Times Chronicle & Public Spirit

Style right

CMTHS beauty salon reopens to clients

- By M. English

Good news for bargain hunters who care about personal grooming – the pandemic-shuttered beauty salon at Central Montco Technical High School reopened April 22 and is accepting clients through early June. A limited number of appointmen­ts are currently available Monday through Friday between 8 and 11 a.m. But June 29 through Aug. 5, the full-service shop will be open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Walk-ins are not permitted at either session.

“We’ve really missed our clients, and we’re so happy to be able to welcome people back,” says Cosmetolog­y Instructor Mary Boccella, whose students operate CMTHS’s in-house salon. “It’s also been hard for the students. They’ve been practicing on mannequins, but it’s great for them to have the opportunit­y to work on actual clients again.”

Normally, CMTHS’s aspiring stylists see clients throughout the September-June academic year. Of course, COVID-19 has rendered the past year anything but normal, and the CMTHS salon’s meticulous reopening preparatio­ns – and special summer hours – reflect that.

“We’re being very careful…with all the recommende­d safety and sanitation protocols in place,” says Boccella, a profession­al hairdresse­r for nearly three decades. “We’ve always been careful, very strict about sanitizing everything, but we’re observing all the state and county health department protocols and guidelines for COVID. Everyone is wearing masks and face shields, and we’re only allowing one person per appointmen­t …for social distancing. “Customer service is a big thing for us, and a lot of our clients, women and men, are regulars – just like you have in any salon. I’ve been here for 20 years, and we have some clients who’ve been coming in for that entire 20 years…a variety of ages, too. For example, we have a woman who’s coming in tomorrow with her two teenage daughters.”

At press time, Boccella didn’t know when those regulars had had their last salon styling. Do-ityourself haircuts and athome beauty regimens are among the numerous adaptation­s triggered by COVID-19, and it’s no secret that even certain A-list celebritie­s have been scissoring and coloring their own locks during pandemic lock-downs and quarantine­s – sometimes during real time social media postings.

DIY. Risky? Perhaps. But some psychologi­sts and social pundits point to a possible upside that goes far deeper than the superficia­l. In fact, they reason, grabbing a pair of kitchen shears and giving yourself bangs or transformi­ng your shoulder-length bob into an old-school shag or pixie…maybe even dying your hair fluorescen­t green or orange might not seem reckless at all if you think of it in terms of taking control during a time when COVID-19 has wreaked havoc with so many things we control during so-called normal times.

Humorist Fran Lebowitz once joked “You’re only as good as your last haircut.” But these days, statistics about the number of people sickened or dying from COVID put a bad hair day – or bad hair year – into perspectiv­e. On the plus side, charitable organizati­ons

like Locks of Love, Hair We Share and Wigs for Kids theorize inhome as well as pandemicde­layed profession­al haircuts might be driving an apparent uptick in donations.

That said, if you’re ready to let a trained stylist tend to your tresses – or provide any number of other salon services – you probably won’t be able to beat CMTHS’s prices. A shampoo/cut/style costs $15, and other styling services run the gamut from $4 (shampoo only) to $20 (up-do/no shampoo). In addition, Bocella’s students do coloring, braids and weaves, scalp treatments and chemical applicatio­ns (permanent waves and relaxers). Also available: Waxing, manicures, pedicures, hand and arm massages and facials. A detailed price list is posted at www.cmths.org.

To book an appointmen­t, call 484-845-3593 or 610277-2301, ext. 202. A face mask that covers nose and mouth, on-site temperatur­e check and valid Pennsylvan­ia I.D. are required. After

registerin­g, clients will be escorted to the salon by CMTHS Security (and out of the building after their appointmen­ts). Clients who develop pre-appointmen­t COVID-19 symptoms are asked to cancel and reschedule when they are symptom-free.

CMTHS draws students from the Colonial, Norristown, Upper Merion and Lower Merion School Districts and is located at the intersecti­on of Plymouth Road and New Hope Street in Plymouth Township.

 ?? SUBMITTED PHOTO ?? Central Montco Technical High School, seen here, serves Colonial, Norristown, Upper Merion School and Lower Merion school districts.
SUBMITTED PHOTO Central Montco Technical High School, seen here, serves Colonial, Norristown, Upper Merion School and Lower Merion school districts.
 ?? SUBMITTED PHOTO ?? CMTHS Cosmetolog­y student Tatiyanna Hicks waxes the arm of classmate Kaitlynn Teeters in the school’s oncampus beauty salon.
SUBMITTED PHOTO CMTHS Cosmetolog­y student Tatiyanna Hicks waxes the arm of classmate Kaitlynn Teeters in the school’s oncampus beauty salon.
 ?? SUBMITTED PHOTO ?? Future hairstylis­t Maycee Trembath curls fellow student Karla Torres’ hair in the full-service CMTHS salon.
SUBMITTED PHOTO Future hairstylis­t Maycee Trembath curls fellow student Karla Torres’ hair in the full-service CMTHS salon.

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