CHAPTER 30:

THE PANDEMIC PART 3

On the 4^th of July, we were released! We got ready to open again on Monday 6^th July. Masks and Visors were mandatory as were antibacterial sprays, hand gel and disposable gowns. The first few days were strange to say the least, because as an industry used to communicating, everybody struggled behind all the headgear. Some of our older models were really struggling to cope with the mask wearing etc. On the other hand, the phones rang off the hook with enquiries from potential career changers.

Another strange thing happened during lockdown. People realised how important a haircut was but it was the one thing you couldn’t legally get for months! Our industry had great press for a change because people were tired of being stuck at home and hairdressing/barbering was seen as a great way to get out and start to be with people again. Our large premises in London was also an advantage as we didn’t need to put up dividers to separate the workstations. We simply turned every other seat around and still had 25 working chairs.

Due to all the hard work the Team did during the lockdown, we continued our incredible success rates at the EPA too. Unfortunately, we only did this for around 4 months until lockdown 2.0 (they now had names!)

In August ’22 one event that had to put on ice was a celebration of my 60 years in the industry.  Just before the lockdown started, we had started to plan a party. Rooftop restaurant, small guest list etc. What we did in fact was to have an Instagram Live celebration, as social distancing was still part of the initial roadmap.