Some North Texas salon owners prepping to reopen on Friday, while others are waiting
DALLAS - On Friday, salons across Texas are allowed to reopen. But some owners have said they won't because they're still working to get necessary disinfectants and products to keep clients and staff safe.
Thursday night is the rush to reopen for salons.
Some say it’s too soon, and have set a later date. Others are ready and have a full sanitation plan in place.
“This is one industry that’s just so intimate, and you’re taking that away,” said Charlie Price with Charlie + Co.
Cuts and colors come back Friday in Texas, but it won’t be as usual.
“It’s going to feel very robotic. It’s going to feel very contrived, but those words and those adjectives create safety, and, at this time, everybody wants to feel like at least they’re in an environment that’s safe,” Price added.
Sebastien Delalande, at Salon Dore in Snider Plaza, is booked for the next three weeks starting Friday.
He’s requiring clients and staff to wear masks.
“The phone’s been ringing. You can hear right now. Text messages and ringing,” Delalande said.
He’s spacing clients in every other chair.
RELATED: Coronavirus coverage
Salon sanitization standards are high, even when we’re not in a pandemic.
“I’m going to spray the chair and wipe it after each client,” Delalande added.
Stylists will have their temperature taken each day, and clients will see them cleaning.
“I think it’s important for her to know that it’s clean and sanitized just for her, so the comb and scissors,” Delalande said.
“We are armed for this. We have the Barbicide. We have the rubbing alcohol. We have the Clorox. Those are just built-in staples,” Price said.
Price and his 18 stylists in the Design District care for 1,300 clients, and many are calling to try to get in when they reopen on May 15.
But there are salon owners who say they are not armed and not ready.
TONI&GUY officials said they’re still securing enough Barbicide, a hospital-grade sanitizer that disinfects hair tools and PPE.
Price’s plan is to split his staff into two shifts each day.
They, too, will have masks for stylists and clients, and they are not offering blowouts to minimize time in the salon.
“The other thing, have you ever tried to blow dry hair with a mask on?’’ Price added.
Salons reopening turns hair stylists into frontline workers overnight.
It makes Price both nervous and hopeful.
“We contract this virus from other people, and we’re touching people all day long, so that’s the part we’re going to have to get used to," he said.
Some medical facilities that are reopening have said they are passing the cost of PPE onto the customer.
And some salon owners said they will not be doing the same, as they’ve been stocked on Barbicide and PPE since this started and it’s part of their business expenses.