StockBIZ: Hair salons in Michigan re-open to the relief of appreciative Stockbridge-area clients

During the state’s COVID-19 hair-salon shutdown, salon customers were desperate to get their hair colored. Photo credit: Facebook meme. Photographer unknown.

by Mary Jo David

Within a month of the governor shutting down hair salons in Michigan due to the coronavirus, you couldn’t surf the web on any given day without jokes and memes about how much women—and men—were missing their hair appointments.

On June 5, 2020, Governor Whitmer announced that hair salons and barber shops across the state could re-open as of June 15. Many Stockbridge area salons and barbers were poised to open that very day and happy to welcome their customers back. But it’s far from “business as usual,” as owners and stylists at local salons can attest.

Due to social distancing requirements that are still in play, most salons are not taking walk-ins and for some, even appointment-taking has been streamlined with an eye to minimizing contact. “Clients contact us directly now, so we aren’t touching each other’s books and the phone,” explained Angie Stolarz, a stylist at Munith Mane Event owned by Krysti Bunce.

The salon owners and stylists interviewed for this column all attested to earning the Barbicide COVID-19 online certification to learn what it takes to avoid infection in the salon—not just for combs and brushes, but for their full stations and any surface a client or employee comes in contact with. Salon owners have incurred higher expenses as a result of purchasing specialized cleaning products, making sure masks are on hand for those who don’t bring one, and implementing other precautions that were not necessary pre-COVID.

In addition, everyone is working longer hours. The days of having one client under the dryer while beginning a haircut on another are becoming a distant memory. Instead, due to limited floor space and distancing requirements, many salons are requesting their customers wait outside the salon until the stylist is finished with his or her customer.

Most rely on phone calls from clients to know when they’re waiting outside. Thanks to available parking in front of her shop, Bonnie Puckett, co-owner of Hairworks 2 in Gregory, has implemented a “Red means stop. Green means go” sign indicator in her shop window so clients know when it is safe to come into the shop.

Salons are using touchless thermometers to ensure clients are fever-free when they come into the shop. All patrons and salon employees are required to wear masks. If a client has a legitimate medical reason for not wearing a mask or if the procedure being performed does not allow for mask-wearing, the stylist must wear a shield in addition to a mask.

“Clients have been very understanding and we haven’t had any outrage over wearing the masks,” noted James Wireman, co-owner with Samantha Sanchez of Focus on U in downtown Stockbridge. “But when you have to put on a face shield, it feels like you’re getting ready to perform surgery to do a lip wax!”

“I had some customers who complained about the masks being political,” said Puckett. “But I positioned it as a health thing and emphasized that I am following CDC guidelines to keep everyone healthy. I really think this is the new normal until a vaccine is available.”

Stolarz had her own personal challenges with the new requirements. “After my first 10-hour day and having asthma, I had a breakdown and didn’t think I could go back to doing hair. I had to take ‘mask-breaks’ and fine-tune the new rules with my doctor.”

All mentioned they are doing their part to avoid penalties from the state. In early June, Michigan’s Court of Claims ruled that penalties under Governor Whitmer’s emergency actions are limited to misdemeanors with up to 90 days in jail or a $500 fine. However, as reported by MLIVE in a June 8 article on the subject, “If the infractions are additionally a violation of the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Act, those penalties would have to be issued separately under that law,” according to Court of Claims Judge Christopher M. Murray.

Stolarz pointed out that the state has issued mandated rules and also some recommendations. “One of the recommendations is to ask clients not to talk—yeah right! They have not seen us in three months; clients are not going to follow that recommendation!” She says that, overall, clients are “happy to get in, socialize, and leave feeling better about themselves.” In fact, that was a major take-away for Stolarz from the re-opening experience. “I didn’t realize how I am some people’s only source of conversation and companionship—it’s so much more than just styling hair.”

Wireman acknowledges that many of his customers are more than merely clients. “When we were closed, I had a lot of clients who reached out and asked to buy gift certificates for the rest of the year to help us stay on our feet. I couldn’t believe the outpouring of care.”

Puckett looks back on the experience this way: “I lost three months of business, but I’m not looking back. I hope we’ve all learned from this how important hygiene is and how we need to think of others’ health, not just our own. Some of my older clients—I see them more than their own families do. I need to do what I can to keep me healthy so I can keep them healthy.”