Hair salons, barbershops prepare to get clients back in the chair.
Houston stylists are figuring out how to trim around masks
Abbas Padilla thought he would have a week or two to reopen Bayou City Barbershop, the business he co-owns with Peter Blamford. But when Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday that hair salons could welcome back customers beginning May 8, Padilla and Blamford sprang into action.
“I just knew I had to go into full-speed ahead mode because my barbers have been out of work for almost eight weeks now,” Padilla said. “I posted on social media, turned the shop phone on and said, ‘Let’s just start taking appointments.’ It hasn’t stopped ringing since.”
Abbott’s latest order allows the state’s barber shops and beauty salons — with 270,000 licensed cosmetologists and 19,000 licensed barbers — to partially reopen Friday. Gyms can reopen May 18 with restrictions, as the state continues to ramp up COVID-19 testing and the percentage of Texans testing positive for the disease declines.
The order gave Padilla and Blamford only three days to sanitize their hip EaDo shop from top to bottom.
The barbershop’s vintage decor includes a working cash register from the ’60s. “People get a kick out of hearing that old bell,” Padilla said.
Come Friday morning, he’ll tape signage to the register explaining expectations for social distancing and wearing masks at all time. He’ll post the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s suggested guidelines for hand-washing in the barbershop’s bathrooms and on the front door, too.
“I drove around Houston collecting as much hand sanitizer as I could find so that our customers can feel like they have plenty of options within arm’s reach,” Padilla said.
There will also be a box filled with extra masks in case
clients forget to bring their own. And the row of stadium-style seating has been removed from the waiting area, replaced with single chairs spaced 6 feet apart. A few extra chairs will be placed outside, but any additional overflow will have to wait elsewhere.
It’s a big change for Bayou City Barbershop, which will celebrate its fifth anniversary in July.
“When we opened, I was taken aback by the sense of community built around our shop. That part of the business really surprised me,” Padilla said. His customers felt comfortable just hanging out, and would often stop in for beer after work until the traffic died down. “That’s going to change — at least for awhile.”
Still, he’s confident that once customers sit in that familiar barber chair, old feelings will come rushing back.
To prepare his four-person staff to make the necessary adjustments, the company held its first-ever Zoom meeting. Padilla expected the video conference to last half an hour, but conversations continued for nearly 90 minutes.
They talked about using Barbicide — “the blue or purple stuff that you’ll see combs soaking in” — to spray down and disinfect each station in between customers.
One barber asked how they should perform hair or beard services if their client is wearing a mask.
“I feel really confident that everyone is taking this matter very seriously,” Padilla said.
Good thing, there are few appointment slots left available for Bayou City Barbershop’s reopening weekend.
Across town in the Heights,
Cin and Min co-owner Cindy Hutchinson received a detailed list of safety requirements from her landlord, Sola Salon Studios.
“There are probably 20 to 30 studios here, so we’re part of whole herd of people prepping to reopen,” Hutchinson said before explaining the advantages of her setup. “It’s typically just you and your client in the space. Two of us share our studio, though we recently upgraded to a larger area.”
Even with the extra room, her building’s reopening guidelines allow one client in each studio at a time — including children. “Sometimes people can’t find a sitter, but they’ve got to leave their kids at home now,” Hutchinson said.
She and business partner Minda Kilpatrick are determined to make it work. They were forced to close Cin and Min just three weeks after signing their new lease.
Hutchinson has never had this much time off work before.
“Not even to have my child,” she said.
During the state’s Stay Home/ Work Safe order, she and Kilpatrick would drop off color kits for their clients to perform root touch-ups at home. It quickly became a popular service, though their customers are eager to get back in the chair.
“My clients were so grateful to have color on their hair,” Hutchinson said. “But the guys who normally get their haircut every two or three weeks? They’re losing their minds. They’re the most frantic.”
Phayes Two Barber Shop’s customers are itching to get their edges trimmed up. That’s why two managers, Joseph Hayes and Quincy Floyd, spent Thursday lugging heavy barber chairs out of the shop and onto the sidewalk. Everything had to be cleared out for a deep clean before Friday morning.
“Everything is different,” Hayes said.
Floyd added that appointments and masks for West Bellfort shop will be required for entry. No more than 10 people will be allowed inside at a time, and they must be 6 feet apart.
To accommodate the crowd, Phayes Two will open earlier than its usual 8 a.m. start if necessary. “It’s not about the money, I’d rather people be safe,” Floyd said.
Not all stylists are ready to welcome clients back. Fay Farkas won’t be opening her Montrose salon Friday out of concern for a new flare-up of COVID-19 cases due to Texas’ reopening. She pointed out that the state ranks near the bottom when it comes to testing.
“I’m currently planning to open the studio again when the supplies to meet the requirements are in place, hopefully after Memorial Day,” she said in an email to her clients.