You Really Think I Need A Haircut?
For everyone who is longing to get to the salon and get their hair cut, here are just some meandering thoughts from someone who is sure the only thing he knows, is that he knows nothing.
I started with a google search to get an idea why salons are the last to open, and the best that I can see, it's the lack of social distancing and the relatively close contact to the nose, mouth, eyes, and ears, that's keeping salons on the lockdown side.
I'm no expert on infectious diseases, so I guess I'm trying to learn as much as I can and form a somewhat intelligent opinion.
From this article, it appears that some of the precautions in place in parts of the world are mandatory masks, and in China, you have to make a video appointment, so the stylist or whomever is taking the appointments can make a quick judgement of whether you look reasonably healthy or not. Fair enough.
Disinfecting at home has been an eye-opener. I have seen two brand new sponges partly disintegrate from being sprayed with spray bleach. If you're the stylist, that's going to do a number on your skin, after a while.
The economic question is much more difficult. Most stylist are working for, essentially, tips. And the bills have not stopped, and you still need to eat and feed loved ones.
Let me ask this question, as I don't have an answer: Is a hairstylist (and the customer, too) acknowledging and taking the risk, similar to riding a motorcycle without a helmet?
Or more to the point, is this a case of two consenting adults?
But then, there's the bigger question for the entire health system. One may be willing to take the risk on themselves, but what if you are the carrier. And, what if either person has no health coverage, that cost falls on everyone. Again, I don't know what the answer is.
My hair is longer today that it has been in probably twenty five years. But I know most men of my generation had it longer in our college years. White guys had hair to their shoulders, African-Americans had big Afros. Google the name Oscar Gamble. He was a baseball player. He had maybe the best 'fro ever.
I pray we can get the coronavirus pandemic under control and in the mean time, find a workable way to open salons again. Again, I have no answers, just hoping we can make sense of things.