States are slowly lifting coronavirus restrictions, and hair and nail salons have been among the top businesses which were forced to close but can now reopen. Areas such as California and Northern Virginia were permitted by their state governments to allow salons and other businesses to reopen this week.
But state and health authorities have warned that citizens should not think that the coronavirus threat will continue to diminish. A recent spike of cases in South Korea as reported by NBC, shows that even countries which have handled the outbreak will continue to escalate if the public is not careful.
Salons, which have customers and workers in close contact for a significant range of time, are a major potential avenue for coronavirus infection. A single hair salon in Missouri, which opened about three weeks ago, potentially infected as many as 140 people from just two workers. In addition to the health risks, salons face a major reputational and financial loss from such incidents.
As a result, tanning salons such as Solarium Tan are taking measures to keep their workers and customers safe, whether willingly or due to state regulations. Common charges will be that workers are required to wear masks, customers can only arrive with an appointment, and not every chair will be used to better enforce social distancing.
Other salons will use more strenuous measures on top of these aforementioned ones such as allowing only contactless payments like credit and debit cards, and carrying out frequent handwashing and cleaning. Some salons are using an infrared temperature check on employees and customers, and sending home anyone with a temperature above 99 degrees.
These measures will be approved by many customers who want to know that they are safe. Another measure which will be less popular is that some salons and businesses will add a surcharge which will help pay for additional cleaning equipment, supplies, and rising expenses.
Even with this surcharge, the reality is that many salons will be less profitable if at all under these new conditions. There have even been worries that a salon may be better off staying closed, as the few customers which trickle in will not pay for the additional expenses from opening.
But after waiting for weeks or months without getting their hair or nails done, there is no doubt that many customers will be happy to return to their favorite salons. Those salons which can keep customers safe will do better than those which gain a reputation as disease-spreaders.