When can hairdressers re-open?

[TheFredericaQuartet]

They can limit customers so the chairs are spaced out.
Same person washes your hair as cuts it.
Anti bac their hands between customers.
Wear masks and limit chit chat.

flaxmeadow
My friend isn’t a hairdresser she is a nail technician so no hairdryers blowing anything around
The only thing she would be touching is there hands with a screen in front so neither she or the client are directly in front of each other and screens either side so that clients aren’t close to each other either

What about when children are injured, are teachers going to throw a first aid kit at them and tell them to get on with it?

Giving a child first aid is pretty essential. Giving someone a hair cut is not.

Why don’t the hairdresser post/courier out the colour mix to their clients with instructions? I would buy it and think I could manage an ok job myself. They could stick a good margin on it so they could make some money.

I think hairdressers should offer one appointment every fortnight so they can isolate in between. The should charge 2 weeks wages for that cut/color. It seems like there are people on here who would pay that!

My friend isn’t a hairdresser she is a nail technician so no hairdryers blowing anything around
The only thing she would be touching is there hands with a screen in front so neither she or the client are directly in front of each other and screens either side so that clients aren’t close to each other either

Yes sorry itsjustmee, but I still think its risky.

Any kind of booth is confined. If someone was in the booth previously then another straight after them, then the air might still be contaminated.

There are some interesting theories about how the virus is transmitted. Two of those ways are
Large droplets landing on surfaces (the most likely way)
Tiny droplets that can remain suspended in the air for hours and breathed in (less likely but still a risk)

There was a church service, I can't remember where, when one of the congregation had the virus and infected many others in the same confined space at the same service. The theory seems to be that because the congregation were singing quite forcefully, and so breathing in and out strongly, that the virus was caught in the air.

It would be quite nice if chit chat was banned in salons!

@SebandAlice The issue there would be that the client may not mix it correctly or may decide to 'keep' half of it out and then it buggers up the ratio.

Also, having peroxide creme (as I use) being sent through the post is dangerous incase of any leakage.

One way to combat it though would be for any very local clients to pass through on their exercise route and collect the mixture already made up and have a quick consultation on how to apply it through a window/door

Yes even better Traveller. I would be happy to do that.

Unless your hairdresser is Mr tickle there is no way they can maintain 2 m distance from you so being realistic they’re not opening again for a long long time

I go to an Aveda salon, and follow them on Instagram - they are already reconfiguring the space so workstations are much further apart.

I'm in the hoping they re-open quickly camp, along with dentists and opticians. I know my hairdresser earns a salary, but she also gets commission based on number of clients, and obviously tips too. I suspect there are a lot of extremely worried hairdressers out there wondering how they will pay their bills, not to mention those who are self-employed and pay to rent a chair in a salon.

“ It’s hardly an essential service.“

It is if it’s how you put food on the table.

Oh come on, "dying for a haircut". Totally overblown.

Just to remind everyone. The death rate for this virus is estimated at 1%.

If they wore a face mask and I did and they didn't touch my face, surely we'd be ok

If that were true they’d be no need for lock down or social distancing....we could all just wear masks and not touch our faces! Have you missed all the nhs staff with masks at work who have caught it and died?

It is if it’s how you put food on the table.

No it isn't. The government has put various financial supports in place. People who are out of work now might be taking a financial hit, but there is enough money available for food.

It isn't the war, when there really were genuine cases when people were malnourished. This financial crisis is nowhere near that situation. Its more comparable to the 2008? crash ATM

Flax how much do people have to suffer before you care about them?

Or is it only those who die of Covid 19 that warrant sympathy?

Rhetorical, obvs.

I suspect it’s more likely that the government’s plan will be to reduce cases to a number where contact tracing becomes possible again, use the app they’ve mentioned to do so and then everything can reopen, with individual hairdressers closing for some weeks every time an infected person is traced to their salon.
Of course, people with risk factors won’t be able to go at all.
The idea isn’t that people don’t catch it, but that they catch it slowly.

