A guide for hair salons to return after Covid 19
Is your salon ready for opening?
Getting Salons prepared to open after lockdown
COVID-19 has completely turned personal lives and businesses everywhere upside down especially salons. It’s thrown everyone for a loop and disrupted the normal ebb and flow of daily life.
As a beauty salon owner or hairdresser, you may feel a bit frustrated or slighted because your business can’t operate over technology or from home like others have been doing. Therefore, you may be eager to open your doors and get back to work. It’s essential to use the time you have now to prepare yourself for the reopening of your salon and getting back to work. Learn tips and best practises for a safe and adequate salon return after COVID-19.
Making A Plan of Action For Salons
A wise first step is to make and have a plan of action in place so that when you get the green light, you’re ready to welcome customers through your door. With the spread of Coronavirus, you now have to learn ways to adapt your business to the new normal. Use the lockdown as a chance to rewrite, rework, and re-energise how you will operate when it’s time to get back to business. These hours of uncertainty and stillness are the perfect opportunity to practise acceptance, conduct some housekeeping, and educate yourself on how you can safely and successfully reopen when the time comes. There are certain exceptions you may want to include in your plan, such as eliminating late cancelation fees so they can reschedule without penalty if they’re feeling ill.
Cleaning & Safety Precautions For Salons
Due to COVID-19, it’s no secret that your salon’s cleaning and safety procedures will need to be updated and modified. Both customers and staff will require extra protection to keep everyone safe and healthy. While you may already wipe down equipment and maintain proper sanitation, your efforts will need to be ramped up when you return to work after COVID-19. You’ll need to sterilise tools and wipe down stations between each client, which will also take more time. Plan to have everyone pitch in to perform a deep clean at least once a week. Provide your staff with the right cleaning tools and disinfectants they need to keep their work and styling stations, counter tops, and treatment rooms free from germs at all times. Your salon should have regular supplies of tissue, antibacterial soap, and alcohol-based hand cleansers to promote healthy habits.
Social Distancing For Salons
To follow social distancing guidelines, you’ll likely need to restrict the number of people you have in your salon at any one time. You can achieve this goal by turning to an appointment-only system and reducing the number of people who will be in the waiting room at one time. Consider eliminating services that require excessive touching such as scalp massages. You can keep your distance by having an empty chair between each client. Another consideration is to have perspex screens between seats to add a level of safety and comfort. Shaking hands or giving hugs may have been a way to give your clients a warm welcome in the past, but it’s best to avoid these gestures in the future. Remind your staff to avoid touching their faces and consider providing your employees and customers with masks and gloves.
Communicating with Customers & Staff
Keep open and honest communication and transparency between your salon and clients by posting your enhanced cleaning efforts. It’s also a wise idea to encourage staff and customers to stay home when they are sick or have any symptoms. You’re going to want to take the time to train your employees, so they know how to best keep their spaces organised, clean, and safe. Constant communication and updated procedures will allow you to reduce or eliminate risks that come with running a hair salon.
Not only post signs in and around your salon but also use technology such as social media and email to get in touch with your staff and customers. You can also send quick and informative reminders or updates via text. Incorporate health questions to your online booking system and website so you can reduce the number of phone calls and inquiries you may receive related to these matters. A add on option for our monthly webdesign packages is a newsletter marketing service. This might be whats needed to communicate effortlessly with you clients.
There are a few questions you may want to ask your clients as they book appointments and to include when you send them reminders about their upcoming services:
- Are you or a person in your household currently in self-isolation status
- Are you suffering from any cold or flu symptoms?
- Have you recently travelled to any of the countries with a high concentration of COVID-19 cases in the last 14 days? For example, Japan, Italy, China, and France?

