San Antonio – For the first time in more than six weeks, customers are back in Bexar County salons and happy to be there.
“This one right here gave me a call and said she had an opening, and I said, ‘When?’” said Ramona Miller as she sat in a chair at Pure Posh Salon on Friday.
Under Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan to reopen Texas, cosmetology, hair, nail salons and barbershops are able to operate again, but they must ensure there’s at least six feet between work stations. The businesses had been closed in San Antonio and Bexar County since the first set of “Stay Home, Work Safe” orders went into effect on March 24. Abbott followed with similar, statewide orders the following week.
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Staff at Pure Posh and at VIP Nails & Spa on TPC Parkway were taking precautions Friday, from using protective shields at VIP’s manicure stations to placing hand sanitizer around the businesses.
Although state guidelines for salons posted on the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation only recommend the use of masks, both locations require employees and staff to wear them.
It’s a safety measure that gives Minh Van, a manicurist at VIP Nails & Spa, some comfort.
“I don’t feel that kind of nervous as I used to be before,” Van said.
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While there will always be an element of risk so long as the pandemic continues, customers at the salon seem ready to risk it - even those like Pat Newberry, who at more than 70 years old, has a higher risk of contracting a serious case of COVID-19.
“It just felt better to have some sort of luxury in all this time,” Newberry explained as she received a pedicure.
For more information on what you need to know when going back to a salon, CLICK HERE.