What men want

With full-fledged male staff, Fatma Zohra Missoum on breaking stereotypes and changing men’s grooming landscape

For Fatma Zohra Missoum, beauty is unisex. For a long time, the beauty industry has focussed a lot on women and not so much on men. The evidence being in the number of ladies’ salons vis-a-vis gent’s globally.

Dubai, being a metropolitan city, surely takes the numbers up a notch, but the difference is obvious. Over the years, the city has seen a steady growth of men looking to groom themselves. Here is where Fatma fills in the gap.

A cabin crew by profession, for years Fatma has been witnessing her male counterparts taking a lot of care in their appearance. It was not just about haircuts and colouring, but also about skincare.

When the Covid-19 pandemic struck in 2020, Fatma took the break as an opportunity to train herself and start a gents-only salon. Located at Al Nahda, Dubai, she is the only woman in the city who leads the all-gents salon.

For her, The971Lounge should echo what Dubai is about — the tallest, highest, biggest and the best.

The971Lounge gents’ salon believes in providing services of the highest standards. It has learned this from the UAE, a country that has established its recognition of being the best in the service industry. The971Lounge becomes synonymous with the UAE by providing the best customer services for its clients, differentiating itself from its competitors.

When asked about the name, Fatma hinted that The971Lounge represents the UAE country code. She wants the salon to be universal in the UAE, spread across all the Emirates.

During the pandemic lockdowns and restrictions, people were hesitant to use salon services, which gave The971Lounge a stronger reason to provide cleaner and hygienic services to stand out and ensure customers feel comfortable.

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