SACRAMENTO, Calif. — One business hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic has been hair salons. They were closed, then opened, and now closed again. And the recent closures have some people resorting to at-home haircuts and colors.
But a Sacramento salon owner is warning that at-home visits are nowhere as safe as in a regulated salon environment.
You may have seen this headline from CNN: "They did everything right. But after one at-home haircut, a husband and wife died of COVID-19"
“My heart goes out to that family and any family faced with such a tragedy because of the pandemic that we are experiencing, but I think that's an underlying storyline that is important to talk about here,” said the owner of Will Salons, Sarina Paulson.
"Headlines that indicate that getting a haircut could lead to your death are really damaging to our industry. In fact, there isn't any science that proves that to be true. coming to a hair salon such as this is actually very safe," she continued.
The CDC published a graphic in July showing two hair stylists with COVID-19 spent at least 15 minutes with 139 clients. Everyone wore face coverings and no clients were infected.
Paulson said in the months they were open during the pandemic, they did not have any COVID-19 cases connected to their three locations. Her salons are now closed.
"With salons being closed, it is forcing stylists and personal care to continue to support families to do at-home services. Those at-home services are not regulated as they are in a salon setting," Paulson said.
She said it's an alarming trend and that the best option is to wait until salons can open once again.
"Going from home to home is not what we want. We want to be able to open in a safe manner like we have been. It’s better for everybody," Paulson said, who said she has taken all precautions to operate safely.
“Certification. We have a company that comes in nightly and fogs the salon,” Paulson said.
She hopes clients take this seriously and book appointments for the future.
"There's nothing safer than coming to a regulated salon and that doing so, at home is not the way to go," she said.
Paulson hopes to reopen soon. She said she's following the rules and hopes clients think twice about a home call.
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