California Allows Outdoor Haircuts, Manicures And Massages

Speaker 1: 00:00 Businesses are moving outdoors. First. It was restaurants now, gyms and hair and beauty sandals are making the move as a survival strategy and the face of the covert quarantine that has shut down so many businesses on Mondays ending America, Kevin Faulkner removed many of the restrictions on operating and private parking nights. Governor Newsome said this week, too, that the state has come up with new guidelines for barber shops and hair and nail sounds to operate outdoors. However, the professional beauty Federation of California plans to continue pursuing legal action against the state here to explain our Fred Jones counsel for professional beauty Federation of California. Thanks for being with us. Fred, thank you for having me and Corinne lamb, who is the owner of Salato salon and blow dry lounge in Rancho Bernardo. And she's also a member of the professional beauty Federation. Corinne. Thanks Speaker 2: 00:50 For joining us. Thanks for having me. Speaker 1: 00:52 So it was Corinne. I wanted to ask you as a salon owner, given yesterday's announcement by the governor that personal care businesses can operate outside. Do you plan to open your saddle outdoors? Speaker 2: 01:04 Absolutely not. Um, if, if I can backtrack a moment when the initial announcement came about that indoor services would no longer be an option. And that if there was the ability to adapt to an outdoor setting, I hit the ground running that same day. I had an outdoor setting that my landlord approved. I had purchased hundreds of dollars worth of equipment with the intention of being able to operate outside with a full list of services. The governor then announced that, you know, we could operate outside after some, some response from our board of cosmetology saying that will not be allowed. And with that came of course, a long list of caveats that included basically us only being able to offer haircuts essentially. And even at that, the haircuts would be a far lesser service than we've offered at an indoor setting. So for me, for example, haircuts make up about 15% of our revenue being able to operate outdoors and not offer shampoos or blow dries makes it really difficult for us to be able to charge that same amount for the service when it's not a full service. Speaker 1: 02:27 So Fred sum up for us what some of the changes were that appeared yesterday in the guidelines for operating outside, um, that has made it difficult for your members. Speaker 3: 02:38 Yeah, so it wasn't just yesterday, as Corinne said, this all started a week ago, Monday when the governor, uh, implied that we could move our services outside, that was followed three and a half hours later by a state board of barbering cosmetology memo saying not so fast governor, we think it's illegal to do a services outside the licensed establishment. So the governor went to work, worked with County health departments with his state board and department of consumer affairs and came out with his announcement yesterday. And in his posted protocols on the COVID-19 page, it doesn't say anything about limiting shampoo services or hair coloring, and sure enough, about three hours later, all 621,000 licensees in this state received an email from the state, from the department of consumer affairs, informing us that, um, no, we will restrict these services. You will not be able to use any chemicals on the hair, including covering, and you can't even do shampooing. Speaker 3: 03:37 We've had a lot of mixed signals coming from the Newson administration this last week. We didn't need more mixed signals. So yeah, this has been really tough. It was tough enough, frankly, Alison, to try to convince our licensed professionals who have invested tens of thousands of dollars in upping their game in their salon with PPE, uh, plexiglass, separations, touchless pay points, they invested money. They didn't have to get their salons up to snuff, and now we're kicking them to the curb and telling them they can only do it out in the elements and the wind and the heat and the pollen in the air and Eric contaminations. It just doesn't make a lot of sense. We're safe. We can operate inside. Speaker 1: 04:20 So Fred, let me just see that there does appear to be a growing consensus that operating indoors is not as safe as operating outdoors. Are you more interested in getting permission to operate indoors or to be able to do everything that a cosmetologist could do outdoors? Speaker 3: 04:37 Yeah, I would resist that consensus. I'm not sure there is. There's certainly not within our industry. So our legal action was filed back on May 12th in Los Angeles, federal district court. So it long predated any notion of kicking our stylists out to the curb to do their services outside. Uh, so that really isn't part of our lawsuit, the grabbed women of that case, the