The landscape of the salon industry looks different since COVID swept across the globe and it is equal parts devastating and encouraging depending on your perspective or your location. The shut downs have been crippling and in many cases caused closures of long time salons owned by veteran hair and nail professionals. With so many places continuing to seesaw from open to closed it is a stressful time to be in the industry.
What things has COVID-19 changed about your salon? I have had this question asked to me personally so I will share with you and would love to know what you have done in the comments - How to comment on the blog.
To give a very serious, clean, professional look I started wearing spa scrubs as a uniform for work. They are easy to throw in the wash when I get home, fit the sense of above and beyond state board regulations that I go to in the salon, and suit the environment I want to portray. I also started wearing a mask and a face shield.
Things I was already doing were cleaning between clients, especially my table top and LED lamp inside and out, and wearing gloves. Now that it is 2021 we need to start talking about the things we do to take care of our clients because we are quality salons, not because we are reacting to COVID-19. Many well educated salons actually changed very little in response to COVID!
The other thing I changed was getting a Whisper from Aerovex. I had been looking at a system from Aerovex before COVID hit to help with dust since I started using my e-file in the salon and just moved up the timetable. Being able to explain to my clients that the Whisper was taking care of our breathing space and not just the dust was priceless.
There was initially a lot of spacing between appointments so that clients did not have to overlap in the salon, it was more awkward in the beginning and has gotten easier to navigate. Now the clients watch out for each other and know my routine well enough to wait a bit to come in after the client before them. Washing their hands with a manicure brush as if they were going to perform surgery was already part of the appointment routine before COVID, so that isn't anything new or unusual that had to be learned.
For 2021 I challenge you to start pointing out the things you do as an educated salon. Create social media posts and in salon dialog that share your efforts to have top notch disinfection as a quality salon, not as a reaction to COVID. If you could use some help creating protocols for the salon that look great and have everyone on the same page, there's are complimentary protocol builder here. I'm looking forward to your comments below and seeing what you have been doing, here's to a better year in our industry ((big hugs)).