... and yes, we can all f inally get a haircut!

LOCKED down Scots can finally give their gardens – and their hair – a much needed makeover from tomorrow.

After three months of restrictions, garden centres can finally reopen, as can barbers and hairdressers.

For the green-fingered, it will be an opportunity to snap up pansies, barbecues and gazebos.

Meanwhile, the style-conscious will wave goodbye to home hairdos by heading to the salon – although there are warnings that demand is so great customers may face a waiting list.

Garden centres in Scotland have been closed even though those in England have remained open throughout the pandemic. But now they hope to make up for lost time.

Ian McDonald, partner at Fairley’s Garden Centre, in Dunfermline, Fife, said: ‘We’re very well stocked. We’ve crammed the place as much as we can in anticipation of the big rush.

‘We’ve got herbs, a huge collection of shrubs and trees and early bedding plants like pansies, violas and primulas, and tomatoes. Garden furniture is also very popular. Last year, people turned their gardens into entertaining areas, and we’re expecting the same this year.’

Staff at Milestone Garden Centre, near Melrose, Roxburghshire, are also excited to see customers again.

Managing director Ross Allan said: ‘It can’t come soon enough. We’ve been closed for 14 weeks, a lot longer than anyone anticipated.’

Meanwhile, hairdressers and barbers are preparing to work around the clock to tackle Scotland’s backlog of long-overdue haircuts – and many stylists are reporting huge demand.

John Gillespie, owner of John Gillespie Hairdressing in Perth, said: ‘We are booked up for the next twoand-a-half months in advance, it’s crazy. We will be open seven days a week and working longer hours.

‘People are desperate to get their hair done.’

Self-employed hairdresser Chelsea Brennan, who works at Trend salon in Glasgow’s Tollcross, said: ‘I cannot wait to get back behind the chair and do hair again, I have really missed all my clients.

‘I’ve got a massive waiting list. I will have to work extra days and longer hours to get everyone done. I am basically full until mid-May.

‘Clients are so excited to get their hair done again.’

As part of the ongoing effort to minimise the spread of Covid, salons and barbers will operate with PPE and social distancing.

A spokesman for the National Hair and Beauty Federation said: ‘Scottish hair salons and barbershops have been through an incredibly challenging year.

‘With most closed for 238 days since the first lockdown, losing a combined turnover of £17 million per week while shut, they can still only operate at 70 per cent capacity when open due to social distancing.

‘They are desperate to open now it is safe to do so and start the road to recovering their businesses.

‘Anecdotal evidence reports that they are fully booked for at least a month. As long as these businesses can remain open and don’t have to close again, they have a good chance at long-term survival and success.’

‘We’re booked up for two months. It’s crazy’