Even some hair salons say they were surprised to hear they could reopen Friday, as Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced this week.
Now state officials are advising barbers and hair salons to hold off until they get guidance on how to open safely.
Dunleavy on Monday announced that starting Friday, the state would reopen several business sectors shuttered by COVID-19 mandates until now. Under certain restrictions, the state is allowing barbershops, tattoo parlors, nail salons and tanning salons to open, taking one customer at a time. The Municipality of Anchorage announced this week that some businesses can open Monday.
“Hopefully if you’re like me and others, you can get excited about the prospects of getting your hair cut, getting your nails done,” Dunleavy said.
The state Board of Barbers & Hairdressers, in conjunction with the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, “advises licensees not to return to work or open shops and schools prior to receiving clarifying guidance from the board,” according to a statement posted on the board’s website.
The board will meet Friday and plans to issue guidance shortly afterward. Officials say they won’t be able to take public comments due to "the volume of feedback and time available,” but concerns and questions can be emailed to boardofbarbershairdressers@alaska.gov.
On Wednesday, state officials issued a new health mandate, effective Friday, that outlines the initial phase of the “Reopen Alaska Responsibly Plan.” The mandate provides guidance for personal care services, such as hair salons, barbershops, nail salons, day spas and tattoo parlors, including:
• A limit of one employee per customer for personal care services.
• Operating on a reservation-only basis, with no walk-ins.
• The screening of customers by phone ahead of time for COVID-19 symptoms, recent travel and exposure.
• Providing hand sanitizer or hand-washing by the entrance.
• Wearing surgical masks (for employees providing personal care services). Customers must wear cloth face coverings.
• Workstations must be cleaned and disinfected after every customer, with “hourly touch point sanitation.” Other frequently touched surfaces, such as keyboards or countertops, must be disinfected every four hours.
A limit on the maximum number of customers and employees on the premises is also included, and a distance of at least 6 feet between customer-employee pairs must be maintained, among other guidelines.
It would have been good if the board and the governor’s office had communicated more before the decision was made to reopen salons, said Barbara McDonough, a co-owner of Roots Hair Studio in Palmer.
McDonough earlier this month posted a semi-viral (it got 1,500 views) “how to cut your bangs" video to save her clients some grief while the salon stayed closed.
On Wednesday, McDonough said she started booking appointments for the weekend right after the governor’s reopening announcement, knowing there would be mandates to follow.
“I was disappointed to find today that they had not talked about rules we needed to follow to open,” she wrote in a message.
Getting a hair cut may seem like vanity, but “I think when a person doesn’t feel like themselves, it amplifies what is wrong” in the world around them, she said. “People are very grateful to be on the books and getting back to some semblance of normal. I sure hope it is the right thing.”
Along with whatever mandates are announced, Roots plans to add 15 minutes to every service to spray and clean, limit business to one client and appointments only, and give every client a new cape. Stylists will work either alone or across the room from each other. Both will wear masks.
When Meg Hronek heard that hair salons in Alaska could open as soon as Friday, she was surprised.
“It absolutely shocked me,” said Hronek, who owns Drift Salon in Spenard.
Hronek said she had expected to open sometime in May or June, but is now looking to open as early as Monday. She hasn’t scheduled any clients while she waits on the board’s decision.
Stylists at Drift will wear gloves and masks. A few of the salon’s 17 employees — one is pregnant, some are immunocompromised or live with someone who is — are choosing not to come back right away, Hronek said. One stylist will work with one client at a time instead of double-booking to do two colors at once. That could cut revenue in half, she said.
Hronek took over the salon across from the Bear Tooth Theatrepub & Grill in September and was also renovating a space next door, months of construction that was almost finished when the salon closed last month.
Gift cards and online product sales helped but that “little trickle of income” didn’t get close to making up the difference.
“It’s been really painful to watch my business bank account slowly bleed out,” she said.
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