Hairstylists set for clipping
Cleaning, sanitizing and limited capacity are priorities
Rose Samson has been styling and cutting hair professionally for 47 years, and some clients have been with her for 40 of those years. It’s like a family, she says.
“There aren’t many jobs that you will find in your life where you go to work, and you laugh all day long,” she said. “That’s exactly what you do, you laugh. You do a really professional job, but it’s fun.”
Since March 23, when it was announced personal services like barbershops and hair salons would be mandated to close because of the COVID-19 pandemic, she’s been waiting to get back behind the chair, into the hair and back to the laughter.
As of Monday, the province will enter Alert Level 3, and Samson, along with many other hairdressers, barbers and hairstylists, will finally be able to get back to adding a little flair to the province’s follicles.
Albeit, with many new guidelines, rules and restrictions.
“We’ve had a couple of weeks of booking clients,” said Samson, who works at Hair Connection on Stavanger Drive in St. John’s. “The major focus, of course, is on the safety of the staff and the clients. Everything has to be top-notch.”
This means shutting down the reception area, and requiring everyone in the building to wear masks. It means everything being sanitized after every client. And though they have about 20 stylists, only seven will be allowed in the building at one time, Samson says.
Regardless, Samson is not concerned that she, her colleagues and her employer won’t make this work.
“Our boss has gone to great lengths to make sure everything is done to a tee,” she said.
WATCHING B.S.’S REOPENING
These new procedures are something Justin Penney knows well. Penney, along with his wife, Brittany, is the franchisee of Tommy Gun’s Original Barbershop in Mount Pearl.
Penney has been on a reopening committee for the nationwide chain and monitoring the situation across Canada since April 1.
It gave him the opportunity to monitor other provinces, like British Columbia, to see how they dealt with reopening, he says. He was then able to more accurately anticipate what reopening was going to look like in Newfoundland and Labrador.
“We always kept an eye on all provincial roll-outs,” he says. “We had to develop a bunch of policies for them.
“Our stance was to always go a little bit above and beyond the provincial guidelines.”
He’s adopted that approach here as well and says he could spend all day talking about the changes.
There will be decals all around the store regarding social distancing measures.
As per provincial guidelines, customers will be expected to answer a questionnaire.
Provincial guidelines also state, “Clients should wear non-medical masks. These should be provided for clients who have not brought their own.”
Despite the “should,” Tommy Gun’s will require all customers to wear a mask.
However, they’ve purchased nonmedical masks ahead of time, which will be available for purchase by anyone who doesn’t have a mask.
“It’s an astronomical cost of (personal protective equipment),” he said.
While they’ll charge only $2 for a mask, the price of products such as hand sanitizer has greatly increased and will cut into their profit, he says.
Nevertheless, he’s excited to see both his regular customers and, hopefully, new ones.
“I know they’re going to feel safe and I know they’re going to have the same experience as prior to the pandemic,” he said.
He just asks for a little patience, as they expect to deal with high volumes of customers with volumes of hair.
READY TO GO
Mohamad Alnaidani, the owner of Mo’s Corner Barbershop on Broadway Street in Corner Brook, says he’s a little nervous about reopening, but excited as well.
“We should make (our customers) comfortable and relaxed,” he said.
He plans to have hand sanitizer everywhere, and add five minutes to every appointment to do a thorough cleaning before the next customer.
And for now, services like shaves will not be available.
“I know I’m going to lose some money, but safety is first,” he said.