Would you break lockdown to rescue your locks?
As our investigation reveals, many women are doing just that with secret hairdressing appointments – and even having Botox and fillers...
On a smart street in West London, Rebecca Packer is waiting by the window of her second-floor flat.
a man on a motorbike pulls up outside, checks the address and looks furtively up and down the street before ringing the bell. Rebecca, an elegant blonde with high cheekbones, stylishly dressed down in a T-shirt and designer jeans, buzzes him in, hoping any curtain-twitching neighbours will assume he’s just delivering food to one of the flats in her large block — and won’t notice that he doesn’t reappear for more than an hour. ‘I’d tried to deal with it,’ says Rebecca, who had never met the man before, but had made the arrangement to meet him through an exchange of text messages, ‘but it just got to the point where I couldn’t. and he needed the money.’
While their clandestine meeting might sound like something from the criminal underworld, this was no drug deal. Rebecca had asked a mobile hairdresser to visit during lockdown to cut her ‘thick, unruly’ blonde hair back into its usually sleek style. ‘I went from looking like I had
‘Clients are pressurising hairdressers to break the rules
a big square on my head to looking like me,’ she says. And she’s far from the only one breaking the rules in the name of beauty.
Newspaper reports have highlighted hairdressers and beauticians flouting the ban on working. They include Dee Greenwood, 34, a hair extension specialist from London, who claimed she was as much of a key worker as a plumber, insisting that for women, a hair disaster was ‘as essential as their boiler breaking down’.
Her behaviour and that of many others like her prompted the National Hair & Beauty Federation (NHBF) to email all its members, warning them they should not be working.
DeFiANce of that guidance comes as no surprise to Antonia Mariconda, founder of Safety in Beauty, which campaigns for safety in aesthetic, cosmetic and beauty treatments.
‘We’ve received 147 complaints about hairdressers and beauticians continuing to offer services during lockdown,’ she says.
To find out the extent of the problem, Safety in Beauty conducted an anonymous investigation, contacting 30 aesthetic practitioners on social media to ask if they would offer treatment with Botox or fillers at the moment.
‘Three of them agreed to treat me,’ Antonia reveals exclusively to the Daily Mail. ‘in a similar investigation, contacting 30 hairdressers, one in five said they could see me.’
Since lockdown began on March 23, beauty salons and hairdressers have been forced to remain closed.
Many had hoped the Prime Minister’s announcement on Sunday would change that. But it looks as if the official date for reopening these types of premises — which, by their nature, make it impossible to maintain a two-metre distance between client and therapist — won’t be before July, by which time we could well be the most unkempt country in europe.
German and Spanish hairdressers have now reopened, with strict rules about masks, aprons, distance between styling chairs and a ban on magazines and coffees. This week, parts of France followed suit.
Until now, those breaking the rules in the UK could be subject to an on-the-spot fine of £60. But as of this week, those fines will be £100, with the threat of them doubling with each subsequent breach, to a maximum of £3,200.
even that seems unlikely to deter those prepared to defy the Government and keep working on the sly — and those clients determined to maintain their beauty standards.
Last week, a BBc investigation found 19 out of 50 barbers in Kent and Sussex were happy to offer appointments — even though others in Wales, Lincolnshire and Wolverhampton have been threatened with fines and forced to close after police discovered they were still cutting hair.
As for Rebecca, 46, who runs a marketing agency, she is part of a group of ‘three or four’ career-focused women with high-flying jobs in the media and finance, who have been passing round the numbers of therapists they know can be trusted to drop in discreetly.
‘i’ve got a high-maintenance short hairstyle, which was last cut in March,’ she says. ‘A month in, and it looked terrible. i’d had to wear a baseball cap for weeks, and it was getting me down. i messaged a couple of hairdressers i knew, but they were offended i’d even suggested it, so that was when i started asking for recommendations from friends who were in the same position.
‘We’re not overly vain, we just think it’s important to look a certain way to feel confident. We’ve become dependent on hair and beauty treatments to make us feel like ourselves. Without them, you feel like a bag lady, and that’s difficult when you’ve got to be on Zoom calls all day for work.
