One hairstylist not in favor of signing a petition for Governor Cooper’s permission to re-open salons early

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Weeks ago, several businesses, like hair salons were forced to close because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Now thousands of stylists have signed petitions asking for Governor Roy Cooper to allow them to re-open on April 27.

“People are talking about it. Sometimes in our industry we feel like we are sometimes forgotten, we’re left out,” Stylist Hair Studio Beautician Meghan Lucas said. “We’re the beauty industry, so it kind of can be considered a luxury.”

Lucas said if you ask her customers, they would beg to differ, and just like it is a necessity for them, Lucas stated she is also ready to fill her empty seats.

“We cannot make money unless we are physically standing behind our chair doing our clients hair. We can sell some retail we can maybe do some at home color kits where people pick them up, but that’s not making up for the loss of income that we have.”

It is why more than 40,000 stylists have signed the Open NC Salons petition asking permission from Governor Cooper to allow them to service one client at a time, with the necessary precautions and sanitation protocols.

Unlike them, Lucas is not in favor of re-opening soon, she said the wording is confusing.

“They’re saying we can do one client at a time, well I work at a salon where we have nine stations,” Lucas expressed. “So does that mean one client per stylist at a time, does that mean one client in the building at a time?”

She said the risk is too high.

“I want to be safe. I want my family to be safe. I want my clients to be safe,” Lucus added.

She said she does not want instant gratification to lead to a longer wait.

“I think if we pump the brakes a little bit, if we take a step back, slow it down a little, once the dust settles we’ll all be able to go back to work.”

Salons are scheduled to re-open May 1, but we will let you know if that changes.