‘A once loud and bustling city is now eerily quiet’
TRALEE NATIVE LAURA CAVANAGH HAS SEEN HER DREAM INTERNSHIP IN NYC PUT ON HOLD AS SHE ADJUSTS TO LIFE IN WORST HIT US STATE
LOOKING your best might not seem like the most important thing right now but to many, mainly women, hair, eyelashes and eyebrows, make-up and nails are all part and parcel of everyday life. As Covid-19 hits the beauty industry and closes beauty salons and hair-dressers nation-wide, well-known Kerry hairdresser, Sean Taffe, is on hand to offer advice.
With three hair-dressing salons in the county - Killarney, Killorglin and Tralee, Sean Taaffe, was among the businesses forced to closed during the current Covid-19 pandemic. He took the decision to close ahead of the Government directive to close all non-essential shops last week. This led to 55 staff losing their jobs temporarily amid fears for the future of the beauty industry across Kerry.
Despite the current shutdown and Government restrictions for social distancing the closure of hairdressers and beauty salons had led to appeals for a ‘underground’ business, it has been reported with customers appealing for beauticians and hairdressers to come to homes.
“I understand the desire but some people are just not getting it at all and it is frustrating,” he said.
He said the “emotional factor” of looking good is important but people s health must take priority.
“If we do what we are supposed to we will come out of this.”
“Do not ask people to come to your homes.”
His advice is to “think outside the box” to come up with inventive ways to look good - changing your hair parting or use hairbands to cover hair roots - one of the main concerns women have in relation to their hair at the moment.
He is strongly advising women not to box dye their hair at home if at all possible nor to cut their hair
“If you are blond your hair could go orange or yellow and it will be hard to clear even in a salon.
“If you have chestnut or brown hair you have more of a chance,” he said
“Before you think of it try a zigzag parting, a back-comb, it will keep you going. Eye-shadow on grey hairs can also help.”
Sean advises using just a roots touch-up spray if you feel you have to resort to help and use a shade lighter than you think you need. And he adds with balayage so popular roots are more in fashion even ever.
Some women are choosing to embrace roots with the #showyourroots trending on instagram in a bit to support the hairdressing industry and deal with the personal fall-out from Covid-19.
Sean is also advising women to use this time to get their hair in good conditions with weekly treatments.
“We have time now that we didn’t have and glossy, shiny hair with roots is better than no roots and hair in bad condition.”
“We can have super looking hair when we come out of this.”
His final advice is to ring your hairdresser for advice as they know your hair best and can help even from afar.
And hopefully many businesses will be back open in the not so distance future though he cautions like all businesses in the current pandemic some may not survive.
“The industry has been dealt a few hammer-blows in recent times including the VAT increase and trainee wage increase and now Covid-19.”
And on a positive note local hairdressers will be on hand when this is over to help.
“It will be like Christmas for us afterwards,” he says.
LIFE in New York City (NYC) is completely different than what I thought it would be.
I moved over here in January 2020 with three friends, all of whom were looking for design internships on the J1 Graduate visa. I was so excited, I was ready for a new adventure. I never in my wildest dreams expected a situation like this to happen.
I was offered a graphic design internship towards the end of March and my first day was through a video call from my Brooklyn apartment, as the company had decided to work from home. My first week of work took place in my bedroom. All my housemates are now working from home too.
The following week, New York goes into lockdown. All companies close and only the essential businesses are now allowed to remain open. One of my housemates has lost his internship and he doesn’t know if he should go home or stay and find another job.
I rarely go outside. The cars usually parked on either side of the street outside my building are all gone and I don’t need to look both ways to cross the street anymore. The subways are empty and the only vehicles on the streets are police cars and delivery vans.
Many laundromats are closed, shops are out of toilet paper and the bread shelves are empty. Coffee houses and cafés will only let customers in one at a time with sanitation stations set up at the entries. A once loud and bustling city is now eerily quiet.
We all worry if we should go home to our families. We spend hours talking about it every day. Flight prices have sky-rocketed and we risk catching the virus on the journey home.
We would be giving up on our internships, but what if this goes on for months and we spent our exciting year in New York stuck in a Brooklyn apartment paying rent and seeing nobody. And if we did go home, we couldn’t even hug our families that haven’t seen us for months. I would be at home, but I would also be quarantined for two weeks, unemployed and feeling like a failure.
What if I lose my security deposit in my apartment because I can’t fill my room? Apartment listings are constantly being posted every day on Facebook from Irish people leaving New York and I’m left wondering if I should do the same.
I don’t know what I’m going to do or what to expect, but I’m taking it day by day. Nobody can guarantee what the future holds or how this will play out, but for now, we are staying here, safe inside and we are being strong for one another.