Employees at Cool Springs’ Refine Men’s Salon are preparing to open their doors again after COVID-19 temporarily forced them out of business nearly a month and a half ago, but they must follow new rules.
The Tennessee Board of Cosmetology delivered specific guidelines this week.
“There are some nerves involved, I’m not going to lie. It’s a big deal that we’re being allowed to reopen, but this is a different time in our world that we have never had before,” said Refine employee Rosemary Muirhead.
“I won’t lie and say there isn’t a lot of nervousness, but I think that makes us more cautious. We are not taking this lightly whatsoever. I don’t know of anyone in this industry that is. We are very serious about the safety and health of our staff and our clients. We are taking every precaution we can.”
New government guidelines strictly forbid customers from crowding the salon come May 6.
And there is a demand for this service. Muirhead told The Tennessee Star Thursday that her business phone won’t stop ringing.
“Lots of clients reached out to us before and asked us to do haircuts on the side, but we said no,” Muirhead said.
“That is against the law.”
For now, Muirhead said she and other salons and barbershops in Tennessee must abide by the following guidelines:
• No one can sit inside the salon’s or barbershop’s waiting area
• Only stylists or barbers and their clients are allowed, with one receptionist up front
• Employees must have extra time after each service to clean and sanitize their workstation and wipe the chair their clients use, as well as the sink.
• Clients must wash their hands before they may sit at the stylist’s or barber’s work station
• Barbers and stylists will have to wear masks as they work
“We are also temporarily suspending services that require skin-to-skin contact, such as facials and shaves and scalp treatments,” Muirhead said.
“We do haircuts, beard trims, and color, but the more spa-type services we are suspending until things calm down somewhat.”
Muirhead said state officials have not said when they will stop imposing these new guidelines.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Mr. 10th District DA has made his decision, let him enforce it.
Complete nonsense. Absent a genuine emergency or medical evidence, there is no basis for this. As reported in another article on this site, the 10th District DA essentially told Gov. Lee to kiss his behind, with all due respect.
https://tennesseestar.com/2020/05/01/lees-order-allowing-some-but-not-all-businesses-like-barber-shops-to-reopen-is-unconstitutional-district-attorney-says/
I concur.