Colouring your hair with salons faded to black
Colouring products are fast becoming the new toilet paper thanks to COVID-19
It began as a small incursion. A smattering of white camouflaged among the beige. But seven weeks into self-isolation, it’s become an all-out war on my head. The greys are amassing and I fear they are about to launch a major attack on the front lines of my hair.
Women all over the world are counting the weeks of COVID-19 restrictions by the inches of grown-out roots they’re sporting. Salon appointments, like the one I had booked for mid-april, have been cancelled and women have been left to their own devices.
That means one of two things: DIY or surrender.
Clearly, one side is winning out as consumers are panic buying hair products such as colouring kits and clippers, according to the head of one of North America’s biggest store chains. Hair dye has become the new toilet paper.
“You can definitely see that as people have stayed home, their focus shifted,” Walmart CEO Doug Mcmillon said on the Today Show, recently.
Twitter is all abuzz with photos and videos of people with new wild colours and cuts. Even celebrities are enlisting in the craze. Country superstar Blake Shelton had girlfriend Gwen Stefani shave stripes into his unruly locks while video chatting with talk show host Jimmy Fallon. Hilary Duff posted pics of her vibrant blue hues and Carson Daly took a pair of clippers to his hair on his front step for the Today show. Youtube is rife with videos showing how to quarantine colour, cut hair, trim bangs or shave a fade.
We all know people who talked their spouses into cutting or colouring for them. There’s no guarantee of success, however. But the sense is that if it turns out bad, no one will likely ever see it. Still, others are turning to the pros for help.
“Oh my god, the videos that are out there. We’ll be really busy when we get back,” notes Sam Borhot, a master stylist at Logix Hair, owned by his brother Tony. They are doing drop-offs of online product purchases and, for a donation, they’ll mix up professional hair colour and toner kits for their clients who send in a photo of their, by now, glaring roots.
“We’re not charging for the colours or toners, we’re just doing it by donation. We know everybody is not financially stable right now. But we’ve had people give $50, $100. It’s been awesome. It’s been helpful for us, and for them just to get through.”
From Jerome’s to Red Bloom, most city salons are, at the least, selling gift certificates as revenues fall like newly shorn hair.
Swizzlesticks Salonspa in Kensington has extended expiry on gift certificates to 18 months. It is also doing curbside pickup of hair care products every two weeks and will soon launch its annual Spring Cyber Sale for hair and spa services.
“This sale and our curbside pickup sales will help with the business during the closure and also keep us top of mind,” says Brianna Hallet, CEO of Swizzlesticks.
It’s been a struggle but staff are guiding clients through isolation “creatively and with the least amount of risk.”
“There is literally no guidebook, so I believe the industry is truly doing the best that we can,” said Hallet. “The biggest thing to remember is that we are the pros, so whatever may happen behind closed doors during this mandated closure, I am confident that we can get our guests’ manes back to a good place in a couple of appointments. And it’ll make for some great stories!”
Some shops are just waiting it out. Razors Edge Barber Shoppe closed before it was mandatory and company president Jalal Elsaghir said it’s been very difficult.
“It has been a struggle financially, of course. Not just on myself as a business owner, but on our team in general. We have, across both locations, a total of 25 barbers and a few support staff. And each of these barbers provides for their families, so it has had a wider impact.”
In anticipation of the eventual easing of restrictions, El-saghir has been sourcing sanitary and disinfectant equipment, PPE for his barbers, working on setting an online booking system and reorienting their shop to better distance barber chairs and close the waiting room.
“All we have is to remain hopeful in a time like this,” said El-saghir, who misses the camaraderie of staff and clients.
But for some stay-at-homers, there’s a different battle plan. Many on social media are proudly declaring an end to cutting and colouring, maybe for now, maybe forever. There’s even a COVID Hair Club on Twitter for hair dye non-believers.
It’s not so much surrendering as it is accepting fate. There’s a sense of freedom to be gained in putting down your comb, plastic apron and dye bottles and letting nature take its course. If coronavirus restrictions continue for several more weeks, then many people will be halfway there to a new look. Consider it losing the battle to win the war.
As for my encroaching silver strands, I’m leaning heavily toward hand-to-hand combat to speed up the process. There’s nothing a good pair of scissors can’t solve.