USA TODAY US Edition

Barbers, stylists sporting new look

Masks, no walk-ins among shifts at shops

- Josh Peter

No reception area. No walk-ins.

Empty booths.

Those are some of the changes customers can expect to see as hair salons and barber shops begin to reopen across the USA.

Jalainna Ellis, owner of All That Jazz salon and spa in Cheyenne, Wyoming, said taking the temperatur­e of arriving customers became part of the new protocol when she reopened her business May 1.

The magazines and lookbooks are gone, too. Customers head directly to their respective hairstylis­t rather than waiting in a reception area that no longer exists. Face masks are required, for customers and members of the 17-person staff, Ellis said.

“It’s nerve-wracking,” Ellis told USA TODAY. “We are not trained to wear masks and work. Your vision is skewed, so it takes more concentrat­ion.

“It’s nerve-wracking. We are not trained to wear masks and work. Your vision is skewed, so it takes more concentrat­ion.” Jalainna Ellis Owner of All That Jazz salon and spa in Cheyenne, Wyoming

“When we blow-dry our clients, it’s like we have a plastic bag over our face. It’s exhausting not being able to take a full breath of oxygen.”

In many salons, every other booth will be empty, if not to create adequate space between customers, to adhere to state regulation­s limiting how many people can be in a room.

Ellis said she stopped the common practice of double-booking customers, which allowed stylists to cut one customer’s hair while letting hair color process on another customer.

As a result, Ellis said, her salon is working at about 50% capacity. She said on average she sees five customers a day, compared with the 10 to 15 a day she averaged before the pandemic.

At the Bar Barber Shop in Lancaster, California, there will be plastic partitions in the reception area and between each of the haircuttin­g stations, said Katya Tazala, who owns and runs the business with her husband.

Tazala said they will install UV lights at each station because she

thinks the lights will help kill COVID-19. The total cost to update the barbershop is about $1,000, Tazala said.

Some customers will have to find a new hair salon or barbershop.

Steve Sleeper, executive director of the Profession­al Beauty Associatio­n, said he expects about 20% of salons to close as a result of the pandemic. In addition to salons being forced to operate below capacity because fewer employees will be allowed to work.

At the same time, there is the cost of remodeling and adhering to new safety guidelines.

Daniel Mason Jones, owner of Muse Salon and Spa in Atlanta, said he spent $11,300 for a six-week supply of personal protective equipment for his 70person staff.

What might be harder to coming weeks is hair color.

Jones said a shortage is inevitable because social distancing reduced the staff size at warehouses and stripped their ability to meet demand.

“There is not a hair coloring shortage yet,” he said. “It is going to happen.” find in

 ?? ALL THAT JAZZ ?? The staff at Jalainna Ellis’s All That Jazz salon and spa in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
ALL THAT JAZZ The staff at Jalainna Ellis’s All That Jazz salon and spa in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

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