Salons in every neighborhood in the U.S. are being impacted by COVID-19 in some way. We recently asked our audience to complete a survey on how their business is faring (see those results here). To dive a little bit deeper, we polled a handful of salon owners in different regions of the country about how business is being impacted and the actions they're taking to open their doors. Up next: the West.
Nine Zero One, Los Angeles, California
Close Date: March 17, two days before Los Angeles County issued its stay-at-home order.
Reopen Date: June 8.
Did you offer consultations/at-home color kits while closed? Yes, we offered quarantine consultations. Stylists set up appointments with their clients via Zoom/FaceTime to help clients pick out haircolor in the drug store and/or guide clients through touch-ups during quarantine. We really encouraged clients to only do their roots, so there wouldn’t be too much damage to their hair before coming back to the salon.
Preparation process: We’ve been in constant communication with our staff since this all started. We’ve done family Zoom calls throughout quarantine. It’s really important to us that we have their input and support on the salon reopening as safe as possible. They’re fully updated on all of our new safety measures as well.
Reopening plan: Our job cannot be done six feet away, so we’ll book every other station and then also book a morning and an evening shift. Clients should expect longer appointment times and expect a possible higher ticket than normal because there is be more work to be done and more color to be used.
There will only be so many slots that we can book. Nine Zero One will not be double-booking clients to keep the environment less busy and safer for all.
We have to do our duty at the salon to curate our environment to the best safety habits to the best of our abilities. We’re going to require all staff members (front desk, stylists, assistants, cleaning staff) and all clients to wear a mask. Our front desk will take clients’ temperatures at the door, before they’re allowed into the salon.
We’re asking clients to not bring extra clothing like jackets. We will not be hanging up any coats because we don’t want them hanging next to anyone else’s coats. We will ask clients to only come in with minimal articles of clothing and accessories, like leaving purses behind and only bringing in their wallets. When confirming the client’s appointment, we will let them know this ahead of time, so the client is prepared.
We’re going to require clients to wash their hands or use hand sanitizer before sitting in the salon chair.
If you get to an appointment early you will have to wait in the car until your appointment time—there will be no waiting in the lobby.
Neihule Salon, Los Angeles, California
Close Date: March 16
Reopen Date: June 9
Did you offer consultations/at-home color kits while closed? No consults or home color kits.
Preparation process: In addition to preparing with PPE and safety measures like Plexi glass dividers, we conducted staff training.
Reopening plan: We are staggering appointments, have stations six feet apart, disinfect all tools, equipment, chairs and common use areas, such as bathrooms. There are Plexi glass partitions at shampoo bowls and the pedi area. Staff wears face shields; we use non-touch thermometers for temperature checks; and use hand sanitizer, gloves and sneeze guards for manicure stations and the front desk. Cash is not accepted and we are by appointment only. Masks are required for all clients, and we purchased single use capes. This is costing us so much money—it’s been really difficult to acquire!
We have a corner space in downtown LA (4,000-square-feet) and realized that we can set up an outdoor shop. Like color on the go: We apply retouch color outside in an outdoor environment. We bag the color with a processing cap and then clients wash it out when they get home. We cut the client with clean hair before we color. This is only for retouch color, toners, or full head colors. Highlights/bleach outs can’t be done this way.
Stations will be outside six feet apart, and staff will swear face shields, masks and all other PPE.