Salon Owners Adjust To Reopen

As Felix Rodriguez gave Jermaine Gibbs and his son an edge up at Orlando’s Barbershop Tuesday, he made sure everyone wore a mask, the chairs and tools were disinfected.

The Grand Avenue shop was one of numerous haircutting establishments that took advantage of Gov. Ned Lamont’s order that, starting Monday, they could reopen for business as long as they take precautions and see fewer customers at a time. They had been closed for more than two months because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

They scrambled to adjust to new safety rules — and, as at Orlando’s, they coped with losing cutters who needed to find other employment during the costly shutdown.

Rodriguez is the brother of owner Orlando Santos. He said they initially did not want to reopen this week. But they decided they need to reopen because they ​“got bills to pay.”

Costs have risen, too. ​“Regular things we need to do hair are now 30 percent more than before. We still charge our customers the same price because they are affected too,” said Rodriguez.

Before reopening Monday, Rodriguez believed the reopening date for hair businesses would be postponed to a later date yet again, as the governor did when he canceled an earlier planned May 20 reopening date.

“We just hoped June 1st would be real, and we knew we had to open because we didn’t want our customers to find a new barber,” Rodriguez said.

After his cut, Gibbs waited for his son to get a taper and edge up by Rodriguez. Gibbs said he has been coming to Orlando’s Barbershop for the past five years. Gibbs’s usual barber is one of the workers who moved on from the shop.

“I wanted to come back because I’ve seen him [Rodriguez] cut before and knew I could count on him,” he said.

Howard Williams, owner of New Beginning Barber Shop on Atwater Street, decided to reopen Tuesday with two barbers on schedule. ​“We were ready to open and make some money,” he said.

Williams decided to reopen with safety as the main focus and so the shop is open to appointments only for now to limit the number of people in the shop at one time.

Also, the shop’s pool table and candy machine were removed to avoid unnecessary disinfecting tasks.

After losing some workers at the shop, Williams said he was pushed to reopen to help his remaining staff have a source of income again. ​“This is how they feed their families so they been wanted to open,” he said.

While closed for two months, Williams and other owners had to continue paying rent for their shops. Williams had to dip into his savings to be sure the shop’s rent was still paid.

At Peluca VIP Barbershop, owner Roy Rosado plugged in the LED light to the shop’s open sign in the front window around 10:30 a.m after being closed since March.

Rosado was eager to reopen to make money and get back to doing what he enjoyed: cutting hair.

Before the shop closed, Rosado was in the process of applying for a business loan. His application was put on hold because of the pandemic. ​“When I realized I wasn’t getting the money, I had to talk with my landlord and tell him where I was at,” he said.

Rosado’s landlord agreed to postpone his rent until the shop reopened. So now he is working to pay back those missed monthly payments.

The shop requires clients to wear mask and barbers to wear a mask and a face shield while working.

Rosado once had five barbers. For now, he has one other person cutting. ​“It’s like we’re starting from the bottom,” he said.

The View Downtown

Wisam Al-Tameemi was protected when he returned to Universal Hair Salon for a haircut after more than two months: He received a throwawy plastic hairdressing cape. And he sat in a station with a newly installed plexiglass partition.
Al-Tameemi, who is 16 years old, said before the days of the virus, he would walk from his home on Willow Street to the salon every two months faithfully to get a haircut. ​“I feel safe coming in here,” he said Monday. ​“You don’t have to worry about getting something. They’ve got everything ready. You feel comfortable. You don’t feel like you’re in danger.”

“I feel happy that I’ve finally got my haircut. It was a long time since,” said Al-Tameemi. ​“People might be worried that they’ll get sick from others. They might not know that this salon has all of this protection. I was surprised how different the salon looks compared to before.”

Rosalba Portillo, who styled Al-Tameemi’s hair, had purchased her own face shield for $10 along with disposable capes to abide by federal Centers for Disease Control guidelines.

“It’s different, but I feel good now,” said Portillo. ​“I need to work, I need the money, and I need to see the people.”

