March 18th was the last day anyone in Ohio could go to a barbershop or salon for a haircut, and today, nearly 60 days later, they can open their doors for business once again. You should expect to see changes the next time you get your hair done.
Barbershops and salons are among the several businesses able to open back up on this day but don’t expect your trip to the salon to look like the last time you were there in March. Not only are stylists tasked with the job to make their customers look beautiful, but they also have to ensure everyone’s safety in the process.
The owner of Creative Images in Lima says she's been working on solutions to open the salon back up since the day it closed down.
Wanda Biss, owner of Creative Images says, “Any precaution that’s possible, I think we’ve done, but they give us more guidelines. Hairdressers, we’re like resilient, so we’ll do whatever they tell us to do.”
The salon opened up with new procedures and rules in place. The two biggest changes on how the salon will run is that they’re asking customers to stay in their car while they wait for their appointment, and also asking them to wear a mask when they come in. Some luxuries that come along with a trip to the salon have also been removed.
“We had to remove our coffee station so people can’t have coffee, hot chocolate, tea, but that’s a sacrifice I think they’re willing to make since we’ve been shut down 9 weeks (this) Wednesday,” says Biss.
While many people had to wait out the shutdowns as they watched their hair grow longer, some also grew impatient.
Jeremy Sanders, the manager at Westwood Barbershop says, “We’ve had people offer up to $100 for us to come and cut their hair and that’s happened more than once.”
Westwood decided not to open their doors until Monday. Since the barbershop doesn't take appointments, they will be greeting people outside the doors of the shop to put them on a waiting list where they will then wait in their car. Sanders says he expects to be busy for an unprecedented amount of time.
“People not having been in for two months, and the pace being slowed down, I honestly don’t know," says Sanders." I’m thinking a minimum for two weeks we’ll be real, real busy. It could be months.“
Just like every other business opening, the shop will be following every safety mandate given but unlike Creative Images, Westwood Barbershop is not asking their customers to wear masks.
