Haircuts at midnight on July 4
HAIRDRESSERS will open as early as midnight on July 4 to finally tame tresses that have gone untouched for three months.
Those who haven’t booked a trim already face disappointment, with some waiting lists having stretched to – that’s right – three months.
Updating MPs on plans to reopen salons, a bedraggled Boris Johnson said he was ‘eagerly awaiting’ his first haircut almost as much as his first pint.
Businesses will only be allowed to open if staff wear gowns and masks or visors. The news will bring joy not just to those with unruly hair but also 33,000 staff across the country – mostly freelancers – who have been left without work since March.
Customers face waiting outside until their appointment begins, while hairdressers will forgo cash tips to take contactless card payments instead. Katie Hancock, owner of The Chair in Canterbury, said her salon would be open from midnight to 4pm on July 4 to start clearing its considerable backlog. ‘Obviously the health and safety of our clients and stylists is the priority,’ she said. ‘All of our services will take a bit longer than usual.’
Richard Ward Hair and Metrospa in Chelsea, west London – whose celebrity clients include the Duchess of Cambridge – said its waiting list has already topped 2,500, meaning another three-month delay for some.
Co-founder Hellen Ward said her team was expecting to see a ‘few bad haircuts’ from customers who braved a DIY lockdown cut. Of the new ‘one metre plus’ social distancing rule, she said: ‘It means we can have 46 chairs instead of 23 and therefore we can have twice as many staff on-site.’