While hair salons offering haircuts may seem like a common enough sight in society nowadays, one hair salon in Malaysia came under much scrutiny after its opening promotion was conducted in… questionable taste, to say the least.
And no, it didn’t involve any weird scams. But here’s what happened.
Hair Salon in Selangor Conducted Opening Promotion
On 2 June, AJ Hair Studio Puchong in Puchong, Selangor, kicked off its business by offering an RM1 (approximately S$0.31) haircut promotion on its opening day.
Apart from the typical flower stands, lion dance and fancy cars you’d see at any store’s opening (OK, maybe you won’t see a Ferrari at every store’s opening, but still), those weren’t the sights that got netizens raising their eyebrows.
Instead, the other now-deleted photos of the salon’s opening day was what got Facebook users talking.
In photos reposted by the Subang Jaya 梳邦再也 Facebook page, it’s not hard to see why.
Several photos featured scantily-clad models in lingerie and shorts attending to male customers, and some might even say that it wasn’t just the customers’ scalps that got a treat that day.
With the eye-grabbing photos that soon went viral all over the Internet, some netizens were amused while others pointed out if carrying out such an activity is appropriate since there are other religious groups in Malaysia as well.
And with the provocative nature of the photos, many users started to wonder if the shop was offering “special services” of a sexual nature, which led to the police being called out of precaution.
Police Visit; Found Out That They Were Operating Without a Licence
A while after a police report was made, police officers made their way down to the hair salon to carry out an inspection on 7 June, five days after the salon opened its doors.
Based on a statement released by the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MBSJ), three MBSJ and four Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) officers were sent to conduct the inspection at the hair salon.
And even though the salon was not found to be providing those “special services”, the officers found something else about the establishment instead.
According to World of Buzz, the salon was found to be operating a beauty and health spa without a valid license, as well as displaying the business signboard without a valid license.
Owner Clarified Issue Regarding “Barbers” on Facebook Live, Lodged Police Report
After the entire incident, the owner of the hair salon decided to take to Facebook live to clear the air regarding the situation.
The live stream video has since been removed.
The owner, Ajees, clarified that his salon does not offer any illegal services or “special” ones, unlike what netizens have been speculating.
“I working hairstylist 11 years already, that’s why I know many many sexy girl, beautiful girl. I know this is Malaysia, I cannot have sexy girl […] I just take picture for all people happy only. I don’t know what happened.”
Ajees also explained that the women in the viral photos are not his hairstyling staff, but are actually his model friends who came down to the salon to support him on its opening day, and that they were only meant to be “funny” photos that were initially posted on his personal Facebook account.
He even gave the live stream viewers a tour of his salon to show that there were no areas for “special services” to take place, and highlighted again that his studio is “just a normal hair studio”.
He then expressed his gratitude towards his fans for their support, but urged other netizens to refrain from sharing the photos without understanding their context.
Apart from that, Ajees also shared that the Malaysian police, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) are aware of the photos taken for the opening promotion.
Owner Lodged Police Report After Raid
According to a later update posted by the AJ Hair Studio Puchong Facebook page, the salon’s owner filed a police report on 7 June, supposedly after the raid.
The salon posted proof of their police report on Facebook and captioned it with the following caption to ask netizens to stop sharing the viral photos unnecessarily:
“Our Shop is just a normal hair studio.
Don’t take my model picture share to others group again
And edit the caption ours shop have special service. The model just ours grand opening model. Don’t think too much plsssss”
The police document also indicated that the photos were “taken during a promotion at the shop and not at a massage parlour”, and that the owner filed a police report as he is “afraid of what may happen later.”
According to SAYS, the salon has been receiving calls from potential customers asking if they offer “special services”.
In a now-deleted post, the salon took to Facebook to post an image with the words “We shop no have special massage” and “Picture is funny only” on the salon’s public Facebook page.
Featured Image: Facebook (Subang Jaya 梳邦再也)