Hair dresser wouldn't let me in!!

[missmcfee]

Had an appointment booked today and I've been looking forward to it for months.

On arrival I had to have my temperature taken and was told it was too high to be allowed in.

I laughed as I assumed she was joking since I felt fine, I Wfh and haven't been anywhere!!
Not even a supermarket.

She told me it was 37.3 and she would have to cancel my appointment!!!!

I am so upset, I've had to rebook and she has nothing for 8 weeks 😣

I called the Dr as I thought I must be coming down with something without knowing, but the GP told me that this was a normal range temperature and particularly for that time of day (app was 3pm)

So what wasn't I allowed in 😢

I felt like a kid at Christmas today going to the salon, I cried all the way home that my appointment was cancelled! 😖

But my temperature was in the normal range.
I don't understand why I wasn't allowed in

Because she's a hairdresser with zero medical training? I do sympathise though, it's shit. Temperature is obviously a range not an absolute.

I would make them aware that it is a normal temperature. I would be concerned that some of these people being sent away with a normal temperature then feel obliged to self isolate for 2 weeks. It's thier choice to have a lower threshold for sending people away but they should make people aware of that.

I would take your custom elsewhere OP. Anything up to 37.5 is a normal temperature and your temperature fluctuates throughout the day. If you really want to go back to that salon again, book a morning appt to maximise your chance of being below 37.3.

Businesses that overreact like this and refuse customers that have a NORMAL temperature are going to very rapidly have to either change their approach or go out of business. They'll have lost that slot now, through their own choice.

Guess the hairdresser was being ultra cautious.....I feel sorry for them a bit, they’re not medical and she may have read that 37 is the average and thought anything abouve that is bad.

As for the company letting people in with temps of 33 and 34 with their state of the art forehead thermometer.....words fail me. 😂. It’s so obvious it’s inaccurate. The danger is that someone with a fever of 39 will measure at 37 and be allowed in. So you might as well not bother. I’m a registered HCP, we don’t use forehead thermometers in the hospital. Guess that’s why!

@CloudsCoveredTheSky that's really mean! People do get excited over the small things now life has changed so much.
It would be a very quiet forum if nobody ever posted anything for fear of it not being important or interesting enough.

@heartsonacake you've got your thermometer on the wrong setting. The forehead scanning thermometers have two modes, body and surface. If you point it at a person on surface mode, you'll get 33. If you point it at them on body mode you'll get 37.

I wonder how this works with menopausal women.

even during hot flushes the body temperature rises much. you feel hot, but your body temperature actually isn't.
even after a run, red faced and sweaty the core temperature remains below a fever.

the body temperature doesn't rise much

Fgs as usual on mumsnet, people are not only being spiteful but outright ridiculous.

Telling op to cut her own hair or stop colouring it?

Op that's really shit. I do t know much about normal temperatures, but I haven't had my hair cut since November. It was due a cut then we went into lockdown. I'm booked in this evening and I'd be gutted if I wasn't allowed in.

I'm getting worried now as I'm a person who's always hot, plus I get flustered whenever I have to go anywhere new.

They made a poor decision but for good reasons. I would contact them, tell them your GP's advice and ask to be moved forward in the queue. If they aren't prepared to do this for a regular customer I'd be looking for another salon.

Don't cut off your nose to spite your face though. Another eight weeks won't kill you if you usually like what they do. Think of the money you'll save!

As a nurse I always worked on the principal that over 37 was a temp. Sure a low temp but nevertheless something to keep an eye on. 36.4 is mid range temp. It's not a fever but it may indicate there's some response going on. They will have been issued central guidance from the government so why don't you read that.

@DrinkFeckArseGirls me too. This thread has really made dh and me laugh this morning. The thought of hairdressers taking curb side rectal temperatures and then the multinational corporation staffed by severely hypothermic personnel is brilliant 😂😂😂

OP I’m so sorry you missed out on your appointment. I would have been gutted too. An oral thermometer used repeatedly by lay people during a pandemic is just grim beyond all measure though. I’d change hairdressers.

That is a perfectly normal temperature. My DS was always a hot baby and in the country he was born, the advice is to take rectal temperature every day for the first year (weird I know). He was always 37.4.

But a salon is a private business, they can revoke your invitation to enter for any reason they want (provided it’s not discriminatory). They are not working to the same standards as the NHS or your GP, so if they feel that as your temperature is too high you pose a risk to them/their other clients, they are entitled to refuse access. They haven’t done anything wrong

Personally I think they should make sure they are properly informed.

