A visitor to the Frauke beauty salon wants to boast a new elegant and modern hairstyle, or to enjoy a different heroine, there is no problem in meeting this for free, but Fritch, who wears a green shirt, and looks short hair, has a question to ask customers, "What can you do for us in return?"
Customers don't have to answer right away, because the concept promoted by the salon is unusual, which is that visitors who want to change their look are not required to pay cash for the beauty services they receive, but by performing work that is beneficial to the community.
Integrate in a different way
When visiting the salon in Leipzig, eastern Germany, which won the "Power of the Arts Award" in 2021, you can see scraps of paper hanging on a wall inside the salon, with suggestions for the work and services that customers can volunteer to perform, as members of the customers' acquaintances may need help, for example training in a skill, caring for their children, or even just very simple work such as brimming crayons.
In return, clients receive free beauty services at the salon, from skilled volunteers from a range of different countries and cultures.
But it's not just about offering long eyelashes and nail polish to customers in exchange for maintenance and community services, Fritsch sees the concept she applies in the salon as a form of social artistic skill aimed at breaking down barriers and breaking down prejudices.
"Many suffer from loneliness, or just stay isolated inside their own bubbles," Fritsch says of salon guests, noting that integration is often understood only as foreigners have to integrate into a "dominant" society. "We must build more on the skills that people bring with them of any kind," she says.
Beauty salon in Leipzig made a name for himself with free haircuts and manicures (German)
Multicultural Salon
The multicultural salon is open every Friday afternoon, and the last Friday of each month is reserved for women only.
"Anyone can come to the salon, provided others are respected," Fritsch told dpa news agency, adding that the volunteers working at the salon are of Syrian, Kurdish, Palestinian, Afghan and German descent.
Beauty experts, as they are called in the salon, cut and style hair, paint nails, make the required makeup, and provide massage service.
Refugees.. Distinguished presence
Among the volunteers working at the salon is Anas Hassan, 23, who fled Syria with his family a few years ago and wanted to work in information technology, and is currently training to become a hairdresser in a company in Leipzig, providing assistance in the salon when he does not attend the training.
As for the salon where he can meet people, talk to them about life, hone his hairdressing skills, and support his learning of German, Anas says, "I spend a lot of time here."
Not a professional hairdresser or makeup designer, Fritsch has studied art and sees herself primarily as a performer, and she developed a special interest in personal relationships when she had been living in a refugee shelter in Augsburg for years as part of a long-term art project.
Among the refugees among whom Fritsch lived were beauty experts who wanted to contribute to the German community, but had not yet received permission to work, for example a beautician from Iran, a hairdresser from Macedonia and a street barber from Gambia.
When the salon project received the "Power of the Arts Award" in 2021, enough money suddenly came in to get a permanent site, and the Fritsch team rented a small building owned by the municipality in the Gronau district of Leipzig, and also received some financial support from donors.
Hairdresser Anas Hassan from Syria and Salon Artistic Director Fritsch (right) (German)
How was the salon initiative born?
The project seemed like a lucrative deal between the team and customers, and from the city's perspective it became one of many initiatives to promote the area, according to the city's Office of Urban Development.
Leipzig's Gronau district is a low-income region with a high proportion of immigrants, which is why Fritsch's concept of the salon is on fertile ground, says Zahra Ansari, who has frequented the salon several times.
Fritsch is happy that the project is growing, and says of the project, which has been financially secured until at least September, "we are constantly receiving more visitors."
The salon is a gift that is given every time a guest leaves with a new haircut and a smile on his face, says Hassan, who is receiving a hairdressing course, "This fills my heart with joy."