The lockdown regulations have brought the salon industry to its knees. Salons were some of the last businesses allowed to return, and when they did, some key beauty treatments weren’t allowed to return until much later. (Nevermind the fact that no one has ever done a face-to-face facial.)
Now that we’ve been able to see salons in action with the COVID-secure measures in place, you must surely be interested in how well your precautions have protected customers. From wearing masks to struggling to blow dry hair while wearing a visor, these measures are all doing exactly what we need them to do.
According to the government guidelines, hairdressers and beauty salons only contribute ‘up to 0.05%’ of covid transmission. This means that your hard work to protect customers is paying off. And hopefully, this will help customers to feel more secure when we move out of the second national lockdown and through the winter.
While there is a vaccine on the horizon, it isn’t here yet, and we might not start to see the benefits until spring 2021. In the meantime, it’s reassuring to know that the measures in place to protect staff and customers are working.
To recap, many salons are now implementing more regular and rigorous salon cleaning guidelines, including cleaning salon furniture between customers or using disposable covers. As a rule, the salon and beauty industry is already rather hygiene-aware. Cross-contamination is already a key concern, even before the risk of COVID-19 transmission, so it makes sense that salon owners have taken the new guidelines in their stride.
With the current England-wide lockdown scheduled to take us into December, salons are looking to the government for some certainty that the reopening schedule won’t be as mismanaged as the previous one.
In July, salons were encouraged by the announcement that the country would be coming out of lockdown, started accepting bookings, and then discovered they were exempt from the changes. When salons were able to open, the later learned that some services within the same salon weren’t allowed to return until weeks later. And often these changes weren’t announced until the night before.
It was a confusing time for salon owners, nevermind the customers who just wanted to book a brow shape with their cut and blow-dry. Helena Grzesk, General Manager of the UK Spa Association (UKSA) is currently pushing for the government to confirm that salons will be able to open with all services on the menu from 3rd December.
The Christmas period would normally be the busiest time for salons, with people getting spruced up before the holidays and getting ready for work parties and family gatherings. While the tone might be a little more subdued this year, salons can still expect to be able to make the most of holiday bookings and an increase in retail sales. But for any of this to happen, salons need concrete information about when they can open and what the rules will be when they can.
The government guidelines have been vague until now and most of the guidance often seems to come in response to the outcry that nothing has been prepared in advance. These are truly unprecedented times, so we commend the efforts of salon owners everywhere to keep their heads up and keep operating under such trying conditions.
If the world does emerge from lockdown in the spring of 2021, we can expect everyone will be ready to shed their au natural look in favour of something a little more glamorous and dazzling. And we need as many salons as possible to be there to help the public transition back to working from the office, heading out at the weekend and enjoying far-flung holidays in the sun.