‘Some of us are pitching to clients, or dealing with senior management, and it’s hard to do your best work when your self-esteem is suffering.
‘i live alone but have friends who are scared about their partners seeing them when they haven’t had their hair and beauty treatments.’
The stylist Rebecca used, who charges from £50 for a trim, to more than £200 for more complicated colour treatments, was recommended by a friend who knew him from the chelsea salon where he used to work — and had recently had her colour done by him in the back garden while her partner was out of the house.
Rebecca insists she and her friends wouldn’t let just anyone pop round. ‘They all come with protective masks and hand sanitiser, and are very selective about the clients they see,’ she says.
‘You’re obviously concerned, which is why i wouldn’t work with anyone who didn’t wear a mask, and i insist on wearing one, too. But it seems inconceivable that it could be months before you’re allowed to go to a hairdresser’s, yet you can get on a bus or a train, or walk through a crowded park.’
Gemma Softley, 29, an iT worker from Kent, saw no reason why lockdown should prevent her monthly appointment for hair extensions.
‘i’ve had extensions for five years,’ she says. ‘i spend about £270 for a new set every year, and £80 a month on a maintenance appointment. Maintenance is important because as your real hair grows out, the extensions pull at the roots, and you can lose your hair.
‘i had the mobile number of the woman i normally see and asked her if she would be doing appointments. She said yes — but only from the back of the shop where she couldn’t be seen.
‘We arranged a date and a time, and when i got to the salon, i messaged her to let her know i was there. She came out, pulled the shutters up, let me in and then hustled me through to the back.
‘i was worried about being spotted, but although the street was quite busy, nobody seemed to notice — or care.’
Having had symptoms of coronavirus and been
symptom-free for a fortnight, Gemma wasn’t concerned that she posed a risk to her hairdresser and, as she lives on her own, reasoned that even if she caught it again, she wasn’t putting anyone else in danger.
‘The hairdresser told me she was prepared to take the risk because she couldn’t afford not to work. She was seeing two to three people a week on the quiet.’
While initially the hairdresser had said that both she and Gemma should wear masks, in the end, neither of them did.
‘I was quite shocked,’ says Gemma. ‘She could have taken more care to look after herself and other people. But I realise I can’t criticise her; I was complicit in it. And I’d do it again.’
Anyone after a bootleg beauty appointment doesn’t have to look too far. Across the country, the women whose WhatsApp groups used to ping with recommendations for babysitters and cleaners are now passing on numbers of discreet beauty therapists who will wear masks, and are prepared to lie about what they’re up to if they’re stopped. In the Cotswolds, one of the numbers doing the rounds is that of Heather north, a 40-year-old mobile beautician from Stratford-upon-Avon. A single mother, before lockdown she would do three to four appointments a week, travelling to the houses of her well-heeled clientele to give them a wax and a manicure, or a lash tint and brow shape.
Had she stopped working at the end of March, she would have lost her income of £200 a week. And while Government assistance has been promised — allowing selfemployed people to claim a grant based on their average monthly trading profits — the earliest individuals could apply for that was yesterday.
She says: ‘I didn’t want to end up losing my home and not being able to pay my bills. I know I’m taking a risk, but I have to prioritise my family.’
Heather sent emails and texts to her clients letting them know she was available as long as they were not socialising with other people.
‘I’ve known most of them for years, so I was fairly confident that, even if they didn’t want to take me up on the offer, they wouldn’t report me. I wear a mask, and ask them to as well. I wash my hands before and after, and use sanitising gel. Then I shower and change as soon as I get home, before I see my children.’
She points out that for many of her clients, a beauty treatment can offer a form of therapy at a depressing time, especially if they’re living on their own.
And she doesn’t worry about being spotted by neighbours. ‘Most of my clients live out in the sticks, and I’ve never been stopped by the police, or questioned by anyone. If I was, I’d just say I was dropping off essential items or food. I’d have to lie.’
