afterthought, spending on sharp cuts, styling, and grooming. The figures below show the GCC male grooming market and the wider regional salon services market a gents salon competes in.
Sources: IMARC Group (2026); Fortune Business Insights (2025).
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Picture a gents salon in full flow. One barber finishes a fade while another styles a client for a meeting. A regular settles into the chair for his usual. A coffee is poured while the next client waits. Products go onto the counter as a client picks up his usual pomade. The salon earns on each cut and on the grooming products it sells, so the day is a steady run of appointments and walk-ins. In a market where men groom often and well, the salons that win are the ones with skilled barbers and a place men want to come back to.
Whether it is a sharp fade, a classic cut, or a full styling before an event, a gents salon keeps men looking their best and coming back for the next visit.
Who is this for?
- Gents salons and barbershops: Businesses cutting and styling men's hair in the UAE.
- Men's grooming lounges: Operators offering cuts, styling, and grooming in a destination setting.
- Barbers and salon owners: Professionals building a men's salon on skill and repeat custom.
Meydan Free Zone offers 100% foreign ownership, zero percent corporate tax on qualifying income, full profit repatriation, and a fully digital licensing process, providing a regulated and cost-efficient base from which to operate a gents haircutting and hairdressing salon in a region where men groom regularly and spend on quality.
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9602.88 - Gents Haircutting & Hairdressing Salon
Under this activity, your business is licensed to operate a gents salon, cutting, styling, and grooming men's hair.
A gents salon cuts and styles men's hair. The work spans haircutting and trimming, styling and finishing, scalp and hair treatments, and the grooming extras that complete the visit. The clients are mixed: regulars in for a standing appointment, professionals who want a sharp look, and younger clients after the latest style. It is a service business built on skill and atmosphere: the salon is paid for the cut and the experience, and grows on the regulars who rebook and the reputation they spread.
The activity is specifically for a gents haircutting and hairdressing salon. Dedicated shaving and beard trimming, hairdressing for women, non-surgical hair fixing, and the manufacture of wigs (3290) each fall under separate activities.
The line is precise. If your business cuts and styles men's hair as a gents salon, you are in.
Third-Party Approval
Approval from the Public Health Department at Dubai Municipality is required after the trade license is issued.
Anti-Money Laundering Compliance
This business activity is exempt from AML compliance requirements.
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Citations
1 IMARC Group. GCC Male Grooming Products Market Report. IMARC Group, 2026.
2 Fortune Business Insights. Salon Services Market Report. Fortune Business Insights, 2025.
