Yahoo News Risking Their Lives For A Haircut - The Women Flouting Lockdown For Beauty Treatments
'If they’re willing to come to me then I'm willing to pay them to come to me.' For most of us, our make-up free faces are covered with masks, our professionally dyed hair has returned to its long lost original colour, our gel nails are non-existent, and we haven't touched a human outside of our own households in months, let alone had our eyebrows threaded by a stranger. But for those willing to break the rules and risk their health, the beauty treatments were never cancelled.
As the nation headed into lockdown in March, in the wake of Covid-19's outbreak, beauty businesses were instructed to close, risking fines up to £960 if they didn't. With that, our regular beauty treatments went out of the window along with an entire industry in crisis. While panic buying hand sanitiser and staying home became the new normal, our bi-weekly mani/pedi appointment disappeared from the calendar, replaced with endless evenings of quizzes and family Zoom calls.
But where panic leads, desperation will follow. With pros off limits we turned to DIY solutions for everything from hair dyeing, to fringe trimming and home-made face masking, with searches for high tech facialist tools on Cult Beauty up by 100%. Worryingly, one survey even found that searches for 'how to get rid of ear wax’ were up 33% from the previous year.
While we educated ourselves on at-home treatments, beauty professionals found themselves with empty salons, without clients, and falling through government compensation loop holes - their income gone in the space of a day. 'You can't ignore the financial implication for beauty therapists,' says MP Carolyn Harris who, as part of the APPG, is working to protect the future of the beauty industry after Covid-19. 'But my argument would be that no reputable salon or company should expose their staff and their reputation by doing illegal treatments during lockdown. Sites offering at-home massages where therapists can choose not to wear gloves should not be doing that. It's just common sense.' With the World Health Organisation advising against touching your own face, surely beauty therapists doing it instead is an obvious no no?
For a secret group of suspiciously groomed women, Harris' message falls on deaf ears and the beauty treatments continue. Albeit under-the-radar and often at extortionate cost. 'I was offered £2,000 just to do a maintenance cut at a client’s house,’ one senior stylist, who works out of a top Knightsbridge salon, told ELLE. Something top London hairstylist Adam Reed confirms. 'We are being offered a lot of money to go to people's houses to cut their hair in their garden. They promise to provide PPE but firstly, we’re not insured to do that, secondly, I just don’t think it’s worth the risk, and thirdly, I really don’t think people should be asking because it puts you under so much pressure. We’re under a lot of pressure anyway right now trying to maintain our businesses.'
And it's not just the hair industry, with The Cut reporting that the ultra-rich are begging for plastic surgery in isolation. 'I’ve gotten a lot of this: “I live alone, pose no risk, and need Botox now. I don’t care what you charge me for it.” I say no', Dr Steven Levine told the website.
Faced with murky instructions from the government about 'returning to work if you can't work from home,' many mobile therapists have interpreted the advice as a convenient lockdown loophole, choosing to work from other people's homes in place of their own. Never mind the 'don't go inside' clause of that caveat. With over 60 pages of contradictory guidelines from the government, it's almost understandable that clients and therapists alike are willing to favour one and ignore the other, in order to feel happier when they look in the mirror (or Zoom camera).
We might be outraged by these lockdown outliers on social media, but the fact is that Coronavirus has forced a black market beauty industry into existence, health warnings be damned.
Irresponsible or essential? ELLE spoke to three women defying government guidelines to get their groom on...
H*, Beauty PR, London
'Botox or a haircut? I had to make a decision the day before lockdown and out of vanity I chose preserving my face. Normally I would say I was high maintenance, now I'm more maintaining. I would usually get gel nails, hands and feet, done every two weeks, a massage once a fortnight, a haircut every three months and botox every six months. Since then I've become a lot more simple - the pampering is gone but I still want to look presentable.
'Hair had got desperate for all of us, my husband and son included. I’ve seen a lot of botched examples of haircuts from friends and I didn’t want to risk it - I’m not into the scalp look and their designer haircuts need a proper stylist. My husband works in financial services so he can’t walk around with a buzzcut, he has to look very conservative - there’s no way I would attempt using my kitchen shears on him. Personally, my dead ends were terribly crinkly and fried from the straightening tongs. So I crumbled like a stale cookie and called on my friend who's a hairstylist and he came to my house as a favour.
'We had a whole discussion before he came and we both mentioned that we had previously lost our taste and sense of smell but agreed that we'd recovered from that stage. I did think he was going to get an Uber to mine but he said he took the bus and that it was empty and I felt fine about that.
