The Reality of Running the Salon During a Pandemic

In helping Juliette Hair Boutique with its social media, I’ve spent a lot of time with Julie, making things work in the salon this difficult time. Because of this, I’ve been able to observe how this pandemic and government restrictions have affected the salon.

One very big challenge during this time was that when government restrictions were at their peak, the salon had to close for a period of time. People’s precautions and aversion to going outside coupled with the restrictive 30 minute time limit enforced in salons made it impractical to continue business. 
During this time, it was crucial that we innovate in order to sustain business activity, so Julie really had to think hard and adapt what she was doing. It was then when she developed an interesting business idea - a salon-quality hair colour delivery service! In this confusing and uncertain time, this was a source of hope, so working to develop this business idea was effective in many ways other than just to sustain revenue. 
Eventually however, the salon was able to reopen for business, thank goodness!

Another problem was this: Julie’s popular services include covering roots, doing grey coverage and refreshing hair colour, and consequently this means her client base includes many beautiful senior women. Julie has been really mindful that some of her clients are more susceptible to the virus, so in order to keep the salon safe for the community she has had to implement new practices and policies. 
Between appointments she has a new routine of disinfecting ALL surfaces, tools, products etc. Her job description has changed from just a Professional Stylist to a Professional Cleaner as well! She has also been ensuring to work on only one customer at a time to ensure appropriate social distancing measures are being taken.

One positive during this time is that we have seen so many of our client friends come back into the salon in recent weeks. Seeing everyone looking healthy, catching up with them and refreshing their hair has brought some brightness and entertainment back into the week.
By working on a single customer at a time, it has promoted a great depth of conversation. In chats with clients we’ve learned about how the virus has been affecting your daily lives and occupations, and have a broader understanding of the community’s situation. 

As we still don’t have a vaccine and some restrictions are still in place, it’s all very touch-and-go at the moment, and we’re not sure when things will return to normal, but slowly and surely, Juliette Hair Boutique is continuing to provide excellent experiences for our community. We’re looking forward to seeing you come back in to the salon when you can!

Until then, stay safe and healthy!

- Kiara (Juliette Hair Boutique Social Media Manager)