Government should respect our £30bn beauty industry
Sonia Haria
Yesterday evening it was announced that finally – finally – the beauty industry can reopen. The sector was furious at being left out in the cold when hairdressers were allowed to reopen on July 4, after the Government’s last-minute decision to separate the two sectors.
But only treatments below the neck can be performed, except beard trims. Wait ... what?
I am over the moon that part of the beauty industry can get back to work but outraged it took the Government so long to announce a date. And to see half the industry still being left out is a joke. Beauty is worth almost £30 billion to the UK economy – more than the car manufacturing industry. Reopening the beauty sector will significantly boost the economy and help 200,000 women to get back to work.
The Daily Telegraph made it a mission to fight for the beauty sector – for clarity and a reopening date – by launching the Why Can’t I Work campaign. We asked therapists to post pictures of themselves in their full PPE, telling us how the delay had affected them. I heard from women on the brink of closing once-bustling salons and felt the heartbreak of entrepreneurs who had set up their own businesses after college, but now didn’t qualify for government grants. Superdrug and Urban App backed our campaign, as well as the British Beauty Council and other industry groups.
The excuse the Government gave was that the beauty sector was not yet Covid-secure – despite it being one of the most hyper-hygienic industries.
The argument based on the “closecontact proximity” made no sense. Why could you see a chiropodist for your feet but not a nail technician for a pedicure? Why could you go to a healthcare professional for Botox for medical reasons, but not to a trained aesthetician for cosmetic ones?
Why can a man have a beard trim but a woman can’t have an eyebrow wax?
We have always been aware of a prejudice against our “fluffy” industry. But you may be able to hide discrimination with underhand messaging in government papers, but it’s not as easy to hide childish giggles in Parliament. Why did it have to take a female MP, Caroline Nokes, to confront Matt Hancock on why beauty has been left behind? Nokes brought up the story I broke about how beauty salons were classed in the same high-risk category as strip clubs and casinos.
I’m thrilled that some of these brilliant women can start putting money back in their tills. But there is still a waiting game for the rest of the beauty industry to properly get back to work.