The Hunts Post spoke to salons in the district about the mammoth task of getting ready to reopen their doors on Saturday.
Hair by Iwona, in Huntingdon, and Kapilli Hair Design, in St Ives, are both planning to reopen on Saturday after a challenging 12 weeks in lockdown.
Iwona Fusnik, owner of Hair by Iwona, has bought a huge amount of PPE equipment ready to open her salon on Saturday and says she feels confident to open.
She said: “It was really hard as a business owner during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. I received a Government grant, which really helped during the lockdown, but there with still bills to pay and the rent.
Iwona says she has all purchased PPE equipment and the salon made the decision to buy four pull-down perspex screens, to separate each customer.
“They will act as a safety booth for each customer, with the salon chairs separated by two metres. They were quite expensive though, they cost £750. I have also bought and received visors, masks, hand sanitiser, gloves and another perspex screen for the counter. We will be wearing visors when we greet our customers and gloves. We will not have a waiting area for customers, they can wave through the window when they arrive and I will let them in.
Iwona said there would be her and one other stylist working, with one client each allowed in the salon at any one time.
“I have quite a few bookings in for Saturday which is good and I am looking forward to seeing my clients again. Once one customer leaves I will disinfect the area for the next customer to come in.
“I have disposable gowns and towels for each customer and will explain what they need to do before coming for their appointment.
“I have extended my opening hours, due to the reduced capacity within the salon and only water can be served in plastic cups.
“We will not be able to provide hot beverages or magazines as a precaution. I feel confident that we are ready to open and have met all the government’s guidelines.”
Kirsty Piekuta, the owner of Kapilli Hair Design in St Ives, is also opening her salon on Saturday with a midnight launch.
She said: “Two clients will be greeted by me and my colleague Jaz and will have a cut and blow dry and after they are finished, another client will come in at 1.15am for a colour and blow dry. We decided to do a midnight launch on July 4 for a client who had been really keen to get her hair done for months and is going away on Saturday in England for a holiday. We thought we would help her by doing this, as we are fully booked this weekend in the day.
“We of course will be adhering to the government guidelines, we will be wearing visors and gloves when we are with each customer.
“We will also have a two metre distance between every salon chair, there will be no waiting area and there will be hand sanitizer stations. We will clean down every station in between each client.
“In theory we will have no more than two clients to every stylist and our services will be limited because of this. We have got quite a big space in our salon which is why we are able to have two clients to one stylist.
“We cannot provide dry cuts after taking a risk assessment and will only be able to serve bottled water and not hot drinks.
“We are really looking forward to getting back to work and want to keep a sense of normality still for customers.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here