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Hair salons reopen amid coronavirus

5 min read
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Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

Amanda Ramsey of Amanda’s Creations sanitizes a chair in the salon in preparation for Friday’s reopening.

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Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

Amanda Mankey, owner of Amanda’s Expressions in Washington, reopened her salon on Friday after being shutdown since March due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

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Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

Amanda Mankey of Amanda’s Expressions has implemented several new guidelines so she and her stylists can operate the shop safely for clients. Here, she has replaced capes with thin, washable towels and clips.

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Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

Shirley Olenwine of Lone Pine was one of the first customers to get her hair done at Amanda’s Expressions when the salon reopened on Friday. Olenwine is a longtime client of the salon.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated.

Shirley Olenwine has been waiting for the end of the shutdown implemented in March amid the COVID-19 pandemic so that she could get her hair done.

On Friday, Olenwine was among the first customers at Amanda’s Expressions hair salon in Washington when the doors reopened, and was happy to sit in the chair while owner and stylist Amanda Mankey, wearing a mask, washed, colored and styled her hair.

“I really am excited to get it done because it really is a mess,” said Olenwine, of Lone Pine, a longtime client who visited the shop at least every four weeks for haircuts, facials and other services until it temporarily closed.

While Olenwine was glad to get a cut and color, she was more pleased to see Mankey and some of the other stylists who were working on customers.

“This is a great place,” said Olenwine. “This is the place to go for entertainment. They are a lot of fun. I was very excited to see Amanda.”

Mankey has spent weeks preparing her business for reopening, and has implemented new guidelines – which were sent to clients – to help keep everyone safe.

Some of the changes she has put into place include removing two of the four work stations from the main work space and relocating them to other rooms where facials and body wraps – which aren’t currently being offered – were done.

Masks are mandatory for salon employees and customers, and clients have to sign a waiver indicating they have no symptoms such as fever or cough.

Also off-limits at her salon: using the restroom, except in an emergency, and using blow dryers.

Elderly clients and children will fill the early appointment slots.

“I’ve been here just about every day since the lockdown putting a plan in place to continue to serve our clients as safely as we can,” said Mankey. “We have great clients, and they’ve been open to anything we have to do.”

Troy Kerley, owner of Krave in Washington, also was busy getting ready to reopen.

Kerley has an advantage: Each of the five stylists has their own walled-off room in the South Main Street building, so their work spaces already met social distance guidelines.

“We’re not actually interacting with each other or their clients. It’s a big plus,” said Kerley.

No more than one client can be with a stylist at any time.

Kerley has invested time and energy into sanitizing the salon, and he has stocked up on disinfecting and cleaning supplies.

Sytlists have built an additional 15 minutes into appointments – which typically take an hour – so that chairs, shampoo bowls, and supplies can be sanitized in between customers.

“We won’t be able to service as many people, but our priority is to keep everybody safe and to follow CDC guidelines to make sure we are doing that,” said Kerley.

Kerley is hoping to be able to get all of his clients back into the salon in June and July, but asked them to be patient.

“We have pretty big cancellation lists since the shutdown so we’re concentrating on that. We’re booked for June and most of July,” said Kerley. “We’re extremely happy to reopen and be able to interact with our clients. Our clients are our friends, and it’s good to catch up with them and see how they’re doing.”

Kathy Megysey, owner of Hair and There hair salon in Washington, stocked up on face masks for her four stylists, and is “doing a lot of cleaning.”

The chairs are socially distanced at least six feet apart.

Customers are asked to wait in their cars until their appointment time, and must call or text before entering the salon.

Megysey said customers will have their temperature taken with a digital thermometer and fill out a form before they can get their hair done. Coffee will still be offered, but the stylists will serve it in order to reduce the number of people touching surfaces.

“I’m very excited to get back and see everybody. I’ve missed everyone, my co-workers and clients,” said Megysey. “It’s going to be different. Wearing the masks, for example, is going to be hot. And we can’t have people come in with clients, we can’t have people sitting around before their appointments so that will be really strange. Our shop is a friendly shop. Everybody says it reminds you of ‘Steel Magnolias,’ so it will be a big change.”

Other salons are eliminating magazines and beverages, and have purchased air purifiers.

Due to the restrictions on the number of people in a shop and increased time it takes to complete a hair appointment, Mankey said they are operating at half their normal capacity, which hurts the stylists’ income.

“We’re lucky that we’re even reopening. It was a huge decision for me, whether we were coming back. But I thought, ‘What are my girls going to do? I can’t leave them,'” said Mankey. “So, we decided we’re going to give it one more go, and if we can build it back up, we’ll be here another 20 years.”

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