by Genine Babakian
Joseph Antonian has cut some of the most important heads in Moscow, from coup plotters' wives to visiting dignitaries' relatives. But even as the city government claims to be stepping up its move towards privatization, this pioneering hairdresser to the stars often finds himself splitting hairs instead of styling them.
Since becoming a hairdresser 20 years ago, Joseph always dreamed of opening his own salon. So when individual labor licenses were first introduced under Mikhail Gorbachev, Joseph was one of the first in line. He purchased a permit, quit his job in a government-run beauty parlor, and set up shop in the center of town, where his loyal clientele followed. His modest, one-room salon is spitting distance from Red Square. "You can open up the window and spit on Lenin's tomb," Joseph is fond of saying.
Even though he does not own the premises, this is the closest Joseph has ever come to realizing his dream. But for an ambitious man caught between two systems, half a dream is not enough. Although Joseph currently rents his salon, there is no guarantee the space will not be taken away from him at any moment. Should a higher bidder come along - someone who is willing to pay hard currency - Joseph could be out on the street.
"I'm standing on one leg, and it's impossible for me to put the other on the ground," Joseph complains of the property laws that change faster than he can say privatize. "The old law is no longer valid, yet a new one doesn't exist yet- so what am I supposed to do?
But he keeps trying. In early 1991 Moscow launched its privatization program, giving the green light for citizens to own property. Since then Joseph has been in and out of city offices, filing documents and buttering up bureaucrats - anything to obtain permission to buy his salon. But his applications are repeatedly delayed until a new procedure goes into effect and he has to start all over again. In the meantime, property costs are skyrocketing.
For the most part Joseph seems to take each setback stoically, responding with his usual hint of sarcasm. But there are times when his frustration turns to anger - anger at the petty bureaucrats who wield their power over him and at a government that waffles between communism and capitalism.
"In this country business means money, money, money, money, and no one produces anything. We sell everything we've managed to acquire in the past seventy years. But this is all grinding to a halt - we've already bought and resold everything several times over. But those who are actually trying to produce something with their own hands are strapped with high taxes," Joseph says. Indeed, for a while Joseph was paying up to 64% percent of his income in taxes, making his seemingly booming business a whole lot less lucrative.
For a while he thought of giving up hairdressing, but his clients won't let him.
"He's the best in Moscow," said one loyal patron who has been coming to Joseph for fifteen years. "Joseph - I'd follow you to Siberia if I had to."
