CHENNAI: It’s a fine line between need and want. At least, that’s what we’d like to believe when enough time, boredom and borderline desperation has us fighting thread and blade with overgrown eyebrows.
With the beauty salons and parlours out of the running for over two months now, our routine indulgences — a haircut, a foot rub, a back massage, a bikini wax — are starting to seem more and more like essential services.
Even as the general populace are primed to make a mad dash to the nearest salon as soon as the government greenlights its operations, there’s much work in store for the ones tasked with running these outlets.
From sanitisation concerns to social distancing woes, these businessmen and women have much to prepare for.
Precautionary tales
There’s a certain level of hygiene standards that is assumed to be a given at beauty parlours, given the nature of its services and the number of people that use the common space.
With a highly contagious virus doing the rounds, there’s the need to amp this up by several notches. And the big players are ready to bring out their big guns.
Pavithra Ashwin, director of YOLO Salon for Him & Her, says that it starts with testing all their staff for COVID-19.
“Initially, we want to make sure that our staff members are tested; we don’t want to start off the infection from our end. We are in talks with one of the testing centres for this. We have around 30 staff members; some of them can afford the test and we are planning to sponsor it for those who can’t. Now that there’s no public transport, we’ll arrange for private vehicles to take them to the centres and bring them back,” she explains.
Fellow players — Volt Style Bar, Toni & Guy and Hadaza Grooming Studio — have similar plans.
Elaborating on what’s in store at Volt, it’s owner Shweta Sada says, “Hygiene and sanitisation has been important from day-one. This hasn’t really changed for us because of coronavirus. We are only amplifying what we do to keep our premises hygienic. For our clients, we are working towards having disposable kits. It can be a hair colour, facial or pedicure; each customer will get an exclusive kit that can only be thrown away after use. We are even going to be specific about the towels we use.” At YOLO, the disposable kits will go along with mono doses of the products required.
At Hadaza, it’s owner Sandhya Prasath says that they are planning to replace all their equipment, towels and linen with new ones before they reopen.
They also plan to sterilise all the equipment used with one client before moving to the next. Toni & Guy is going the same way, with its senior vice president Mario Weller informing us that even the mirrors would be sanitised after each client.
Playing by the rules
All these salons plan to stick to social distancing norms by putting their staff on a rotational shift and taking in clients only on an appointment basis so as to keep a cap on the number of people at the parlour at all times. Customers will not be allowed to bring friends or family along for the same reason.
A few chairs and work-stations have been removed to ensure there is an adequate gap between clients.
All work-stations will be sanitised or fumigated after each client and at regular intervals. Masks will be mandatory for staff and clients alike.
They assure an endless supply of sanitiser throughout the outlet. Hadaza will even host a handsfree sanitisation station at the entrance.
“We have already removed unnecessary but frequently touched things like magazines and chocolate bowls,” says Sandhya. Speaking for Toni & Guy, Mario says that they will not hold back on making the customers feel comfortable.
“We will give them sealed water bottles, and disposable cups if they insist on coffee or tea. There’s no point in running away from your basics. If a client wants coffee, you give them a cup of coffee but you take precautions. Our intention is to make the client as comfortable as possible. If this is going to be the new normal, let’s approach it with two hands and not run away from the situation. They are coming in for a service and we’ll provide that ensuring all the comfort possible.”
Seconding this point of view, Shwetha says, “We totally understand that we have to coexist with this environment. We want to be the smartest and most responsible ones to handle this very securely. Anything that we’re doing is not eyewash. We are getting our staff trained, we are getting certified. We’re taking this seriously.”
Waiting to restart
While these big brands seem very assured of the way forward, the concerns of those owning local, smallscale outlets seem to be very different. Having gone two months without an income from his single store — RJ Hairstyles, Gangadhar is desperate for word from the government about when he can reopen. Meanwhile, he’s having trouble getting all the safety equipment he needs.
“Disposable caps and masks have not been available. We’ve placed an order for a thousand of them,” he says. With his single employee away at his native place for the lockdown, Gangadhar will be the only one working at the store when he’s allowed to return to it. He’s sure he can manage his clients through appointments. He just needs to be able to start working again.
“I’m willing to follow any rule that the government may provide. It’s without a choice that I’ve been sitting home, unable to earn an income,” he adds.
Eeswari or Shri Eeswari Beauty Parlour on Nelson Manickam Road is also awaiting instructions from the government to decide on the future course of action. Kavitha Sureshbabu, who runs two branches of Guys and Dolls Beauty Salon, is worried about how much all this is going to cost.
“I don’t know how we will be able to afford all this. We’ve already had no income for two months. Yet, we have to pay the salary for our workers, rent for the premises, electricity, EMIs and such. Besides, we might have our own problems (other than work). To provide for all this, we can’t raise the price of any service by more than Rs 50. How we will be able to manage is a big question for all of us,” she explains.
Following social distancing norms too would come at the cost of losing out business for these small salons.
“The staff is supposed to work on a shift basis. But I only have three to a store; so that’s not a problem. We’re supposed to maintain a gap of two metres between two chairs. If it’s a 10x10 salon, how is that possible? We might have to take in only one client at a time,” she says.
At V2 Naruto, owner Meenakumari’s primary concern is the restriction on the use of air conditioners.
“In this weather, people would not like to come in for facials and other grooming services when there is no air-conditioning. We’ll probably only get haircut requests for a while, given that many have had no chance to tame their hair for the past two months. Besides, with many restrictions still in place for weddings, events and social gatherings, not many would want to indulge in these services. They might only want their basic needs met. This would certainly affect revenue. We might not even be able to keep up the rent payments,” she says.
Running an organic beauty salon, she is also looking at the possibility of many of her products having gone bad over the two months. Things are looking bleak, it seems.
The pandemic has spared very few. The beauty industry too, like almost every other sector, will have some more affected than others. Perhaps, a government order would come as a relief.
On the regulation front, Meghanath Reddy, deputy commissioner (Revenue and Finance), Greater Chennai Corporation, says that decisions about checking salons and parlours for compliance will be made only after they get a ‘GO’ in hand. We’ll simply have to wait, then.