Flax how much do people have to suffer before you care about them?

In the big scheme of things, I would have thought the most risk for a hairdresser would be their chances of catching the virus from a client, not going without food

Or is it only those who die of Covid 19 that warrant sympathy?

Why are you having a go at me and making assumptions. You dont know what I care or don't care about. As I said earlier, I know a hairdresser who ended up in hospital with the virus, now recovering, and yes I did care about her, I cared a lot. Like I also cared when 2 of my elderly neighbours died.

Rhetorical, obvs.

Not really

Flaxmeadow Government support is only available for SE if they have a few years accounts is my understanding? My local radio station interviewed a guy who had left his job last summer and set up a photography business and he said he wasn’t eligible as he didn’t even have a years accounts.

My hairdresser will be the same; they are all from the same family and left jobs to set up together. They opened their salon about six months ago so won’t have submitted a tax return for 18/19 (just checked government website and this is a condition of getting the grant).

I absolutely do not want places to reopen before it’s safe but the government scheme doesn’t cover everything.

Government funding is only available for so long though, what happens after that. The government isn’t going to subsidise wages and the self employed forever and the virus isn’t just going to disappear. At some point people will have to accept some level of risk, both because they need to work or because they need or want to access services such as dentist, opticians, hairdressers, clothes stores etc.

The governments plan is not to stop everyone getting the virus but to stop everyone getting it at the same time, therefore once they are confident that they can ramp up testing and possibly more importantly contact tracing at the same time as running the NHS at a manageable capacity they will open places such as hairdressers again to support the economy. Whether people agree with this and chose not to go to work in these places or not to book appointments is obviously up to then, but I think it will happen much sooner than some people believe.

Restrictions are easing in Iceland with the first phase starting on 4 May. Hairdressers are one of the first things to reopen here anyway. PP said it was the same in Switzerland. I have no idea why you're all so certain it couldn't be the same in the UK.

First thing I did when I heard the announcement was book a haircut! I don't trust myself with it, it's all getting in my eyes now, and I don't want my hairdresser to go out of business.

MissCharley

I didn't say it was easy but if someone cannot access a government small business scheme. Then they can claim Universal Credit. Subject to their savings, but someone with over so many thousands in the bank is not going to go hungry.

I know someone who did this over the phone and they received a payment quite quickly because the DHSS has cancelled other work they usually do that is not urgent

In Switzerland the rules for the opening of hairdressers in Switzerland on Monday are:

• Hairdressers must wear disposable gloves if they have wounds/eczema, or if the customer requests it.

-Hairdressers must use disposable cloaks. -Clients must wear a mask, if they don't come in wearing one then the hairdresser must sell them one. -Hairdressers must wear a medical grade mask -Only half of the available chairs for cutting hair in a premises may be used. I'm curious to see if there will be a big rush to get hair cuts, or if people will be too scared to go.

I didn't say it was easy but if someone cannot access a government small business scheme. Then they can claim Universal Credit.

As an slightly unrelated point, how much UC do you think people get??

I am at risk of redundancy (less than two years so no redundancy pay).

DP is retraining so only earns £16,000 per annum.

We live in a flat thats over 40k in negative equity and minimal savings around £800ish).

I did a benefit calculator the other day and we would only be entitled to JSA at the £70 odd a week.

Between DPs wages and JSA we wouldn't even have enough to cover the basic bills, let alone eat.

So it really isn't as simple as you would like to make it out to be.

Aaaah the MN let's pedal what bullshit the voices in my head are saying today and declare it as authoritatively what is GOING to happen twits are out again in force.

My hairdressers have been updating via social media (and begging us to stay away from the box dyes and kitchen scissors) and have the plan that they will be opening with extended opening hours as soon as they're allowed to in order to get everyone caught up - when that happens - no one (even the MN holier than though coronaknobs) doesn't know yet.

And yes, when they reopen I will be going as soon as possible - I've dibsed my place in the queue already.