The phones are ringing off the hook and the appointment books are filled solid across Cumberland County as hair salons prepare to open on Friday after being shuttered nearly three months amid the coronavirus shutdown.
“We’ve been here cleaning for three days, top to bottom, sanitizing everything,” said Elaine Tarasi, owner of Kosmetique Salon in Hampden Twp. “We are moving chairs to social distance so clients and the girls are away from each other and we are all wearing masks.”
Cumberland County is one of 12 additional counties that on Friday will go under Gov. Tom Wolf’s green reopening phase. As of Friday, 21 counties will be in the yellow phase; and 46 will be designated green.
Tarasi and scores of other hair salon owners across Cumberland County are heeding the guidelines issued by state and federal health officials with regards to precautions to protect customers as well as employees from the coronavirus.
“We are going to have clients wait in their car until it’s time for their appointment,” Tarasi said. “And we have a thermometer to take their temperature and gloves. Lots of gloves for staff.”
RELATED: More than 400 new coronavirus cases reported: Pa. Department of Health
The green phase eases most restrictions, designating personal care services businesses such as hair salons and barbershops to open at 50 percent of occupancy and by appointment only.
Salon owners said they were looking out for customers as well as staff.
“If someone said to me ‘I don’t want to do a facial because the client has to take off their mask,’ I would be totally fine with that,” said Stacie Sheely, owner of Polished Salon, Spa & Wellness. “The aestheticians that do facials will have to wear a mask and plastic shield because they are so close to the client and the client has to remove their mask for that.”
Sheely said she is following the guidelines issued by the state Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control. She said a number of salon owners were frustrated that the state Board of Cosmetology and Board of Massage had issued no guidance.
“We really felt it should come from them since they have their own rules and regulations,” she said. “That was definitely a letdown.”
Sheely, like other salon owners, plan to roll out a rigorous cleaning regime, including sanitizing after every client. She will be trading in her regular cleaning supplies for medical grade products used by hospitals.
Salons, for the most part, have informed clients that children will not be allowed to wait around in the salon while parents are being tended to by stylists. Sheely said she was applying that policy to husbands and boyfriends as well.
“A lot of times they like to wait around as well,” she said. “We can’t have extra people.”
Salons are being instructed to operate at 50 percent of occupancy (or 12 people per 1,000 square feet). Most salons will have no trouble meeting those guidelines.
“We are pretty much able to operate at full capacity with 78 people in the building,” Sheely said. “Half of that is 39 so even then, if every employee was working, we would be less than that.”
After what seems like an eternity since clients were able to get haircuts, highlights and root touch-ups, the appointment books are filling up fast.
“We are getting a million phone calls from new clients,” Sheely said. “I don’t know it’s Dauphin County people willing to cheat on their hairdresser or the salon has gone out of business. Unfortunately, we’ve had to turn away a lot of new clients. We need to get the regulars in.”
Sharad Gupta, whose boutique, Artistry Salon & Day Spa, in Mechanicsburg, is famous for its threading services, on Thursday brimmed with excitement at the prospect of opening up Friday morning.
“I am excited,” she said. “After three months, it feels like a long, long time. We are all excited but also a bit scared. But we are taking all the COVID-19 guidelines.”
Gupta said her receptionist will be screening clients and taking their temperature before admitting them into the shop.
“I am preparing everything, cleaning and disinfecting,” she said.
Gupta’s clients will also be asked to wait in their cars until their stylist is ready for them. Her staff will be sanitizing stations between clients.
“We are ready. “I‘m confident we are safe,” Gupta said.
In her 30 years of owning a hair salon, Tarasi said she has never experienced anything as disruptive to the business as the coronavirus.
“Has anyone?” she said.
She said she feels confident that her salon will provide a safe place for customers and staff.
Tarasi just can’t wait to open her doors.
“I‘m excited,” she said. “I miss the clients.”
In addition to Cumberland, Adams, Beaver, Carbon, Columbia, Juniata, Mifflin, Northumberland, Union, Wayne, Wyoming and York will be designated green on Friday.
As of Thursday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health had confirmed 467 new cases of the coronavirus in the state. The statewide total of coronavirus cases stands at 77,313.
The Department of Health reported 51 new deaths, bringing the state’s total number of coronavirus fatalities to 6,113.
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