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! 😖

For those mentioning menopause, hot flushes don’t actually raise body temperature - skin temperature yes, but not internal body temperature. This is obviously an issue if using a forehead thermometer but not an issue if using an under the tongue / in ear thermometer.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1150563/

I would be screwed if I wanted to go to the hairdressers - as I’ve discovered during COVID, my body temp is never lower than 37.2 and is regularly up to 37.9, sometimes up to 38.2

I have no idea why. At first I thought it might be COVID but it’s been like this for nearly a month now so I don’t think so. Who knows why.

Oh sorry miss

I should say the hairdressers were obviously doing their best but I'm sorry you were disappointed

I’ve just tried my ear thermometer and I’m 37.0 right now.

They have a right to keep themselves and their other customers safe. If there is an outbreak within the salon then they will have to close again, lose money, notify other customers who will then have to self isolate, take time off work etc, etc .

I know it sounds harsh, but crying all the way home is a massively OTT overreaction. Leave it a week or so and go back.

@Medievalist

Can't believe your first instinct was to ring your GP - what a ridiculous waste of their time

Yeah I know, I do realise this was a complete over reaction. But having not left the house much for months (other than walks and garden meet ups) I was in completed panic at being refused entry to the hair dressers.

They actually made me feel like I had Covid and must immediately go home.

It wasn't a pleasant experience!!

@Medievalist

Can't believe your first instinct was to ring your GP - what a ridiculous waste of their time

Yeah I know, I do realise this was a complete over reaction. But having not left the house much for months (other than walks and garden meet ups) I was in completed panic at being refused entry to the hair dressers.

They actually made me feel like I had Covid and must immediately go home.

It wasn't a pleasant experience!!

@Veterinari

My point is that different institutions define fevers differently. Some institutions do define between 37.0 and 37.5 as a low-grade fever. Which institutions *@3cats* ?

At the moment it seems to be just you and the OP's hairdresser. No medical institutions.

One thing that never ceases to amaze on MN is the number of posters happy to slap down others, despite clearly knowing fuck all about the subject.

Actually, a temperature above 37.3 is outside the usual range for human body temperature, and is therefore correctly categorised as a fever, if the measurement is accurate.

However, when we measure temperature, we are usually talking about measurements taken in peripheral areas of the body, and these can be affected by external conditions. For example, in hot weather, blood flow to the skin will increase, so axillary (armpit) temperatures will be higher.

Also, and crucially, thermometers that monitor peripheral temperature have an 0.5 to 1.0 degree error range, meaning that, when a thermometer reads as 37, the true temperature could be 38 or 36. This is particularly true of axillary and aural thermometers, but even oral and rectal thermometers are not accurate to less than a 0.5 degree range. Inaccuracies can go either way but, typically, thermometer read slightly lower than the true body temperature.

It is for this reason that you will indeed see variations in what different institutions consider to be a normal temperature. It all depends on what level of inaccuracy they are willing to tolerate. A paediatrician who is focused on not missing any children with infective illness might want to treat any patients with a peripheral temperature over 37.0 as febrile because, if she takes 37.5 as normal, she knows that a number of children with a reading of 37.5 will, in reality, have a temperature of 38. However, this will mean that she will also pick up a number of children whose reading is 37.5 but who, in reality, have a temperature of 37.

I'm astonished you were able to get your GP to engage with you on this. Here you have to have a really good medical reason - you text them - before someone from the practice will call you back.

I'm a bit addicted to taking my temp... Happened once when I was really sick and took my temp, which was actually really low (under 35). So then I was taking it hourly to see what is was, compared to how I felt.

Basically, after years of temp taking, normal for me is morning before 7 am - 35.3-35.5. Temp will increase gradually over the day and be at its max 3-6pm at around 36.6 - 36.8.

So anything out of that range 35.3 - 36.8 for me is abnormal. Temp right at this moment (7.04pm) is 36.7.

For quite a while, when I was sick my temp would drop, not go up (possibly due to underactive thyroid). In the last year or so it's started to go up. First fever was a dinger - close to 40 for a few hours, low 39s for longer. Since then it tends to be mid 37s to 38s.

Well based on this guidance I won’t be getting my hair cut any time soon, as my temperature (which I take daily, along with my toddler’s) is permanently just above 37 degrees, slightly higher when I’m on my period. That’s just my normal.

This new post-Covid world is utterly, utterly bonkers - I feel like Alice down the rabbit hole most days at the moment.

@heartsonacake

They were right not to let you in; it’s important they take extra safety precautions.

I take my employees temperature every day; I’ve never had any of them being anywhere near 37. Highest I’ve had was 35; most are around 33-34. Your hairdresser will be seeing the same, and she doesn’t want to take a chance.

That's insane. Your thermometer is clearly faulty, or your employees are close to death.

