NEW ALBANY, Ind. — The coronavirus pandemic has caused salon chairs to sit empty for weeks. Now Indiana’s salons are less than a week away from opening, and some are making a lot of changes to make sure client safety comes first.
"It's been very stressful,” said Tina Strasser, owner of Salon Gautier in New Albany. “The financial hit was definitely the hardest. It's going to take a while to recover from that."
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Strasser brought her staff back together on Tuesday, sitting six feet apart, to go over guidelines for reopening. Strasser called the meeting after Governor Eric Holcomb gave salons the go-ahead to open on May 11th.
"We were expecting June,” said Strasser, “So we were surprised that it was earlier than we were expecting."
She says that an earlier opening date brought an array of emotions.
"I mean, we're scared. It is still early, but we have no choice but to get back because we could lose the years of clientele building that we've done,” she said.
So she’s making sure to take extra precautions. She’s rearranged and removed chairs to provide an excess of six feet between them. Some chairs have 17 feet separating them.
Strasser also bought masks for her staff to use and is requiring clients to wear masks as well.
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"We will have a hand station area set up with a no-touch soap dispenser and a towel dispenser,” said Strasser, adding that clients will have to wait in the parking lot for their appointment and that their temperatures will be checked on arrival.
“As soon as Governor Holcomb made the announcement pretty much every hairstylists’ phone was blowing up,” said Strasser. “We’re not allowed to double book anymore so we have to learn to slow our workday down to be able to stretch our clients out but yet accommodate them the best we can.”
Strasser says her clients are like family, “and we want to accommodate everyone as quickly as we can, but safely.”
She does plan to open on May 11.
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