Heavy make-up and high heels are de rigueur for the four male stylists at Christopher David on Capel Street, Dublin. On opening for business last year, the salon originally catered mostly to the capital's Filipino community . . . particularly nurses . . . but now has a large indigenous client base.

Employing four male stylists . . . Leonie Otto, Yumi O'Connell, and Alanis and Aiza Guapa Aguinon . . . the salon is run by Juliet Suezo, a woman. Traditionally, most of the top hair stylists in the Philippines are drawn from the exotic 'ladyboy' community of transvestites and transexuals.

Although the staff dress up after work and at weekends in feminine clothing, during shop hours everyone wears a conventional black uniform. However, adornments such as foundation, lipstick, eyeliner, jewellery, painted nails and toe-nails, and killer heels are accepted and encouraged.

Keen to talk about living in Ireland, hair stylist Alanis explained: "My ambition is to have an Irish husband. I don't like beer but I like to drink champagne and I do lots of dancing to exercise because I don't get any working in the shop standing up all day."

Alanis's fellow stylist Aiza Aguinod added: "My favourite is the Irish guy, but shopping here is very expensive. I like The Late Late Show . . . Pat Kenny is very good, he is entertaining sometimes."

"We have lots of customers, thank God, " said Suezo, "it was mostly [Filipinos] and nurses in the beginning, but now we get loads of Irish people, including a Trinity College professor. We also get lots of other different nationalities. We can't cater for all the customer bookings, so we do hair on a first-come, first-served basis."

Open six days a week from morning till 7.30pm, the shop employs five full-time staff and, according to other businesses on the street, it is always packed out. On a recent Saturday afternoon, 10 customers were being styled, most of them female, with another four Irish people waiting to have their hair done.

Prices in the hairdressing salon are modest by Irish standards, with a ladies' cut, blow dry and colour costing just 20, compared to the more usual 60 plus for a similar service. "We are very affordable because lots of Filipinas don't have very much money, " said Suezo. "We do everything here from hair colouring, straightening, styling and cutting."

Decorating the walls of Christopher David are photographs of staff member Leonie, runner-up in last year's Miss Pink Philippines Competition, which was held in the Temple Bar Music Centre.

Capel Street has undergone a huge transformation in recent times. Once the hub of the furniture and wholesale trade, the street is now an eclectic mix of upmarket nightclubs, hotels, cafes and trendy bars, among them celebrity chef Gary Rhodes' D7 restaurant, alongside second-hand clothes stores and sex shops.