Working In A Hair Salon During Covid-19

In Massachusetts Governor Baker gave the green light for salons to open and my brain kicked into high gear.  As much as staying home was really miserable, I felt a protected in my cocoon - now what?  As the rules & regulations rolled out many stylists, like myself, became so confused - wear goggles, change smocks after every client, temperature checks to name a few.  Stylists banned  together via online forums to make some sense of the new rules to reopen, which definitely helped and created a sense of community.  No one wants to be sick or spread Covid and according to what other stylists are saying we are doing our level best to prevent the spread after all we stylists are trained in sanitation and I found my fellow stylists to be on board with the new rules & regulations.

We opened our doors Monday, so many of our clients were anxious to jump into our chair and finally feel normal!  There may be a sneeze here and there and everyone becomes silent, but it is allergy season.  We have been so blessed our clients have been understanding, wait their turn, follow our rules and are very generous.  It is so hard not to hug a client when they enter, but everyone is distancing the best we possibly can.  We still have conversations, albeit hard to hear through all of the gear we are wearing but we make it work.

As for the gear, it is a necessity, but it is difficult to wear all day and our responsibilities have increased 10 fold, constant sanitation before, during & after clients, constant bathroom cleaning and a sense of fear that lingers.  It gives you a great appreciation for front line workers and all they have done while we were safe at home.

The consensus from our staff and clients is we need to move on and our choice to live is greater than our fear.  The experience is unique, but we must remain positive - what other choice do we have?