CHENNAI: March 2020 BC (Before Corona) was when I last pampered myself to a relaxed grooming session. Then came April and then May, and each version of the lockdown saw a different version of me. Luckily, the mask hid all the insecurities that were growing on my face. But as time passed, my patience remained unlocked and so, from tweezers to trimmers, I tried every device to stop the dense, erratic growth of my eyebrows.
To my horror though, I was soon roaming around with uneven eyebrows, but thank the heavens for no one noticed. And honestly, by Lockdown 4.0, I couldn’t care less. Then came that one decision from the Centre — the one that many women waited for. Parlours and salons could finally open on June 1. After booking and cancelling several appointments because of the scare of contracting the virus, I finally decided to go for it the past weekend. As much as I would have loved to give business to the neighbourhood parlour, I couldn’t as they continued to keep their shutters down.
So I chose Lakme Salon. First things first. The receptionist at the salon did an amazing job of boosting my confidence about the safety precautions that they’d be following. This included compulsory booking of appointments, a separate kit for each customer, and also urging us to be clear about the services we needed, because one is not allowed to add services after going to the parlour. They also ensured I followed all the government rules — downloaded Aarogya Setu app, carried my Aadhaar card, and filled a form declaring that I do not have any symptoms. But here’s also some not-so-great news. The final bill — no matter what service you opt for — will include a safety charge of `100. So ladies, your parlour visits are going to be a tad more expensive.
There are no more walk-ins, and so the seating arrangement at the waiting area is now a thing of the past, at least here. Once the receptionist welcomed me, I was asked to sanitise myself, after which she checked my temperature. I stood in a red-coloured box at a safe distance from the counter while she completed the formalities. “Kavitha, keep the kit ready,” she instructed her colleague. Kavitha, my attendant for the day, was dressed in her uniform with a disposable apron on it, a head cap, face mask and a pair of gloves. She then walked me to the seat, which she disinfected in my presence. Then, I was asked to sanitise my hands once again.
After this, I was shown the contents of my kit — a long, rectangular plastic box which had everything necessary for the services I wanted. The thread roll used for doing my eyebrows was kept in small plastic box with a hole on top from where Kavitha pulled the required length of thread without having to touch the whole roll. She wore the thread around her neck and knotted it before my eyebrows finally smiled and heaved a sigh of relief.
But wait, this was not the beginning. My eyebrows were first cleaned with cotton balls dipped in Savlon. Once they dried, she applied an anti-bacterial powder. I don’t know if it was the Savlon or the bliss of having my eyebrows done by anyone but me, this time it almost didn’t hurt at all! The clean-up and application of powder, I was told, is now a norm for all services. The process looked cumbersome even though it was only for getting my eyebrows shaped; I wondered how tedious it would be for other grooming services like a facial, pedicure or waxing.
But Kavitha looked unperturbed by the new protocols. The main challenge for the attendants, she said, was in using gloves to check the temperature of the wax (for the required service). In the new normal, customers will have to inform the attendants about the heat resistance when waxing, she explained. Also, the stick used to take the wax out of the tin will be used only twice — front and back, and then disposed of.
Giving life to my eyebrows again, Kavitha used scissors from my personalised kit to cut her gloves, the cape that was used to cover me, and her apron. All of these went to the bin. Another good news is — all payments will now be done digitally. I paid using my credit card which was swiped, disinfected and handed over to me before I headed out after sanitising my hand one last time. In the new normal, it will take time for people to head to beauty parlours. But I hope they maintain protocols, not just in the nascent stages of Unlock 1.0, but for the months, or even years, to come.