Personal care service workers and salon owners are crying foul over lockdown rules that shutter their doors while leaving big business open and unhindered.
Wendy McNichol, owner of Fearless Vanity Hair Studio in Collingwood stood on Mountain Road on the line between Grey and Simcoe County with others from the personal care industry protesting the shutdown of their industry.
Personal care services are required to close under the grey/lockdown restrictions currently in place for Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit.
Bruce and Grey County entered the green zone today, with little to no restrictions for businesses operating in those two counties.
“I know the ski hill doesn’t sanitize the chairs on the lift between guests, but I sanitize my chair between clients,” said McNichol.
She said she doesn’t want to take away money from the ski hill or the businesses operating in Grey County, instead, she wants an even playing field and a chance to run her business.
Her salon, which includes five stylists and is about to mark its tenth anniversary in Collingwood, has been employing red-level protocols since it was allowed to open in June.
“We’ve cut our workload in half,” said McNichol. “We sanitize, we’ve modified the salon.”
The salon keeps its capacity to 10 people, with a possible 11th person waiting in a second area. She’s been accommodating more high-risk or anxious clients by coming in on her days off to offer more private service in the salon. Otherwise, it’s one stylist per client.
“I’ve had 2,200 people through my building [since June] and not one case,” said McNichol. She added they’ve also never been contacted for contact tracing purposes. They keep records and contact information for every client.
“We have a sanitary space to work, and we need to stay in it,” said McNichol, adding hair salons have always had access to commercial-grade sanitizers, and easily procured more once they were allowed to reopen in June.
In a post to Facebook, she said it’s the trade workers who keep on losing their income, yet they aren’t adding to the spread. Fearless Vanity has been closed for almost five months because of government-mandated shutdowns related to COVID-19.
In Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, there has been one reported outbreak in a hair salon, which resulted in four confirmed COVID-19 cases.
The salon reopened after the province’s stay-at-home order was lifted. There were appointments booked through mid-April. Then Friday night at 5 p.m., McNichol and her fellow stylists found out they wouldn’t be able to work on Monday.
“We just don’t know what will happen next,” said McNichol. “There’s no job security.”
As a business owner there’s the stress of keeping her business afloat, and the added anxiety knowing the stylists are also struggling to get by without a consistent income.
“We’ve talked about bringing in a therapist,” said McNichol. “The mental health aspect is not good.”
For the salon owner, today’s lockdown is a case of “enough is enough.”
She wants her salon open for good, and believes the industry track record has proven salons can be open with little to no contribution to the spread of COVID-19.
Jasmine Brumpton, an esthetician at PamperMe Day Spa, said a year with three shutdowns of her industry has been very stressful.
Thoughts of the shutdowns and continuing COVID restrictions bringing about the end of her career have crossed her mind, but she hopes not to have to go there.
And she doesn’t see why she shouldn’t be allowed to keep providing services to clients.
She said the spa has always had strict sanitation practices, and those have become more stringent. There are plexiglass barriers at the cash register and between a client and esthetician during a manicure. If it’s a pedicure, Brumpton wears a face shield and a mask.
She said she does mostly manicures and pedicures with limited body waxing, and nothing that requires a client to remove a mask.
The spa also only books appointments for locals or people they know. They also close on weekends to avoid weekend traffic.
“It’s safer to come into the spa than it is to go into a store, especially a big box store,” said Brumpton.
Those protesting along the side of Mountain Road today included stylists from Marion’s Hair Studio, which is located in Thornbury and is still permitted to accept clients. Micheline’s owner Michelle denBok was also out in support of the demonstration.
The demonstration was not advertised in advance, and any social media posts about it discouraged the general public from attending and instead asked for virtual shares to spread the word and support the industry workers.
For more on the growing backlash against the latest lockdown, including opposition from Collingwood Mayor Brian Saunderson, click here.
Collingwood council is meeting tonight to discuss a response to the lockdown, including lobbying the government for financial support for businesses and to separate Collingwood from other parts of the region experiencing higher COVID-19 case incidence rates.
The Collingwood Downtown BIA announced via a social media post that it is responding to the lockdown decision by communicating with council, public health, and the province.
"If you are a business in the downtown core that needs help, please reach out," states the BIA announcement.
