Hairdressers across England prepare to reopen at midnight to keep up with customer demand
Hairdressers across England are preparing to open at midnight and work through to the morning in an attempt to meet demand from customers seeking a post-lockdown trim.
After three months, hair salons and barbers have been given the green light to open their doors on 4 July. Dubbed “Super Saturday”, the date will also see pubs, restaurants and cafes reopening but with strict social distancing rules.
Confronted with a backlog of appointments, many salons have made the decision to get a head start by opening as soon as possible.
Sunderland-based hairdresser Debra Adamson revealed she is fully booked for the next five weeks and plans on working seven days a week to keep up with demand.
The salon owner has also agreed to open at midnight for a loyal customer who failed to secure an appointment after they were quickly taken following Boris Johnson's announcement on 23 June.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain while wearing a face shield, Adamson said: “She is desperate. She is desperate but she hasn't had her hair done for five months, and she did try to get in online but I didn't have any appointments for five weeks.
“So I did said 'Karen, do you know? I've done your hair for that many years, I'll open at midnight and do your hair at midnight'. She's been a very loyal client to me.”
Adamson added that she is “very excited to get back to work” and has made sure her salon and staff are prepared to accommodate social distancing requirements.
Elsewhere, Carole Rickaby, who owns Tusk Hair in Camden, north London, also plans on opening the doors of her salon at the stroke of midnight.
“It is just a fun thing to do [but] we're busy anyway” she told the BBC. “We are completely booked up from 7:00 in the morning until about 8pm because we're spreading our clients out as well, taking longer over each appointment.”
Rickaby went on to explain that she has four stylists who will all work socially-distanced in the salon with 15 minutes between each client for cleaning.
Speaking to The Hunts Post, Kirsty Piekuta, the owner of Kapilli Hair Design in St Ives, said her salon is having a midnight launch on 4 July to help a devoted customer.
“We decided to do a midnight launch on 4 July 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,” she said.
“We thought we would help her by doing this, as we are fully booked this weekend in the day.”
To ensure salons can reopen safely, the government has introduced a series of guidelines that includes stylists wearing visors and customers wearing face masks. There will also be no magazines on offer and there are likely to be screens in wash stations, and contactless for all payments.
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