Hairdresser Creates Sweet Lemonade From Sour Lemons

As a young woman, Farah Rahimieh was living the good life in the Iranian capital of Tehran. An architect by profession, she married her college sweetheart, also an architect, and bore two healthy and happy daughters.

Though the couple had job opportunities in the United States, they chose not to act upon them. Why would they leave their extended family members and idyllic lifestyles they enjoyed to come to a country where they didn’t speak the language and were unfamiliar with many of its norms?

“Life in Iran, believe it or not, was great,” said Rahimieh, noting that she especially loved its culture, its diverse topography and the fact that everyone was afforded a job.

It was a flourishing country, helped by the lucrative export of its large supplies of gas and oil.

“We had some poor people, but we didn’t have any who were homeless,” she said.

But that all changed in 1979 with the fall of the Iranian monarchy and the overthrow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, a supporter of pro-Western philosophy.

He was replaced by Ayatollah Ruholllah Khomeini, who took the helm of the new Islamic Republic of Iran. The rapidly modernizing, capitalistic society was soon replaced by autocratic rule and Islamic economic and cultural policies.

Khomeini abandoned the pro-Western standards and forced woman to wear head coverings and full-body cloaks called chadors. They also were also forced to live lives of servitude to their spouses and primarily relegated to stay at home to bear and raise children. Those who opposed the regime were beaten and often imprisoned.

“I remember if you had lipstick on and they caught you they would put razors inside tissues and wipe it off,” she said.

For Rahimieh who was accustomed to wearing makeup and dressing however she wished, pursuing a career in her field of interest, and practicing her religion of choice, life became almost unbearable.

“It changed drastically and they looked at me as a nobody,” she said.

After determining it was not the environment in which she and her husband wanted to raise their then 6- and 8-year-old girls, the couple decided to move to the United States.

With an allotment of just $500 for herself and $250 per child, the trio fled the country in 1984 and her husband followed 11 months later.

They settled in Tampa near one of her sisters who’d left Iran before them.

Prior to her husband’s arrival, she was desperate to find a job. But she soon learned her architectural credentials and skills did not readily translate in landing a position in that field.

So she enrolled in a beauty college on Busch Boulevard and was granted her license as hairdresser. She went on to open her own shop, which she ran for 15 years until deciding she wanted to devote more time to her family.

Her husband first found employment at a local gas station and later took a job as a J.C. Penney associate.

“It was very hard, but if I had to do it again I would do the same thing,” said Rahimieh, now a resident of Carrollwood.

The past five years, she’s worked as a stylist/colorist at the Image Factory Salon, 12826 N. 56th St., in Temple Terrace where she’s built a devoted clientele.

Earning a hefty sum of money is not what motivates her. She doesn’t care if the chair she sits in comes from Walmart or if it’s one from a high-end furniture store.

“I’m very, very happy because I’ve met a lot of good people who’ve helped me in every way,” she said. “And I’m lucky that my family is very close to one another and that we didn’t fall apart.”

The Image Factory Salon owner Scot Jean calls Rahimieh an asset to his business.

“She adds a lot of spark to the salon and to show you that she doesn’t value money she wants to buy luncheon for everybody, even though we say, ‘No, you can’t do that,’” he said.

Rahimieh’s longtime client Brooks Marshall said they’ve developed a close friendship through the years.

“She’s so enchanting, and I don’t think there is a better person than she is,” Marshall said.

Rahimieh’s elder daughter Naz Rouboubi still has vivid memories of the horror she and her other family members suffered in Iran following the revolution.

Especially etched in her mind is an instance in which school administrators said she was inappropriately dressed and called her a whore.

“I also remember how difficult it was for my mother who when she came here had to support us,” Rouboubi said.

“But she was a strong woman and a wonderful mother who instilled in us the importance of getting a good education,” she said.

Rouboubi is a podiatrist and her sister, Sara Rouboubi, is a computer engineer. Both have the utmost respect for their parents, they say.

“It’s so hard to describe the sacrifice they made to leave their lives in Iran behind them,” Sara Rouboubi said. “The hardest part for me and my sister is seeing that they weren’t able to do what they studied to do but my mother has always been concerned about others more than about herself.”

Jim Stout has come to know Rahimieh well by way of his wife, Barbara, who’s also been a longtime client of hers. In his view, the woman always puts other people’s needs and desires above her own.

He admires her fortitude and grace and how she’s forged through life despite adversities. He’s also in awe of how the couple managed to put their two daughters through college.

“I asked her if she ever thinks about going back to Iran and her answer was a flat, ‘No way,’” Stout said. “I think she’s afraid they could possibly put her in prison.”