A visit to your beauty therapist is unlikely to remain the same as social distancing norms become a habit. Saimi Sattar speaks to experts to understand what it would entail
The lips of the therapist are pursed as she holds one end of the thread in between her teeth and expertly shapes the eyebrows. Did that seem to read like a short horror story and make you shudder? Welcome to a world, where close proximity of even the professional kind will be looked upon with suspicion. The normalcy of monthly salon visits, which rely on touch and proximity, is certainly a thing of the past that is not making a comeback any time soon, bushy eyebrows and zit-filled skin be damned.
Shahnaz Husain, founder, chairperson and managing director of The Shahnaz Husain Group, couldn’t be more correct when she says, “Nobody knows how long the COVID-19 crisis will last but when the lockdown is relaxed and we resume ‘normal’ life again, we will have to follow new systems and methods of working and interacting. A protocol, to wash hands or using hand sanitisers before and after any service, would have to be mandatory. We will have to achieve and maintain total hygiene in beauty services. Disposables like cotton wool and tissues might replace towels. The service sector would have to follow clinical sterilisation of tools like files, nail cutters, tweezers and also have waste baskets or dustbins with lids.”
A change in the way the therapists and the salons function is certainly the order of the day. Dr Blossom Kochhar, founder and chairperson, Blossom Kochhar Group Of Companies, has already swung into action to prepare for the time when first faint trickle of people would start coming in for beauty treatments. “We have ensured that all salons are fumigated. We constantly motivate our employees and make sure they are safe and healthy. Once the lockdown is lifted, we will impose hygiene practices and train our staff along with ourselves. We will have to re-programme ourselves into creating an all-time hygienic work environment. For our safety and for that of our clients.”
Bharti Taneja, founder and chairperson, Alps Beauty Group, believes that the emphasis on hygiene would have to start not just from the time of the treatment but even before entering the salon. “While earlier, hand sanitisers were placed on every trolley of the therapists so that they could use it frequently, but now some bottles would also be placed on the reception. I am planning to keep one outside my gate so that even before you touch the handle of the door, you have to sanitise hands. Sanitising the room three or four times a day would become the new normal.”
Of course, the procedures, which often see one or more therapists being in close contact, will have to undergo a change. Kochhar feels that they might suspend services like threading as these can put both the therapist and the client at risk. Taneja, on the other hand, says that it can be done while wearing gloves and masks. “Rather than clenching the thread between teeth, one can loop it around the fingers the way it is done when threading oneself,” she says. The other changes that she foresees is full sleeves and high-neck clothes becoming the norm, especially for therapists.
Husain feels that the normal method of threading would naturally pose a real challenge and “beauty services may involve the use of tweezers for shaping eyebrows or some other methods might be developed for the same.”
While people displaying their hair cutting skills on Instagram has almost caught on as a trend, what would the scenario be like once the lockdown opens? A video from China which emerged recently shows barbers fixing scissors at the end of long poles to chop hair. Taneja feels that this is more gimmicky. “As long as you are well-protected with masks and gloves, while the equipment is sanitised by putting it in the UV chamber, which we do even now, there shouldn’t be anything to worry,” she says.
Another development would, of course, be people switching to do-it-at-home beauty procedures. Kochhar says that a big boost to home kits is likely. She adds, “A majority of people will be doing their services at home as they would be nervous to go to the salons.”
An emphasis on hygiene will be seen among both customers and providers. “They will have to follow strict personal hygiene and maintain their surroundings where they not only wash hands often but also clean surfaces with alcohol-based cleaning agents and sanitisers,” says Husain.
The nature of beauty business is such that salons are places where customers often sit in close proximity, whether it is while awaiting their turn or during their treatments. To ensure that there are not too many people at one time, most places will have to switch to a system of appointments, even for shorter treatments, which has to be observed and followed strictly.
Moreover, the awareness among the customers would work to the advantage of the salons. Husain says, “Customers would be much more aware of the chances of infection and would help to maintain strict appointments and timings, so that social distancing is easier to maintain. There can be online bookings and no waiting, as people may not want to wait in crowded rooms or lounges. Beauty salons may start keeping longer working hours and for all days in the week to accommodate this change.”
Even when customers adhere to appointments, there will have to be social distancing between them. Taneja says, “Maybe the way to go about it is leave one chair empty in between two people which naturally reduces the number of customers coming in while pushing up the costs. Both, customers and salon owners, would have to shoulder the rising overheads.”
There has to be a switch towards using disposable sponges, brushes, frequent sanitisation of equipment, in addition to extras like wearing masks and gloves which are discarded frequently, maybe after servicing each customer. All these would have a combined effect of spiralling costs further.
Moreover, in treatments like waxing, the therapists dip into a common heating equipment to service clients. The same goes for procedures like facial where professional-sized kits are used. Taneja says, “For waxing, it makes sense to take out a small quantity, adequate for one person, and use it. For facials, we already have a practice in place where we give each customer an entire single-use set in a purse. Whatever is left after the treatment can be carried back by them.”
So one thing, which is obvious, is that the changes needed require deeper pockets on the part of both the customers as well as the salons. While this might be easier for the bigger players, the smaller neighbourhood salons might not be able to transform themselves. Husain points out, “Accommodating customers and yet observing social distancing will prove challenging for those beauty salons, where there are space constraints.”
And even now it is these smaller players that have taken the hit more than the bigger ones. Kochhar says, “Already small salons have been adversely affected. They have large amounts of rents to pay and they have limitations in looking after their staff members. It is also going to hamper the skills industry. People would not want to be skilled, they would be desperate for jobs, but there will be no jobs if everything is shut down.”
Husain, on the other hand is upbeat. “The world, post COVID-19, is bound to adopt new methods and systems to protect customers and employees and prevent infections. According to an expert, ‘What we will have after the COVID-19 crisis is probably a stronger and fitter beauty and wellness industry; that uses cutting-edge technology to meet the new expectations of people and communities, while retaining its core of empathy and caring.’”
One thing is sure, a visit to your therapist will no longer look the same.