SoCal hair salons, barbershops ready to reopen under new guidelines
Barbershops and hair salons across the Southland except for Los Angeles County have received the green light to reopen with new rules in place.
ORANGE, Calif. (KABC) -- Barbershops and hair salons across the Southland except for Los Angeles County have received the green light to reopen with new rules in place.
Stacy Hewett, the owner of Synergy, Salon & Spa in Orange, is ready to reopen Wednesday with added health and safety guidelines.
"We sterilize every implement we use and anything that needs to be reused is thrown away," Hewett said.
As with other sectors of the economy that have been allowed to reopen, hair salons will have to follow a new set of health and safety guidelines.
CA moves into Phase 3 of reopening with hair salons, barbershops, Gov. Newsom announces
Salon owners say most of the protocols were already in place before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down their industry 10 weeks ago.
Hair salons and barbershops also allowed to reopen in San Bernardino and Ventura counties. However, salons in L.A. County are still waiting approval.
"It's very painful. We're down about 40% occupancy," said Rosey Ibarra, the owner of Social Salon Suites in Glendale.
Ibarra says L.A. County hair salons are just as prepared as others to safely resume business.
"It's very upsetting," Ibarra said. "I feel like Los Angeles really has shown up pretty well as far as the beauty industry is concerned."
Nail salons still not have been given approval to reopen.
Yet, Hewett, whose hair salon offers nail services, says she will be offering manicures and pedicures.
"It's puzzling why nail salons are still not included among hair salons and barbershops as many of the regulations for all of these shops are the same," said Tam Nguyen, president of Advance Beauty College.
Gov. Gavin Newsom says California is working on statewide guidelines for nail salons. So far, it is not clear when they can reopen.
