The necessity to return to salons post-COVID
By Katie Benzan
November 9, 2020
Image Credit: Cesar Saravia for Unsplash.com
As businesses start to re-open and people start to leave their homes, a hair appointment is likely high on their to-do list.
The coronavirus shutdown in Maryland forced many to embrace their natural hairstyle. “This was … a perfect opportunity to be natural,” said Diamond Miller, an undecided sophomore, attending UMD.
The trend towards natural hairstyles forced the Hair + Space Salon on Baltimore Avenue in College Park, Maryland to add two new services, said Sadetra Windham, the salon’s manager. The salon added a natural curly blowout and a two-braids hairstyle.
Windham, 29, expressed how fortunate the salon was to survive the coronavirus crisis and to continue to survive despite the new normal. To increase safety, the salon implemented multiple precautions: disinfection of each station before and after each client, a mandate to wear masks, capacity maximum of 50 percent and a temperature check before entry.
Mimi Collins, an academic junior studying cinema and film at UMD, said that visiting a salon made her feel as though everything was returning to somewhat normal, even if this is the new normal. The salon felt safe because her hairdresser and salon acted in accordance with Maryland COVID-19 guidelines.
During the quarantine and shutdown of salons, it was difficult to maintain healthy hair without the ability for clients to receive regular haircuts. Windham described how her salon is now seeing new clients, asking for a trim to clean up any dead ends or split ends. Most appointments focus on the revival of hair.
“Blame it on COVID” has become a popular phrase in the Hair + Space Salon to ease clients’ shame. Most of their clients haven’t received professional hair care or any hair care since March, when the pandemic first boomed.
Miller, however, spent more time and energy on her hair. She utilized YouTube as a resource to discover different styles for her natural hair.
Collins, on the other hand, decided to keep it simple and wear “a leave-and-go type hairstyle.” Naturally curly, she just embraced her curls.
Even though the Hair + Space salon was not prepared for the coronavirus crisis, they are lucky to still have a clientele, to still have goals and to still strive to meet those goals. Many businesses, including salons, were unable to recover.
The pandemic has had its impact. The salon is not “where we could have been … where we know we would have been,” Windham said.
“We’re making the best out of a situation that could be worse, but of course it can be better.”