It Is Time to Safely Open California’s Salons
While much of the country (and world) are figuring out what that “new normal” is that everyone is speaking of, a very prominent industry remains shutdown in California but open in all other states. On May 26, the state’s Governor Gavin Newsom allowed salons in 48 out of 58 counties to reopen under phase 2 of his stay at home order, only to retract that order on July 20. The July 20 order forced salons in counties on the state’s “watch list” to shutdown indoor operations. At the time of publishing this story, there are currently 41 counties on that Coronavirus hot list. So what does that mean, exactly? Since July 20, hair, nail, esthetic, and tanning salons in those counties have either remained closed or found a way to safely service their clients in an outdoor area. Yes — safely service their clients outdoors in a state where a majority of the regions experience temperatures in the high 80s in July and August (but it’s common to see the temperatures get into the 90s and even 100s). So yeah, it’s time to (safely) reopen California’s salons.
Newsom’s reversal of reopening salons was put into place when California saw a rise in Covid-19 cases over a 14 day period in July. And while the governor allowed other businesses under the stage 2 reopening phase to remain open, salons had to close. This decision to ban salons from operating indoors would be fair and understandable if licensed cosmetologists weren’t already certified by sanitation leaders like Barbicide before the pandemic even started and if the salons weren’t able to be compliant with the disinfectant guidelines for reopening salons set forth by the CDC. But they are, so at this point Governor Newsom is simply marginalizing an industry that at the national level did $57 billion in sales in 2019 according to the Professional Beauty Association. The state government is single-handedly wreaking more havoc on the livelihood of the 621k workers in the state’s salon industry than the contagion of the virus has even come close to doing.
The Professional Beauty Federation of California (PBFC) and hundreds of salon owners and workers have joined together to form the #opensalonsnow campaign by rallying and protesting the past few weeks. Then, just this past Monday, August 17, about 1,000 salons across the state took their protest one step further by reopening their salons and safely servicing clients.
Ted Gibson, celebrity hair stylist and owner of the newly-opened STARRING in Los Angeles has been one of the most notable voices behind the #opensalonsnow campaign and also reopened his doors this past Monday. Gibson’s reopening attracted enough media attention and also that of local police force as he was issued a citation for being defiant of the state’s mandate. Gibson started STARRING alongside his husband and business partner Jason Backe, and actually just opened the salon for the first time back on June 3, when Newsom briefly allowed salons to reopen. The duo’s clients include the likes of celebrities like Angelina Jolie, Priyanka Chopra, Anne Hathaway, Sandra Oh, Lupita Nyong’o, and Jaime King who got her hair cut by Gibson on Monday and urged Newsom via Instagram to consider lifting the mandate to save the state’s salon industry.
The salon is the world’s first Amazon-powered salon where the lights and music are activated by Amazon’s infamous assistant, Alexa. It is cashless, has no retail (all STARRING products can be purchased via Amazon), only has five chairs, and sees a maximum of 10 people at a time — there are no receptionists or assistants. The boutique salon’s design in itself makes it a safe place for both the stylist and the client, and then add masks and the CDC’s sanitation guidelines, and it makes it a lot safer and cleaner than say any big box retailers that have been mobbed with people for the entire duration of the pandemic.
When it comes to tanning, imagine spray tanning your clients outside in sunny Los Angeles where the average summer temperatures stay in the mid-high 80s. Not only would that be the opposite of relaxing and everything you hope a beauty service would be, but the tan would sweat off just as quickly as it was applied. So for that, Glow Getter Brittney Bennett, owner of L.A.-based Be Bronze Studio has chosen to forego the outdoor salon recommendation and remained closed. Imagine being forced to remain shut down after already having missed your industry’s busiest time of the year because the alternative recommended by local government would literally counteract the whole point of the spray tan appointment. That’s the case for Bennett who said she already missed out on 52% of her yearly income by being closed in April alone AKA festival and wedding season in southern California. Over half of her yearly income was already gone in the first four months of the year. “And that’s just what was on the books",” Bennett told me, noting that’s not including last minute appointments.
And in case there was ever a thought that the hundreds of thousands of salon workers that are fighting for salons to reopen don’t believe in the seriousness of Covid-19, that’s not the case. Bennett actually had the virus herself for 23 days in July. That was 23 days of severe head pain, chest pain, body aches, and yes — even more loss of income as she missed out on the few weeks that the salons were allowed to operate indoors. A woman and business owner who has experienced the virus herself yet still knows that if salons can follow the CDC guidelines, salons can reopen safely and do their part to stop the contagion.
And while we’re at it - if we’re concerned with the wellbeing of salon professionals (in addition to their clients), according to Bennett, it’s a lot easier to control and meet all disinfectant standards when you’re in your own salon versus doing a mobile appointment in someone’s home — which are allowed under the current reopening order. When seeing clients in a salon, Bennett explains how easy it is to schedule clients so that they never even come in contact with one another while — of course — meticulously cleaning in between each of them. And that’s not to say that the Governor should also ban mobile appointments, because he shouldn’t — as mentioned, everyone’s livelihoods are at stake right now. But when marginalizing the salon industry which is made up of over half a million workers in California, it’s worth it to consider the best plan of action for their health as well as their clients.
If you feel passionately about urging Governor Newsom to reopen California salons and help these hundreds of thousands of salons workers to safely get back to work, I encourage you to sign the #opensalonsnow petition here.