Mariam Mendez, Portillo’s 19-year-old daughter, took over scheduling appointments. Walk-ins are no longer allowed, and capacity is limited to two clients at a time with a set 30-minute session. By Monday afternoon, 20 customers had already been served. Approximately 50 clients were scheduled for the first day back.

Mendez said her support system consists of only Portillo and her younger sister. Their family survived the pandemic by attending free food giveaways from schools and churches in Westbrook.

Cheryl McMahon, owner of Karma Salon on College Street, faced similar challenges of ​“the unknown” as a single mother of two younger children. McMahon said quarantine had consisted of anything but rest. She kept up with the state’s altering guidelines to reopen her store of 20-plus years, swiftly and safely.

“I wanted to be proactive, and I wanted to be ready,” said McMahon. ​“I needed to come back to work. I needed to take care of myself, my family, and my staff. It’s a ripple effect as far as economics.”

McMahon said she applied for grants, funds, and loans. Recently, one application was denied but the PPP for her business was approved to ensure her five staff members, including herself, were financially covered.

McMahon started preparing for reopening the first week of April. Now, only one client will be taken at a time per appointment. All services will be extended over an hour. There won’t be anymore booking back to back. Anyone who shows up early will be required to wait outside until they are called in.

“Sanitization is nothing new to our routine, but now we are going to be doing it even more. Multiple times, on all touch surfaces and stations,” said McMahon. ​“I got rid of the washer and dryer in the salon to be replaced with a sanitization station. Once a week, this company that I got the station from comes and fills it with a disinfectant and a heavy duty sanitizer. The sanitizers mix together at the ratio that you need and that’s what we will use to fill our spray bottles with.”

Additionally, once a week, an electromagnetic disinfectant mist is sprayed. After 10 minutes for the disinfectant to be absorbed ​“from the ceiling to the floor,” the entire store is completely sanitized. McMahon said she spent $4,000 to $5,000 four to prepare her business to follow CDC’s guidelines.

“The partitions were a real investment for me, because I felt like we’re going to probably need these partitions for a while. This is probably going to be a part of the ​‘new normal’ for salons,” said McMahon. ​“These ones are custom-made acrylic partitions with metal bases. Each one cost over $600, and I bought four of them. The sanitization station is a monthly fee plus the installing. I got touchless dispensers for handwashing. A lot more masks and shields.”

Rigorous preparations as such are what brought back customers likePhyllis Taneszio back from East Haven.

“I was not going to do my hair on my own at home,” said Taneszio, who said she has patronized the salon for 20 years.

Temperature checks, a wellness questionnaire, and sanitization are the set standardizations for both staff and guests everyday.

Over at Rimage Salon, owner Len Yanavich said the reopening date gave him and staff members Barbara Gagnon, Toni Friel, Anika Stewart additional time to prepare for the changes of business. Each staff member will be allowed to work on only one client at a time.

“The way of doing business is completely different. The entire idea of social distancing in our business, we are usually very interactive with our clients, now it’s conversation is kept to a minimum,” said Yanavich. ​“The focus will now be set on exactly what they need as opposed to finding out more about their families and how they’re doing and coping.”

Yanavich said he became concerned about blow dryers throughout the debates’ flip flops. His unsettlement derived from the worry of vapor particles spreading around the spaces of the salon. As a secure safety regulation, the back door will be kept open to keep the air circulating. Ionic lamps will be used to drop vapor particles to the floor and purify the air so that particles have less of a chance of exposing to guests and staff.

“We’re just doing everything in our power to make this still be the safest environment while creating beauty,” said Yanavich.

Yanavich said the original return date in May — which Gov. Lamont then changed to June 1 — was too early, because owners needed more time to order and receive PPE. He said the salon protest outside of Skull & Combs salon in May was irritating because safety regulations were broken.

“There were a bunch of hairdressers gathered in a mass and they weren’t wearing masks, weren’t wearing any PPE, and were all within two inches of each other,” said Yanavich. ​“Everything you weren’t supposed to be doing, they were doing. Honestly, it was a little embarrassing that people that work in our industry would be that inconsiderate.”