Before April 25, 1974, visits to the hairdressers were spaced out and, in most cases, reserved for festive days or the eve of holidays and, even then, differentiated according to the classes they served.

"There began to be a concern with image and hair treatment throughout the weeks and not just on special dates," the president of the Portuguese Association of Barbers, Hairdressers and Beauty Institutes (APBCIB), Miguel Garcia, told the Lusa agency.

Despite being 13 years old when the revolution took place, whose operations and exchange of carnations in Lisbon he witnessed, Miguel Garcia frequented his father's hairdresser and ended up following the same profession, which allowed him to observe and practice the changes that April promoted.

"There began to be a concern for people to be more side by side," he said, adding that the revolution ended "that hierarchy of well-to-do ladies going to a certain salon and employed or domestic people to other salons," he added.

As a consequence of this approach, "the salons became more 'open space' [open spaces] and worked with people side by side".

Today, "anyone, even public figures, is in 'open space' salons and talks to people on the side without any problem. They don't even want to be closed and there is no concern about being served," he said.

In addition to the spatial organization, hairdressers had to adapt their schedules to clients who, after April 25, were increasingly employed.

"Before April 25, it was normal for a hairdresser to open at 10:00 or even 11:00. Then, they started to open earlier and earlier, because women wanted to take care of their hair before going to work and couldn't wait for such late openings," he said.

The female activity rate increased from 18.7% in 1960 to 38.8% in 1981 and 49.9% in 2021, according to data from the various Censuses.

For Miguel Garcia, hair and scalp care also became more widespread, as did the demands of clients, and later of men, who increasingly know what they want and need.

"I still remember going to Paris once or twice a year to find out about and buy the most advanced products. Today, they are available not only to us professionals, but also to the clients themselves who look for them," he said.

In aesthetic terms, Miguel Garcia recalls that "the great 'boom' of hairdressers happened in the 70s-80s [of the 20th century], with symmetrical and asymmetrical cuts, dictated by the academy of English hairdresser Vidal Sassoon".

"In the 80s-90s, very wild hair, with many waves, very curly, sometimes too much, returned, just like after April 25," he said.

From the 2000s onwards, hair volume decreased, partly due to the increasing number of Brazilian women, as happened in other continents, as the culture of Brazilian women is to remove volume and straighten their hair.

In this regard, Miguel Garcia interprets the growth of hairdressers focused on the African and Brazilian population as a sign of "globalization, market law and competition law".

"From the moment that everyone circulates freely throughout the world, it is normal that some more personalized professions, such as hairdressing, spread throughout the world," he said.

And he concluded: "In the 80s [of the 20th century], there were already neighborhoods in Paris with only African hairdressers who only worked with African hair. The type of African hairdresser had already spread throughout the world for a long time".

In Portugal there are about 38,000 hairdressing salons and beauty institutes, which employ more than 50,000 people.

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