Syrian stylists making waves at St. John's salon

A pair of Syrian refugees are bringing Middle Eastern style to a St. John's salon.

Somar Nassar and Shimaa Zarour are both working at the Hair Connection & Samshara Spa, where clients can't get enough of their dynamic dos and innovative techniques.

Nassar specializes in fancy updos, using only brushes and blow dryers.

"It's way better than the straightener and the curler because it gives you a natural look, and you can control their hair more." Nassar explained. "And it's more healthy, because no more damage from the heat."

Zarour also does hair, but she's been getting a lot of attention for one of her aesthetic services: threading, a method of shaping eyebrows with just an ordinary thread.

"It's not like a wax which sometimes burns." Zarour said.

To see these styling techniques up close, click on the video below.

Their methods have many customers intrigued, and Nassar said everyone who sits in his chair has been thrilled with the results.

Max Webb came in for a wavy new look, but never imagined she could get it without having a hot iron inches from her head.

"It's really fluffy and full! I just really love it." she said.

Fleeing from conflict

Nassar and Zarour and their families came to St. John's as refugees from the conflict in Syria. Nassar had a successful career as a stylist and owned his own salon. Sadly, he said, it was destroyed in the fighting.

"My salon is gone, everything is gone." he said. "Everything was good in Syria until this crazy war happened. We ourselves lived there and we don't know what happened."

Zarour said a bomb blast struck her home and covered her young son with window glass.

"That time, I decided I wouldn't stay in Syria." she said.

New home, new start

Brenda Chaytor-Guiney, owner of the Hair Connection & Samshara Spa, said Nassar and Zarour arrived in St. John's just as she was trying to fill some vacancies on her staff

"I was sort of looking for somebody who had something new to offer," Chaytor-Guiney said. "I just happened to start asking a few questions, ran into the right people."

Now, Nassar and Zarour are settling in to their new jobs and new lives in St. John's. They both said that seeing their children find happiness in their new home has been the best part of the experience.

"Especially my oldest daughter," Nassar says. "She's doing good at school, she loves her school, teachers, friends. All good, life is getting better."

Zarour said the war in Syria and subsequent life as a refugee in Jordan was very difficult for her young son.

"Now when I see him, he happy and he play and he enjoy." she said. "I don't want anything else, just my son to be happy and good future for him also."

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