On May 8, Texas hair salons, barbershops and nail salons are permitted to reopen under certain guidelines per Gov. Greg Abbott’s phased reopening for the state.
The governor announced this plan three days before salons were permitted to reopen, but owner Aaron Hunsicker said Modern LUXE Salon had been preparing for its reopening since it closed nearly two months ago.
“We had already been planning for the last six to eight weeks, taking guesses at what we thought would be required,” Hunsicker said. “[We got] cleaning supplies, personal protective equipment and all that kind of stuff lined up in the background.”
Abstrakt Studio owner Katie Tellor also used the time when her salons were closed to prepare for reopening. She said she purchased ozone generators to sanitize the air and all surfaces in the buildings when the two Frisco salons close for the day.
“I’ve had this whole month to prepare,” Tellor said. “It’s just kind of been waiting for them to give us the go ahead and then sticking with those guidelines that they put in place.”
However, Tangerine Salon’s five locations, including at The Star in Frisco, will begin a phased reopening May 8 by calling clients who had their appointments canceled, owner Brandon Hensley said. Salon doors will not reopen until May 18, he said.
“I’ve got 150 employees and all these locations, so we wanted to make sure we didn’t miss anything and make sure we were fully prepared,” Hensley said.
He said Tangerine Salon will use the next 10 days to prepare salons for social distancing measures, collect protective equipment and contact the “massive” amount of clients the salon’s serve. The Star salon alone books around 500 appointments a week, Hensley said.
Modern LUXE Salon reopened its two Frisco locations May 8 and reduced the number of people in its salons by only allowing clients and stylists to be one-on-one with each other in spaced-out stations.
“There’s nobody waiting; there’s no guests allowed,” Hunsicker said. “When clients arrive, they’re going to be invited into the building, so they need to call or text their stylists to let them know they’ve arrived.”
All stylists and clients are required to wear masks, he said. All nonessential customer touch points such as magazines and complimentary items are all gone for the foreseeable future, Hunsicker said.
“What’s great about salons is that it’s already somewhat of a controlled environment. This takes it to the next level,” he said. “We really control who comes in, who leaves, where they sit when they’re there, what they’ve touched, and we can wipe everything down.”
Tellor’s salons are following similar procedures, she said. To adhere to social distancing, Abstrakt Studio’s Lebanon salon will allow four clients at a time, and the Legacy salon will allow seven clients— with one stylist per client— all wearing masks.
Additionally, all clients and staff at Abstrakt Studio salons will have their temperature checked upon arrival, Tellor said.
“Our front desk person is going to meet each client and ask them if they’re experiencing any symptoms and if they’ve been around anyone that’s COVID-19 positive,” she said. “If they answer ‘yes,’ then they will need to reschedule their appointment.”
Modern LUXE Salon’s clients were eager to make it back to the salon May 8, Hunsicker said. The salon’s phones “finally slowed down” at 1:30 p.m. on reopening day, he said.
“We’ve had clients that have been basically rolling their appointments week to week to week wanting to get back in,” Hunsicker said.
Abstrakt Studio salons were completely booked upon their reopening May 8, Tellor said.
“We’re working extended hours at this time because we’ve had to reschedule six weeks of clients,” she said.
Clients were excited to be back and have been following all safety guidelines so far, Tellor said.
“We even had a client cry happy tears because she said it’s her first time to feel normal in six weeks,” she said.
