Letter from a Hairdresser

I'm sure not every hair-dresser, barber, and cosmetologist will agree with Star Tribune letter-writer Marian Widen of Minneapolis, but I thought Widen made some excellent points in Saturday's paper. Anyone who thinks the close-in personal service businesses like these should reopen must address these issues or they are showing either their ignorance or their cavalierness with other peoples' health:

I need to address the haircut issue.

I miss my clients. I miss making them feel and look great. I miss my co-workers.

I get it. I’ve been in the industry for 10 years, and am still afraid to cut my own hair. It’s more fun and less stressful to have a pro do it. It’s your head! You want it to look good!

Let’s take a step back, and look at some likely scenarios.

Your stylist goes back to work. They may have to redesign the interior of the salon in order to be at least 6 feet away from their co-workers, and their co-workers’ clients. They will most likely have to schedule extra time for cleaning, changing their masks and coordinating with their clients on when it’s OK for them to enter the salon. Waiting rooms will no longer be a thing. Don’t touch that magazine! How well was that register cleaned? Stylists will become receptionists, biohazard cleaners, temperature-testing hair gurus.

Let’s say your salon has eight stylists. They can average between five and 10 clients a day, per stylist. That’s at least 200 people per week. Let’s say your hairdresser lives with immunocompromised people. Let’s say they’re immunocompromised themselves. We don’t have hospital grade masks we could wear. Hospitals don’t even have enough of them. So even with every person wearing a mask, there is still a great risk. At least 200 people a week in one salon. Hot air blowing around. C’mon.

I know you want to support your stylist. I know you want your hair done. That’s OK. Please understand that it is far too soon for us to safely go back to work. And when it is, everyone will be wanting their hair done, and stylists may have less time in which to do them, in order to follow proper cleaning procedures. So please. Be patient. Reach out to your stylist. Ask for advice. Maybe they can even mix your color for you, and you can curbside-pick-up those chemicals and slap them on yourself. Be brave. Watch YouTube videos.

Most importantly, know we will be here for you when we can.

Tens of thousands of Americans have died while salons have been closed. Imagine what that number will be if we open prematurely.

And that doesn't even address the question of economic scale... if a stylist could make all of that work on a small scale, that doesn't work on a scale that works from a financial standpoint, just the way that a restaurant being open for seating with only 25% of its tables available may not work. Just because it's allowed, doesn't mean you can stay in business doing it.