When Christian Michael Hair and Beauty Salon reopens this week in Concord, there won’t be an option for walk-ins.
Instead there will be a phone call, owner Brian Waldron says, and a series of questions.
“Any new clients coming in the door: Where have you been? What have you been doing? Who have you been living with? Are you around elderly people? Do they live with you? Do you visit nursing homes?” Waldron said.
“If there’s any bit of yes to the questions that could potentially put people in harm, then absolutely not,” he added. “Not in my chair. Not in my salon.”
Welcome to the new way of life for New Hampshire salon owners. Once Gov. Chris Sununu announced a May 11 lifting on the restrictions against salons and barbershops in the face of the coronavirus, many eagerly rushed to reorganize their businesses in the time of a pandemic.
Appointments must be made by phone. Customers must wait in cars. Chairs must be cleaned for 15 minutes between clients. Blow drying is not allowed. And everyone must wear a mask.
However, as some salons make preparations to reopen, others are questioning whether they should.
Several Seacoast salon owners have been vocally opposed to the re-opening, warning that lifting the restrictions will pressure many owners to open despite unsafe conditions.
Around Concord, many of the business owners say they’re ready and willing to reopen.
Despite the extra precautions – which includes a vow not to take on new clients – Waldron said he wants to get back to work.
“Is it exciting? Yes,” he said. “I think the time off has put a lot of things into perspective for a lot of people. We are not money mongers. We had a dream. When your dream was put on hold for seven weeks, that makes you want to reopen.”
That’s the case for Heather Dragon too, whose Parlor Salon on North Main Street is also reopening.
Dragon, the owner of a location in Concord and Manchester, has 17 employees – 15 will be coming back to work immediately while two will wait another two weeks, she said.
“Everyone’s pretty much looking forward to it,” she said. “I know a lot of salons are saying this is unfair and they don’t want to go back, but I’m definitely ready, I know that.”
To prepare, Dragon has shifted scheduling. Where 14 hair dressers normally work in Concord at once, that number will drop to 10, she said. Every client who had a previous appointment needs to reschedule it.
And she will be following the guidelines. No procedures other than basic cuts and quick color touch-ups. No extensive highlighting. And no blow drying.
Dragon understands the latter move; nothing could spread aerosol droplets of a virus better than a post-haircut blow dry. But the change will be tough, she said.
“One of my favorite parts is blow drying just ’cause you see the end result,” she said. “The customer loves it when they leave the salon. So now they’re going to be leaving wet.”
Still, while she says that prohibition is tough but fair, Dragon and others take issue with the other restrictions, particularly around coloring. To Dragon, there’s not much material difference between a full highlighting, which is not allowed, and a touch up, which is.
“I think if they’re letting us go back to work we should be able to do more services,” she said. “. . . It would take me the same amount of time just because I’ve been doing it for so long.”
As retail businesses and eventually restaurants prepare to re-open, questions persist as to how workers might be enticed to come back. But for Dragon and Waldron, convincing their hair stylists to return was easy, they said. All of them make more in tips than the unemployment, and very few had qualms about any health risks, they said.
“A few are delaying, wanting to wait,” Dragon said. “They feel a little claustrophobic with the masks.”
Waldron said he purchased forehead thermometers for daily temperature checks. And both said they had rearranged the space to ensure distancing between chairs.
The divide among New Hampshire residents over when and how quickly to reopen has become clear on social media, Waldron said. The Instagram and Facebook pages of salons have become a venting ground for those who want to chastise businesses for reopening.
A Seacoast Online article Monday highlighted a number of southeast New Hampshire salon owners who have voiced anger about the reopening protocol issued by the governor.
Several salon owners took advantage of public comment periods during the Governor’s Economic Re-opening Taskforce earlier this month to voice disagreement with the plan.
In Concord, reactions are more mixed. At the Concord Barbershop, owner Richard Kelly says he is reopening. That’s an easy call; he is the business’s only employee. But it’s not without some anxiety.
“It’s a little nerve-wracking. If he says wait another week, I think I could wait,” he said of Sununu.
For his part, Waldron says he supports salon owners who choose to stay closed as much as those who decide to reopen.
But he added the debate is not as simple as it has sometimes been characterized.
“The people who don’t want us to open tend to use the excuse, ‘Well, they’re just opening for the money,’ ” he said. “Well, that’s not the case. The reason why we are opening is because we have loyal wonderful clients that rely on the opportunity to speak with us and commune with us. It’s not just about the money; it’s about communing with people.”
To Waldron, the concerns over hygiene and sanitation in hair salons is rooted in a misunderstanding of the industry. As part of a licensed profession, hairdressers are already well versed in how to sanitize hair-cutting stations and supplies, he said. Most use Barbicide, a brand name disinfectant solution.
He said he doesn’t know any hairdresser who would prefer to stay on unemployment insurance than go back to work.
“Passionate hairdressers who are loyal to their clients and are professional hairdressers, they’re going to go back to work,” he said.
Waldron has been cleaning and prepping his business since Sununu’s formal announcement on May 1. On Monday, he’ll be picking up a supply of masks and gloves from the state’s stockpile, part of an offer to all businesses by the state’s Division for Homeland Security. On May 12, he’ll open his doors.
Adding in masks and social distancing was an easy next step, he said.
Dragon, too, is optimistic.
“We’re prepared, and it’s going to be exciting and the customers are going to be thrilled,” she said. “So I am looking forward to that.”
Meanwhile, “the phone’s been off the hook,” she said.
(Ethan DeWitt can be reached at edewitt@cmonitor.com, at (603) 369-3307, or on Twitter at @edewittNH.)