Also I've said this all along, but womens' temperatures vary according to where you are in your monthly cycle. It's a nonsense for non-medics to be taking temperatures if they don't understand what they mean.

Why do people keep mentioning that the NHS or other medical institutions categorise high temperatures differently? It’s irrelevant - the salon is a private business, there’s no legal requirement for salons to work to medical standards when deciding their own temperature cut off for visitors.

The salon owner has set a lower temperature than NHS guidelines as the cut off point, yes - which they’re entitled to do. Just as OP is entitled to go elsewhere if she isn’t happy with their practices. Perhaps they are mistaken, or perhaps they purposely decided that 37.3 is too much of a risk to their other clients & livelihood (as they would again be out of work/without income if ill.) They could just be cautious.

OP doesn’t want to complain either, so nothing will really come of this. Personally I’d call the salon and ask them what the cut off is, and if it seems too low ask them to clarify why. If they do actually say that eg 37.5 is the cut off, I’d then ask why I wasn’t allowed in and if the appointment could be moved closer due to their error.

Actually reading it they don't specify hairdressers have to check temperature but merely ask about symptoms. Maybe you need a different hairdresser.

How silly. I'm not surprised you were upset, OP. I would be too. Considering most people with COVID don't even have any symptoms or at least don't have symptoms initially before the virus takes hold, it seems pretty pointless taking temperatures anyway. Just box ticking.

I wouldn’t be wanting to do one of those under the tongue thermometers at a hairdressers or any other non-clinical environment - yuck. If they are not sterilising it properly between uses they could be passing on all sorts, not just Covid. If they don’t understand the basic premise that there is a normal range of temperatures, I wouldn’t trust that they understand how to sterilise it to medical standards either.

I think this temperature thing is going to become an issue in many places where people don’t understand the range of what’s normal. Many people run slightly hot (hormonal) so are likely to face this problem regularly. At my partner’s workplace, they test people’s temperature every time they enter the building using a point and shoot device. Very few staff are in so all staff can currently get a space in the car park. Normally it’s a 10-15 minute brisk walk from the train station up a hill to the building. Anyone doing that on a warm day is bound to have a raised temperature, therefore would be refused entry.

Oh I expect they’ll be sterilised in boiling water between customers.....

As frustrating as it is it may be a condition set by the insurers. Even if it isn't they are doing their best in the circumstances.

@ivykaty44

Oh I expect they’ll be sterilised in boiling water between customers.....

Yes, by the hairdresser who can't understand temperature readings

Hi op! I actually would complaint about this. I understand what people are saying, and that the salon are being overly cautious. However they obviously lack the correct education regarding the current situation. A temperature of 37.8 is the temperature that was used from the start to decided wether you should self isolate. Therefore anything below 37.7 can be perfectly normal depending on each person.
Try and find another salon op, one a bit more educated.

I was at the hospital last week and they took my temp - 38.5!!!!!!!! Nurse nearly dropped. Asked me if I was feeling ok but I explained that I was menopausal and was having a bit of a flush. She sent me outside to stand in the breeze for 5 minutes and when i went back in my temp was 36.75. She told me that she hadn't thought about hot flushes raising temperatures temporarily but would remember from now on. Definitely something to mention if you are at this stage of life and having a temp taken.

I have a hairdresser appointment next Saturday - will have to make a dash for it from my air conditioned car to the door just to be on the safe side :)

My friend was refused a hair appointment as she had been "out of area"! Apparently this is within Govt guidelines. I guess they have to be super careful as using hair dryers ,washing hair and so on .Maybe see another H/D, or like me cut colour your own hair at home !(Have done this for years ,nothing to do with Covid) Just dont enjoy trips to the hairdresser or the prices!

37.3 would be a raised temperature for me and would mean I wasn't fully well. I have in the past felt quite poorly at only 37.1. My normal healthy temperature is 36.6 like the vast majority of people.

I don't blame her for refusing to take an unnecessary risk to her health and her business. Your haircut, although important to you, isn't important enough to anyone else for them to just take a guess that actually you are ok. You might not be.

You say your temperature had fallen half an hour later. It could equally well have risen in that time. The problem is no one knows in advance.

She was correct to be cautious - we are in the middle of a truly horrible global pandemic.

You either need to rebook or go elsewhere.

As a customer I'd much rather attend a cautious setting than one that is not so stringent. It would make me feel safer.