grab them into the cases we believe we have science. We listen, Korean has 1,600 hours of formal education in training. The bulk of which is devoted to health and safety cross-contamination disinfection protocols. She passed a two part state licensing exam, 85% of which is devoted to health and safety. Speaker 1: 05:21 May I ask you, um, may I ask you, cause it sounded as though you were prepared to open out doors, but you want to be able to do everything outdoors. Is that your position? Speaker 4: 05:30 It's not that we were excited by any means to be able to operate outdoors, but we have to do what we have to do at this point. Speaker 1: 05:39 Okay. So Corina, I have another question for you, which is that you obviously have a lot of training in how to operate your business, but when it comes down to safety, operating at indoors, it's really as much about the customer's willingness to go with the restrictions as about the actual, um, providers, the business people. Um, how did you find your customers were responding when they were, when there were restrictions or have you just not been operating with restricts? Speaker 2: 06:06 Oh no. We've absolutely been operating with restrictions. In fact, our re our restrictions are above and beyond the very basic guidelines that were given to us by the state and our state board of cosmetology. We've invested in protocols that are not required of us, but that we're the responsible solution for the circumstances and how Speaker 1: 06:27 Customers responded to things like the need to wear masks. Speaker 2: 06:30 Our customers haven't had an issue whatsoever with needing to wear a mask. Um, I haven't had any pushback. What would you say to, to those who know, Speaker 1: 06:39 I would say that salons are, are not essential to our survival and in fact, may pose a threat to it. Speaker 2: 06:45 We have to base everything that we do at this point off of fact. And I haven't seen a single study that has, has exercised any fact in that direction. So I say, show me the numbers. Speaker 3: 06:59 And if I could just add just on that question, Allison is very frustrating for our licensed professionals, all 621,000 of them here in California, to be able to go to their grocery store and home Depot and Costco and Walmart, and see levels of precaution. So below what we implemented in our salons long, by the way before COBIT, but even, especially after the COBIT a virus hit, it's very frustrating to hear that those are essential businesses. When we are prepared to deal with this new era of pandemics, we have the formal education and training to deal with cross contamination and disinfection. So we just want to be treated like the licensed professionals. We are. Speaker 1: 07:46 I certainly appreciate the, the survival instinct as, as a business person. This is key to your survival. Um, but I, I would ask about this question of whether in fact, the customers would be as fastidious as you and how you would be willing to enforce them Speaker 3: 08:02 All the salons that I've dealt with. It has not been a problem. I've actually seen folks resist wearing a mask into a restaurant setting before we were kicked out to the curb or restaurants where, so I have seen it, but I haven't heard nor seen that being a problem in our salon setting Speaker 1: 08:20 Korean, are you planning to open outdoors or are you planning to forget that until Speaker 2: 08:25 Things change? I have no plans to open as it stands now. And if I can also include, you know, we are professionals with licenses that are mandated by the state with health and safety and sanitation guidelines. We're also artists, but at the core, our relationships with our clients are, are so invested. We cut people's hair off before chemo treatments. We see them go through marriages, divorces, having children. This is not something that we take. These are people that we do have genuine care for. And so, although we are already mandated by the state and are at risk of losing our license, if we don't comply with these laws and regulations, we also care. Fred, what is the next step for you? Speaker 3: 09:13 We think he needs to embrace the science that is now endorsed by the CDC that we can operate safely in our controlled environment. We just don't think it's viable for the vast majority of our 53,000 licensed establishment to go out to the curb and perform these limited services. I don't think it's good for their clients. It's certainly not good for their bottom line. And frankly, it's a slap in their professional faces. Speaker 1: 09:44 Thank both of you very much for giving us your perspective on this issue. Fred Jones is council for professional beauty Federation of California. Thanks, Fred. Speaker 3: 09:53 Thank you very much. Alison Speaker 1: 09:55 Lamb is the owner of Salado sat on a blow dry lounge in Rancho Bernardo. Thank you card. Speaker 2: 09:59 Thank you.