'I felt like a child on Christmas Day': Hairdressers rejoice as salons reopen for business across Edinburgh

Hairdressers are back at work today - but things are looking a little different than they were 20 weeks ago

Salons across the Capital have had their phones ringing off the hook as clients scramble for appointments at their most loved hairdressers.

After closing in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, hairdressing salons have been working to implement new protective measures to ensure that their salons were safe to return to today.

In the First Minister’s announcement last week Ms Sturgeon announced salons could reopen and described the move to phase three out of lockdown as ‘the biggest step so far’ in reducing measures, but also stressed that the relaxation would pose the ‘biggest risk’ to another spike of the virus.

As many residents with dodgy home haircuts and dye jobs eagerly awaited their salons reopening, queues were seen this morning as early as 7:30am for several barbers in Edinburgh and the Lothians.

Several hairdressers expressed their gratitude to clients for supporting them throughout the pandemic and spoke of their excitement to get back to work with enhanced safety measures.

Neil Maclean of Neil Maclean Hair Studio said: “We are so excited to finally open the doors to our salons today including our brand new South Queensferry location. Luckily, during the lockdown period we had a lot of time to prepare for the restrictions we needed to put in place including perspex screens, sanitising stations and the correct PPE.

"We are currently operating at a reduced capacity as we have a chair in between each client reducing footfall and risk of interaction. Before we opened, we had a waiting list of over 200 clients so we've been doing our very best to make sure everyone who needs an appointment has now got one.

"It's been a really tough time for the industry in general and we feel extremely lucky to have such loyal clients who have stood by us and travel far and wide to be with us. We're so grateful to be back in work and can’t wait to see all our fabulous clients again."

Simon Hill, salon owner of SESH hairdressing commented: “The salon reopening is long awaited and myself and the team are all so excited to get back to doing what we love.

“We have taken the necessary steps to make the salon as safe as possible. As we believe strongly in our duty of care to our clients, we have also gone the extra mile to protect the team and clients. This also led to our decision to avoid any Covid-19 surcharges as we feel it is our responsibility to safely proof the salon for their enjoyment.”

Colin McAndrew who owns Medusa added: “We are delighted to be reopening. All of the teams are ready and fully briefed, and looking forward to making our beautiful clients even more beautiful.

"We are operating a no judgement policy – it doesn’t matter what you have done to your hair, we won’t judge you and will make sure you look fantastic.”

Paul Adamczuk, managing director of Cheynes Hairdressing said: “The Cheynes team are so excited to be back in the salons and looking forward to welcoming back all of our fantastic loyal clients.

"We have introduced some important measures to create a luxurious, safe, socially distanced environment whilst maintaining the unique Cheynes Experience.”

Natalie Clugston, one owner of Chapter One hairdressing in Dalkeith added: “It’s just been the best experience this morning. I felt like a child on Christmas Day. We did a full training day yesterday to go through procedures and have everything in place but it’s so nice to have a bit of excitement again.

“It has taken us a good six to eight weeks to put measures in place; we’ve got stickers on the floor, perspex screens, staff have their own trolleys and sanitiser, but the biggest thing for us was to ensure our clients still have a luxury Chapter One experience.

"It’s alien enough for clients to return to the salon after 20 weeks, but even more alien if it doesn’t have that same luxury feel. We want our clients to still come in and feel relaxed and have that luxury experience that they’re used to.

"Before we had the phones turned on we had 1600 clients to phone to get appointments and the phone has not stopped all morning. Support from them has been amazing, it is our clients that make our business, they’re loyal and they have been coming in so happy to see us.”

Mark McCarthy, Owner of MARKDAVID salon in Edinburgh. "It's been a fantastic first day back at the salon so far. As we thought, it's been incredibly busy and full on but we've loved every second of it! It almost feels like going back to a new job but it's been incredibly exciting seeing some of our regular clients again and hearing from them what they have been up to during the lock-down period.

"Of course, we've had some bad roots and hair that's a bit unruly, but that's what we're here for and it's been great seeing clients leave in love with their new hair and feeling like themselves again. We also had a slight inconvenience this morning, as I got a bit scissor happy and ended up cutting the phone line! However, we managed to get this fixed ASAP and it was only down for around half an hour. We've had so many messages and calls throughout the day with clients wishing us good luck and saying they are looking forward to seeing us and also with clients complimenting how the salon looks.

"We've ensured that the salon is as clean and as safe as possible for not only our clients, but also our team, with a station at the front of the salon where clients can use hand sanitiser as they enter the salon and can also pick up a face mask should they not have their own with them. We've also added a little seating area outside to avoid having any waiting space inside. Hand sanitiser is also at each of the styling stations, as well as fresh flowers that we hope will make clients smile as they come into the salon.”