As Phase 2 of Ontario’s reopening plan gets underway, hair salons are being flooded with requests.
Angela Gagie, the owner of Essense Salon in London, said they are currently booked until mid-to-late July.
“It has been overwhelming, to be honest,” Gagie said. “We had people contacting us before Ford even announced we were allowed to open officially.”
Premier Doug Ford gave hairstylists, among other businesses, the go-ahead to open starting this Friday, June 12 earlier this week.
To keep customers safer, Gagie said they will only allow one customer per stylist in at a time, and she is organizing shifts so they only have five stylists working at once.
People getting haircuts will also be asked to remain in their cars and have to answer a series of screening questions before coming inside.
Since closing, Gagie said it’s been a struggle navigating all of the supports for businesses, but is thankful they can finally get back to work.
“Our bank account has been getting lower and lower, and we are pretty much hitting rock bottom,” she said.
Although they have been preparing, she does wish the province had given them more time and is still uncertain about the exact requirements.
“We have been waiting for it, we are ready, we thought we would have more time and a week or two to get everything ready,” said Jean Coles, the owner of three Sports Clips Haircuts in London.
Coles, who has been working on getting the hair salons ready, said despite the short notice, the whole team is ready to start work again.
“We are so proud to get to fix all of those buzzcuts everyone has been doing in the last few weeks.”
Coles said they are expecting a lot of people, with some already stopping by to check when they will open.
To keep customers and staff safe, she said everyone will be required to wear a mask and said each client will get a new hairdressing cape to use.
She has also been working on spacing stations so they can take as many customers as possible while still keeping everyone safe and earning enough to profit.
The Middlesex London Health Unit has a list of recommendations and guidelines for businesses to follow on their website outlines the provinces reopening plan.