Many people’s first priority when they leave lockdown will be to finally get a haircut after four months of despair.
As the country slowly comes out of lockdown, hairdressers are expecting a wave of customers anxious to tame their lockdown hairdos.
Ian and Mandy Graham are the directors of Fibre hairdressing, with one based in The Lowry shopping centre and another fibre hairdressing in Wilmslow.
They have already reopened their doors to eager customers, and have been employing rigorous cleaning procedures to keep the possibility of viral transmission as low as possible.
“We already have a new stylist joining us, plus we will continue learning new ideas and techniques we can share with our guests”
How was lockdown for you personally and as a business?
Lockdown we spent most days at the salon stripping everything out so we could clean everything from the floor upwards. When at home my wife and I set up an office to prep for our return from emailing our teams and guests, to sourcing PPE, to making our own complimentary hand sanitisers for our guests, which was fun as my 12-year-old daughter put them together.
We are members of three hairdressing business groups so three times a week we had financial meetings for the businesses and the teams on Zoom – all pretty intense as we needed to purchase many items for our return.
As for personal, we went on three-hour walks at 7 am across the countryside, which was fantastic, plus some time in the garden thankfully the weather was on the whole great so we bbq a lot.
How has reopening gone?
Reopening was incredibly calm and peaceful whilst being full because we have split both salons into two teams so we don’t cross over. This has made our guests feel super safe whilst in the salons as we take their temperature on arrival and ask them to sign in that they are safe and well.
We then gift them our complimentary hand sanitisers and their own waiting chair, which is sanitised before and after, as well as their styling station.
Each guest has disposable gowns and towels whilst each stylist wears a visor. Customers said it’s the best call they have had whilst in lockdown and the same when they came in, their excitement was incredible.
How do you view the response of the government?
The government have been amazing for our team as they were furloughed but unfortunately for my wife and I, we came under the self-employed section so we only received £94 a week to survive on which was tough.
I think like many small independent businesses we are reliant on keeping our guests and getting new guests but there is a lot of uncertainty over most people’s job so this could possibly affect us all over the next year.
We already have a new stylist joining us, plus we will continue learning new ideas and techniques we can share with our guests. It’s what we love to do.
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