Thanks to COVID-19, a salon is not someplace that many of us have been recently. Instead we’ve cut our own hair, done our own nails, and shaped our own brows. And now that salons are opening up again, some people may be relieved to place these tasks in the hands of true professionals again. But there are some precautions you’ll need to take if you want to safely visit a hair or nail salon right now.
Considering COVID-19, a salon can present some serious coronavirus risks for you and your hairstylist or nail tech, because when you get a procedure or treatment at a salon, you’re intentionally spending a lot of time in close proximity to someone you don’t live with. So before you book an appointment, really consider just how essential a salon visit is for you. For some people it may be a very much needed mental health boost, Lindsey Gottlieb, M.D., director of infection prevention at Mount Sinai Morningside, tells SELF. But for others it may not be as necessary.
If you do decide that you’d like to get your hair cut or your nails done at a salon while the new coronavirus is still out there, here’s how our experts suggest protecting yourself—and those around you.
Please, please, please—wear a mask.
Perhaps you heard about the curious case of the two hair stylists in Missouri? They both tested positive for COVID-19 and saw 140 clients between them while infectious last month. But thorough contract tracing revealed that none of their customers tested positive for the infection.
How did this happen? Well, we don’t know for sure. But we do know that the salon had taken some important steps to reduce transmission, including having all their stylists wear masks.
This case proves just “how effective it can be if everyone is wearing a mask,” Humberto Choi, M.D., a pulmonary and critical care specialist at Cleveland Clinic, tells SELF. The coronavirus is spread mainly when an infected person talks, coughs, or sneezes. That causes them to release respiratory droplets containing the virus, which may land in the mouth, nose, or eyes of people around them and cause more infections. A mask is helpful because even if an infected person coughs or sneezes, the mask will prevent those droplets from reaching another person. And this situation suggests that it really is a highly effective way to prevent transmission.
Check to see what the salon is doing to keep its employees and customers safe.
Because you won’t necessarily have control over the greater salon environment, it’s really up to the business owner to implement strategies that will keep employees and customers safe. That likely includes things like requiring employees and customers to wear masks while inside, staggering appointments so there are fewer people in the salon at one time, spacing out salon chairs or even installing barriers between stations, and demonstrating good hand hygiene.
All of these basic strategies will help keep everyone safe, Gottlieb says. Many businesses are advertising the kinds of precautions they’re taking online, or they’ll make their safety procedures clear when you make an appointment. If you’re not sure what the deal is, you can always call and ask before you go.
Opt for treatments and procedures you know will take less time.
When thinking about your risks, remember that it’s not an all-or-nothing situation. “Each activity is a small potential risk exposure,” Gottlieb says, and you don’t have to do everything at once. It’s important to take the time to really think about which procedures are the most essential to you and to weigh that against the potential risks.
For instance, the more time you spend with someone in close proximity—even if you’re both wearing masks—increases the risk for transmission, Choi says. Knowing such an appointment may take hours, maybe you decide you don’t need to get a full cut and color if getting a basic trim will suffice for now and expose you to less risk in the process.
Think about skipping treatments with close face-to-face contact.
Again, masks are an effective and important way to reduce the risk of being near someone for an extended period of time right now. But they don’t fully eliminate the risk. One thing you can do to further reduce the risk of exposure is to choose procedures that require less face-to-face contact, Gottlieb says, like opting for a pedicure but not a manicure.
Don’t be afraid to get a little creative.
To reduce the amount of time you spend in the salon, don’t be afraid to do some out-of-the-box thinking. For instance, one thing people can do to keep their appointments short right now is to wash their hair at home and come to the salon with wet hair ready for a cut, Gottlieb says. Or if you’re waiting for your hair color to process, you can wait outside or even in your car, she suggests. And of course, the particular salon you go to may have specific recommendations for actions like these that you can take to keep everyone safe.
For some of us, going to a salon is an important way of looking—and feeling—like ourselves, something we’d all like to do again after weeks or months at home. But getting your hair cut or your brows done professionally right now does mean taking on some risk of getting or spreading the new coronavirus. So think about how important these activities are to you, and if you decide to go for it, make sure you’re taking all the precautions you can.
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