'The first thing anyone does when they come into my house is wash their hands with soap and water and take their shoes off. He wore his face mask and myself and my son and my husband did the same, although that was mainly for our mental health more than anything else. I sadly couldn’t offer him a glass of water but he brought his own and he brought his own scissors and set up in the utility room. It was very orchestrated.
'I asked him to make it look like our hair had been maintained rather than freshly cut - it's a thinly veiled difference but I definitely didn't want to advertise his visit on social media. Do I feel guilty that we broke code? Not at all. We were all perfectly protected and since cash is not flowing for him right now, I was happy to help fill his pockets (he was going to pop to the grocery store after seeing me). It’s a supply and demand issue so I was happy to pay the price - it was totally reasonable too - I still had a few 20s left in my wallet when he departed. The emotional gratification of feeling refreshed and also relieved that I didn’t have to do it myself was worth it.
'It's been a few weeks since his visit now so I need to call him again. My massage therapist is coming on Thursday and I'm so happy to welcome her back to the house.'
N*, Paraplanner, East Sussex
'I couldn't bear the thought of having to shave my armpits, bikini area and pluck my brows, upper lip and chin instead of getting my usual waxes. Being half Arab and with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, I'm more prone to being hairy and without waxing I’d come out of lockdown with a full beard! Even though I’m wearing comfies and no make-up I always keep up with being hair free.
'When lockdown happened, I was like "Oh my goodness what do I do?" because I was used to having waxing done every three weeks and book my appointments for up to four months in advance. For me it was about vanity and personal hygiene. I ummmed and aaaahed about what to do for a while but when I spoke to my beautician who usually visits my home anyway, she said she was happy to come if I was happy for her to be there. So we agreed that we would keep the appointment as usual.
'We joked that she’d have to be undercover going in and out of the house and I didn’t tell anyone she was coming. I didn’t broadcast the fact at all. I probably won’t mention it to anyone even after all of this is over. The appointment was exactly the same as usual - apart from she washed her hands when she arrived and left. Other than that we just went for it - no masks or gloves. My husband is a key worker on shift work so we were already pretty casual about these things.
'She doesn't charge me a huge amount but I felt like I wanted to keep up my support of her. Since lockdown her entire client bank has disappeared and she's gone from earning an income to next to nothing because she doesn't qualify for the government support schemes. For me, it was a bit of light relief as well. I'm a mum, I work full time, I have a husband, I'm home schooling my daughter. We have a laugh, we have a moan - it's an hour of me time.
'I've got my next appointment in two weeks and unless she says otherwise, it'll be waxing as usual.'
M*, Interior Designer, Texas
'It's funny - in Texas I'm the ultra cautious one! Every woman I know in the last three weeks one way or another has gone to somebody’s home to have their hair cut or coloured by their stylist. People here are massive Trump supporters in general, which is why I won’t immediately go back to the nail salon because people here believe what they want to believe, and right now the Republican view is that it’s a flu and we’re all gonna be fine. It tells me exactly how different the point of view is here to the rest of the world.
'I would normally be going to get my lash extensions every two to three weeks - the salon opened last week but I'm still having my technician come to my house because I know she’s taking personal care of herself and I don’t like the idea of just sitting there in the salon for an hour with groups of people. I did go to the drugstore and even bought some glue on lashes to try but thank goodness my lash technician contacted me before I could use them - there’s a fine line between lash extensions and looking tacky.
'She was very gentle about it, she messaged me to see if I was ok at which point I immediately pounced on her and said "Are you doing anything in anyone’s homes? Is there any way I can possibly get on that list?" Then I immediately contacted my nail technician to see if she was seeing people because I was getting desperate. I don’t know how the rest of the world is looking but there is no doubt my personal best was on the decline.
'They agreed to come to my home, they brought their own masks, their own gloves, the place was clean, we stayed in one section of the house - I'm fortunate enough to live in a generous house so there is plenty of room for that - and they washed their hands several times. I had my lashes and my nails done and oh my gosh I went from feeling homeless - seriously I was feeling that rough. It's amazing the little things that keep you pulled together - its really the little things.
'I’ve never stopped working through this period, I'm an interior designer and construction here has never been instructed to cease business. I need to work, my bills don’t stop and I work for myself. Being able to have my normal beauty routine has brought me so much confidence again. Even if in meetings I'm the only one wearing a face mask.
'Hands down I would do it again. If they’re willing to come to me then I'm willing to pay them to come to me.'
*Names have been omitted to protect the privacy of individuals
Like this article? Sign up to our newsletter to get more articles like this delivered straight to your inbox.
In need of more inspiration, thoughtful journalism and at-home beauty tips? Subscribe to ELLE's print magazine now and pay just £6 for 6 issues. SUBSCRIBE HERE
You Might Also Like