EVEn if you’re not tapped into a network of black market beauticians, they’re not hard to find, with hundreds blatantly advertising their services on social media and classified advertising sites, despite clear guidance they should not be working.
Last week, on small ads site Gumtree, a South-West London hairdresser going by the name of
Vita Krafty was advertising that she was ‘open by appointment only for one person at a time in our Barnes salon SW13, also home visit (one to one) available’ flagging that ‘due to coronavirus we take all precautions possible, all PPE provided to clients and stylist during appointment’.
While another, a ‘ladies hair colourist and stylist and tape extension specialist in London’, was offering appointments ‘at both client premises and at my home salon’.
Lesley Blair is chair of the British Association of Beauty Therapy & Cosmetology (BABTAC). She says therapists and salons are incurring huge financial losses due to closures and lost bookings, coupled with restricted Government support for the thousands who are self-employed. However, she is ‘adamantly against people carrying out these black market treatments’, adding that they should have ‘more thought for the safety of everyone in the community’.
She also points out that, in the event of anything going wrong, any professional indemnity insurance is unlikely to pay out if you’re working when you shouldn’t be.
While the professional risks involved in giving someone a haircut may be small, they’re more significant when it comes to injecting a toxin or filler into someone’s face. An investigation by Save Face, the Government-approved register for non-surgical cosmetic practitioners, discovered there are plenty prepared to take those risks.
‘We have had more than 100 complaints about practitioners offering aesthetic treatments in lockdown — such as Botox and lip fillers — usually via their social media pages,’ says Ashton Collins, director of the organisation.
‘Our own investigations discovered that several were prepared to offer us appointments.’
Among those offering treatments during lockdown were a Liverpoolbased nurse, and another practitioner in Kent, who posted on Facebook ‘Dermal filler £75 1.1ml. Huge discount. All PPE used. According to government safety measures.’
Ashton is horrified that Government guidelines are being ignored. ‘These people are putting the health of their patients at risk, and are placing the nHS under additional jeopardy,’ she says.
Legally, technicians don’t need any qualifications to offer fillers. But seeing practitioners who may not have adequate medical training is dangerous at the best of times, with the consequences of poorly administered injections including conditions that could require hospitalisation, such as tissue death, sight loss and even stroke. At a point when the nHS is so overburdened, it’s shockingly irresponsible.
‘This morning, we were contacted by a registered practitioner who has had to manage a complication, believed to be permanent damage to live tissue, for a patient who was treated yesterday by an unregistered beautician,’ says Ashton.
BuT it’s not just the practitioners at fault. From selfie-obsessed twentysomethings who want their lips done, to wealthy women who hate the idea of leaving the house without a blow dry, clients are piling pressure on hairdressers and beauticians to break the rules. Indeed, last week Hilary Hall, from the national Hair and Beauty Federation, said hairdressers and barbers had been ‘besieged’ with calls from clients wanting trims.
Kelly Kilvington, 50, a hairdresser from Seaton in Cumbria, is one of them.
‘Straight after the lockdown, people started messaging me,’ she says. ‘My neighbour even asked me to cut his hair over the fence!
‘Some of the girls I work with have been pestered by clients — one had a client who was going to a funeral, and another was asked to do highlights for a woman who wanted them done before giving birth. One had people knocking on her door.’
Kelly adds: ‘I’m stressed thinking about how much debt I’m going to be in. We’ve paused the mortgage payments and are trying to pause the credit card, too, though it will all have to be paid at some point. But for me it’s [taking on work in lockdown] just not the right thing to do. I wouldn’t put my family in danger like that.’
unfortunately, hundreds of her fellow therapists aren’t so scrupulous. ‘We know it’s going on,’ says Lesley Blair, of BABTAC. ‘But I urge people to think about what they’re doing and listen to the guidelines.
‘We’re working closely with the Government to ensure hairdressers and the beauty industry can get back to work as soon as possible, with clear direction about the minimum standards they will have to adhere to to keep themselves and their clients safe.
‘ultimately, I would expect anyone working in the industry to want to do the best by their customers, and that means sticking to the current advice.’