Dd was 40 degrees at the being of lockdown when she was ill with whatever she was Ill with

Scared the bejesus out of me

I'm slightly anxious that this will happen to me as my normal temperature (as taken by an ear thermometer) is at least 37.3 C (I've just taken it now and it's 37.6 which I would still consider to be normal for me). However both times that my temperature has been taken so far (by forehead scanner) it has come in at just under 37 C so I've been ok. I'm always hot so I tend to dress lightly and have the car temperature relatively low and all the vents open so I think that chills my skin down a bit. However I'm peri-menopausal with occasional hot flushes, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't get one as I'm being scanned.

It's a difficult one, because people who have a low normal temperature might be running a fever at a temperature that is normal for someone else, and the person taking the temperature isn't to know what 'normal' is for each individual so will be cautious.

Highest I’ve had was 35; most are around 33-34

Are your employees fish? Alien bodysnatchers? It's either that or faulty equipment or accurate equipment being used wrongly.

OP I think the trouble the hairdressers have is they're being asked to work within guidelines that don't allow for variations or inaccuracies. I'd be surprised if any thermometer is accurate to within 0.1 degrees and yet they measure to 0.1 degrees and the person using it has been given a cut off, and that's what they're applying.

They're hairdressers, not clinical staff so they can't weigh up all the variables and make a judgement call, they're just going to have to say 'computer says no'. I think you'll find they'll be turning away a lot of people and will have to make changes, but I'd go easy on them. As this thread shows, an apparently simple measurement like temperature is in fact very complex. You'll just have to sport the lockdown look for a bit longer.

Why didn't you google it then and show her it was normal? Maybe she didn't want anyone in with a temp over 37? 37.3 is the high end of normal range?

Wow well that hairdresser is going to loose business if she refuses clients with that temp.

I am a nurse and have worked on a high dependency Covid positive ward for the last 4 months now and I can assure you fully that your temp is not high or a fever. Our policy is 37.8 you should isolate and go from there to have a swab (this is staff). So god knows why your hairdresser is being like that and I would look elsewhere. I totally get it at being disappointed and hopefully you get a pampering soon.

I would call and explain what happened. And that your temperature was normal, and they need to do some research before turning customers away. Tell them what a normal temp range is. Let them know that you're upset because you can't get another appt for 8 weeks. This was their mistake, not yours. YANBU.

heartsonacake It's the absolute, unfaltering confidence that cracked me up.

It's interesting that people are talking as though the hairdresser did it maliciously and "complain".
In real terms, she's lost the cost of an appointment, that she won't have been able to refill, at a time when they're having to operate smaller numbers than normal, do extra work to clean, wear PPE etc.

They're not going to turn someone away on a whim.
For whatever reason, they have chosen that to be the cut off point, and that is their prerogative.
The fact she says that the OP was the first person they've turned away indicates that perhaps her temperature was up. It's all very well people saying that their temperature is normally above this, but the fact obviously is that the majority of their customers on their thermometer (which can tend to run low etc) are registering below 37deg. Which means it is perfectly reasonable to assume the OP has a fever, and in this time where people are being careful, perfectly reasonable to turn the OP away.
If the Op got a positive test later on in the week, they'd have to close their hairdressers, with more financial loss, and inform their customers, which is going to be pretty bad for business.

It's annoying for you, but understandable that the hairdresser is nervy and overcautious.

I doubt she was trying to spite you since it's lost her money.

FFS.

It's science. It doesn't matter which official site google takes you to, 37.3 is NOT a fever. Every single medical site states clearly that 36.5 to 37.5 is normal.

So any businesses that choose to take people's temperature needs to work from a standpoint of scientific knowledge. It's not difficult.
The ignorance around is stunning, as @heartsonacake has demonstrated so perfectly.

@littlepeas

heartsonacake It's the absolute, unfaltering confidence that cracked me up.

Amazing wasn't it?

The total confidence in the "corporate line" and the fact that the "multinational" could never be wrong. Well the multinational I work for is very often wrong, laughably so sometimes.

Mentioning that lawyers check everything off took it to another level! 🤣

But what happens if you go in 8 weeks and your temperature is still in the normal range and comes up again as 37.3 or 37.2 or 37.1 you will just be refused again.

I think until this is over you need to find a different hairdressers who stick to normal range of temperatures.

Dd and Ds have had to have their temperature tested for work and the ruling is if the temperature is higher than normal then they have to sit for 30 minutes and have a cold drink then have their temperature taken again.

If it is still high then they have to go home.

@Oliversmumsarmy

But what happens if you go in 8 weeks and your temperature is still in the normal range and comes up again as 37.3 or 37.2 or 37.1 you will just be refused again.

I think until this is over you need to find a different hairdressers who stick to normal range of temperatures.

Dd and Ds have had to have their temperature tested for work and the ruling is if the temperature is higher than normal then they have to sit for 30 minutes and have a cold drink then have their temperature taken again.

If it is still high then they have to go home.

Oh god, that's even worse. Drinking a cool drink will not affect your core body temperature - if it did, eating an ice cream would be fatal.

Yes it's annoying op but they're clearly being extremely cautious and would rather lose healthy people the admit potentially ill people.