Clients returning to
salons in states where they’re back in business should brace for a radically different
experience.
As businesses
throughout the Hudson Valley get the green light to reopen, many business
sectors will not operate in the ways we’ve grown to love. In fact, according to a report released by
Moneywatch, a division of Dow Jones & Company, getting your hair done will
be a lonelier, quieter experience for the time being.
Some of us have been
letting our hair go, or by the look of online videos, trying to cut our hair at
home. But most of us are eagerly awaiting the return of our hair stylists. But
as salons reopen expect some dramatic new policies, at least, at the beginning.
“First off,” says the
report, “beauty salon and barbershop clients should prepare for the possibility
of being charged higher prices, or a fee to cover the cost of extra
disinfecting and equipment. They should be ready to wash their own hair before
their appointment and wait in their car until it’s their turn in the chair.
Many salons have ended walk-in appointments, which means the days of suddenly
chopping off your hair after a traumatizing break-up are over for the time
being.”
In New York hair salons and barber shops will be restricted to three
services only, according to the state's rules:
- Haircuts
- Hair coloring
- Hair styling
Anything that is not related to one
of those services will not be allowed during Phase 2, which in the Hudson
Valley should begin on June 8, 2020
Going to the salon
during the pandemic is “going to be a bare-bones experience,” said Steven
Sleeper, executive director of the Pro Beauty Association, a trade group
representing independent salon owners. “It’s going to be stripped down and back
to the basics and getting your service and getting out,” he said. “It’s not
going to be warm and fuzzy, at least for a while.”
For many clients,
there will be no more browsing through hair serums for sale in the salon,
sipping a complimentary glass of wine, or paging through magazines. Those
extras have been banned in many states. Cut-throat shaves in the barbershop
chair may also be another luxury that bites the dust.
Customers should
assume that their salon won’t look or feel the way it did before the
coronavirus pandemic swept the U.S. — and if it does, they “should be really
concerned,” Sleeper said. In many states, masks are mandatory for salon
employees and customers, and so are symptom and temperature checks for both
parties.
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