Hairdressers to present proposals for earlier reopening

The incoming president of the Irish Hairdressers Federation (IHF), Danielle Kennedy has said that hair salons are well equipped to operate within the Government’s Covid-19 protocols and could reopen in phase three at the end of June instead of the scheduled reopening date of July 20th.

The IHF said it has drawn up more than 110 recommendations for keeping salons safe.

Ms Kennedy told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that there would be no walk-ins, customers would be seen by appointment only and would have to answer screening questions such as if they have been out of the country recently and if they had a temperature.

The IHF will present comprehensive recommendations to the Government this week pointing out that they could reopen in a manner that was safe for both customers and clients.

“Our customers want us to open, a salon is a very positive environment. There is a positive bond between a stylist and their client.”

Ms Kennedy pointed out that in other countries salons had reopened after six to eight weeks, but that in Ireland it will have been 18 weeks on July 20th.

Salons are already well equipped to operate within guidelines with high levels of sanitisation. “We can easily adapt,” she added.

The 1 metre and 2 metre physical distance issue will also have a major impact, she said. This will be the distance between clients, she explained, as staff will wear PPE while working with a client.

Ms Kennedy said she did not anticipate visors would be worn as staff primarily work with the back of a client’s head. “PPE is the easy bit, the main thing is operating the social distancing.”

The Government will consider accelerating the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions if the number of new cases continues to decline, with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar mulling making an announcement in early June on easing aspects of the lockdown.

While senior sources stressed that such a move would be entirely dependent on further progress in containing the disease, the internal debate in the Government reflects the growing pressure coming from business groups and several Ministers who favour a quicker relaxing of the measures.