Outdoor guidelines create new concerns for some hair stylists
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Governor Newsom's announcement Monday that barber shops and hair salons are now able to offer haircuts outside was met with celebration from many across the industry, though some are more apprehensive.
Gina Karpenko, a partner and stylist with Loft Hair Studio inside the Phenix Salon Suites at the La Cumbre Plaza mall, started an online petition and reached out to politicians last week in order to push for cosmetologists to be able to work outdoors.
Monday's new guidelines were not exactly what she was hoping for, however. Karpenko says the new guidelines will be helpful for some businesses like barber shops, but still leave stylists like her in limbo.
The main concern is that the new guidelines do not allow for coloring, dyeing and other chemical services outside, which account for a large portion of salons' business.
Moving outdoors is also more difficult for salons who do not own their own space or storefront; those salons must first get approval from their property owners or malls to move outside.
Even if that hurdle is cleared, salons are limited to the outdoor space "contiguous with or adjacent to" a licensed establishment.
“I personally have a beautiful garden at my home that I was envisioning to allow my guests to come into,” Karpenko said Tuesday. “And then once I read the guidelines, I saw that that was not gonna be allowed. And so I became defeated once again.”
Karpenko argues that temporary permits allowing services to be done at alternate outdoor locations would make a more spacious and safe environment possible.
Owners of Studio B Hair Salon in Santa Barbara posted their thoughts on Instagram, fearing that the new guidelines could be "an epic small business destroyer."
The post cites concerns that outdoor stations could be more difficult to properly sanitize, and that decreased customer capacity could make it impossible for some businesses to earn enough to pay rent or remain in business.
The Professional Beauty Federation of California slammed the new state guidelines.
“We put in all of this effort to keep our salons safe,” PBFC legal counsel Fred Jones said Tuesday. “Now we’re being told: ‘Leave those salons empty and go out in the elements’… with perhaps a neighboring restaurant with folks dining right next to where hair is flying everywhere in the wind.
“All of these licensed professionals have a hell of a lot more education and training in cross-contamination, disinfections and virus prevention than the vast majority of so-called ‘essential businesses’ that have never been forced to close down.”
Jones says the goal is for Gov. Newsom to re-evaluate the situation and allow salons to operate indoors, where the environment is usually controlled and sanitized. Jones also referred to a study that did not find any transmitted COVID-19 cases linked to a Missouri salon, despite it operating with two stylists unknowingly infected with COVID-19. That study was recently endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
Karpenko did not necessarily advocate for indoor services to return, but says that stylists can perform more services safely than those that are currently allowed.
“I first want to applaud Governor Newsom’s efforts. I think it’s a very stressful situation for him to make these decisions,” she said. “What we really need is for him to see that there are ways for us to perform chemical services without leading to risk… We need to have some kinds of compromises where we can keep the public safe while allowing others to work and make incomes for themselves.”
Karpenko says she will continue to advocate for cosmetologists to be able to perform more of their usual services during the health crisis. She hopes that other stylists will join her in the effort, or email her at ginakarpenko@gmail.com.
