How This Celebrity Stylist Couple Opened A Hair Salon In A Pandemic

The challenges to open during a pandemic were both large and small. We spent a lot of time listening to panels and podcasts put on by industry experts as well as watching the opening procedures/protocols from other salons across the US. We began by imagining a client’s experience in the salon from start to finish and made plans so that they would feel comfortable at every step. 

One of the biggest challenges was the impact on the supply chain to obtain the PPE we would need to open. We wanted to be able to provide each team member with a new KN95 mask for every day and have disposable surgical masks for our clients. We ended up buying a wall mounted hand sanitizer on Ebay. 

Perhaps the “silver lining” to having to push back our opening by 2 months, is that we had the proper time and consideration to not only fully implement the below Covid-safe practices, but also have the time to check in with our staff to see how they were mentally coping and how we could help. 

Creating sanitation practices: The entire team is trained to sanitize each styling chair, shampoo bowl, and shampoo chair between clients. We maintain records of each time these spaces are cleaned. 

Space: To adhere to salon capacity guidelines, our team is divided into different teams that work alternating days. This helps us maintain 6-feet between clients receiving services. One major benefit of being under construction when the city entered Phase 1 is that we could ask our general contractor to hang plexiglass between shampoo bowls and at our front desk. He also built large plexiglass stands that we can move throughout the salon. 

Desk: Training our front desk was extremely important to us as it’s the first impression our guests have of the new space. This team carries out important Covid tasks. They: Confirm that each salon guest has received and responded to our Covid questionnaire that is sent prior to the appointment. Take each guest’s temperature. Give each guest a mask and talk about the importance of wearing throughout their time in the salon. Give each client a bag to keep their personal belongings.

We spent a lot of time making these plans, obtaining materials and talking with our team to make sure they felt safe and ready to take care of our salon guests. We have received emails from clients applauding our protocols or their experience in the salon and these compliments mean the most to us. We put so much heart into making people safe. To see all of our policies and procedures please visit our website’s Covid-19 Updates.