Hair salons ready to open doors
Lots of extra cleaning, additional space, masks, among safety measures
It could be the most highly anticipated industry reopening in Niagara.
For the shaggy, the root-showing and desperate do-it-yourself masses, getting an appointment at a hair salon Friday when Niagara enters Stage 2 of the province’s reopening strategy is cause for rejoicing.
“We’ve been calling back numbers for the last three days,” said John Albanese, owner of Studio 55 Salon on Portage Road in Niagara Falls.
“We’re booked up right off the get-go. We’re doing our best to facilitate a lot of our guests.”
Those guests are going to find a very different salon than the one they visited before COVID-19.
As one of the few industries that has to physically touch its clients, hair salons are pulling out all the stops to keep
customers and staff safe.
For most, reopening under COVID-19 will mean less clients because of social distancing and the extra time it takes to clean areas.
Albanese said it’s going to be a big change.
At Studio 55, thick partitions were installed between cutting stations and colour stations. Some stations themselves were removed so the remaining ones could be spread two metres apart.
When clients arrive, they’ll have to wait in the parking lot and a staff member will come and get them. Their temperatures will be taken and they’ll have to answer some questions to make sure they don’t have
COVID-19 symptoms. They’ll also have to wear a mask and gloves and leave handbags at home.
Albanese said everyone’s hair is being washed before it’s done, except for colouring when stylists will wear face shields and gloves. All brushes will be disinfected and wrapped in plastic, which will be opened in front of customers.
“We always had to clean our stuff but now it’s gone to a different level,” he said.
“You’re taking 15, 20 minutes between guests to wipe down the station twice, once with a cleaner, once with a disinfectant.”
Mike De Prophetis, co-owner of Storm Hair Group in Fonthill and St. Catharines, said the business has been preparing for reopening under new circumstances since the province’s state of emergency was declared on March 17.
After the toilet paper shortages, he said it was decided early on to figure out what could possibly be needed.
The salon bought 1,000 masks in anticipation that all clients and stylists would have to wear one.
It also closed off the front desks with Plexiglas and placed directional stickers throughout the salons. He said everything has been spread out six feet.
De Prophetis said the business talked with Niagara Region’s health department officials about reopening safely.
“They’ve given us some direction, so we’ve made a point to go above and beyond everything that they’ve told us to do just to make sure that our staff and our guests are safe,” he said.
“We don’t want anything to happen to anybody.”
Clients have been anxious to come back.
“As soon as Doug Ford announced at one o’clock (Monday), our phone started ringing off the hook. The emails started rolling in,” De Prophetis said. “It’s been insane.”
Nancy Farrell, owner of Hollywood Hair on King Street in St. Catharines, said there won’t be as many stations or as many stylists. Masks will have to be worn and some stylists may choose to wear visors. Capes will be washed after every use and customers will pay at the salon chair so they aren’t lingering at the counter.
Farrell said she expects it will feel different at first, but staff and clients will get into a groove.
“It’s a salon reset,” she said. “It’s a life reset.”