Hair dressers still working in care homes

[Earnsomething]

A friend, who works in a care home, mentioned yesterday that the lady who comes in to do the residents' hair had offered to do hers. We were talking about our grey roots etc and she was debating whether to let her or wait until she can see her own hairdresser.

Then the conversation moved on and I thought no more of it, but is that usual? Are hairdressers still going into most care homes?

Sensible for the welfare of the residents or the complete opposite, introducing an unecessary risk, when other visitors aren't allowed? I expect they use PPE but I didn't ask.

I would say it's unusual, and I'm quite surprised actually. Where I work we have regular deliveries to care homes, often with bulky items, where drivers would normally assist in helping to get the deliveries to where they needed to be in the home. All of the care homes we deliver to have stopped this, quite some time ago. No delivery drivers are allowed in the home at all. Everything is left outside for the staff to take in or handed directly to the staff member at the door.

NO they should NOT be going into care homes.

I know a lot of elderly people get upset when their hair needs cutting/styling/colouring etc but even with PPE there's a risk of transmission to a vulnerable person and to other staff & there you have another care home where CV can take many lives...while the families are dutifully staying away to protect everyone

I despair, I really do

That is really worrying when you look at the statistics of corona and the elderly.

Im a bit suprised that they have been allowed. No one has been allowed in our care home. There are a few staff that can do our residents hair.

My mother in law is a hair dresser in a care home and she is definitely not working.

I honestly don't know. I dropped some things off for my mum at her nursing home a week ago, the nurse said did I want to see my mum (she's in a ground floor room) and so I went round saw mum through the window. I do remember thinking how nice her hair looked!

I'm pretty sure at mums home the lady who does their hair doesn't work anywhere else. If that's the case, then I wouldn't mind. It's personal care, and they'd be wearing a mask and only the one "client" in the room at a time. They could clean down in between.

I was just very happy to see mum looking so relaxed, content and well. Clearly being looked after the same as she was before lockdown. She has advanced dementia and her speech/articulacy is not great. She wouldn't be able to tell us what was going on herself.

Thinking about it, her hair looked longer, so it's probably not been cut and just washed/blow dried by the care workers.

Ah maybe that's she did say "the lady who does residents hair", not hairdresser, so perhaps it's a member of staff and I imagined it was someone "going in" to do it.

I have extended family who have died because the hair dresser was still going in. The home banned visits really early but the hair dresser went in and days later became ill. At least 9 residents who saw her died.

Or maybe not then Blodwyn, that's very sad.

The care workers have been taking it in turns to do hair at mums care home. She is complaining like hell. Yesterday she phoned to ask my me to buy a silk scarf and drop it off as everyone could see her rollers!!!!

I really hope to God this is not happening. My gran died two days ago after catching the virus in her care home 7 weeks into lockdown. Every resident has tested positive and over half have now died. It is a disgrace that this has happened and I despair of people who think something like this is ok.

@BlodwynBludd not in South Wales by any chance?? My gran's care home also locked down early and your username made me wonder

There is a hairdresser that usually visits the care home in which my mother is a resident & I know that she is not visiting.
When I Skype my Mum at the moment, I can always tell which carer has showered & done her hair that morning. Some are a dab hand at styling her hair, some aren't!

The hairdresser that comes to the home I work In was stopped weeks ago and won’t be returning for the foreseeable future.
We now do the residents hair as and when needed which has produced some interesting results!

@givememarmite good spot but not this bit of family!

Some beauticians may still be visiting care homes if they also provide other more essential services such as nail cutting and foot care, but they shouldn’t be carrying out hair styling. It’s possible though that some homes might take the “well, they’re here and getting close to residents anyway so what’s the harm” approach. If your friend is a care worker in the home she’d know surely whether it’s the former or one of her care colleagues who also happens to be a dab hand at hair?

Or maybe not then Blodwyn, that's very sad.

Not just sad, it's criminal.