Is this how you're feeling about going back to work in your hair salon?

How are you feeling about going back to work in your hair salon post-lockdown? Here are some positive and encouraging thoughts for hairdressers preparing to go back into the salon after lockdown ends from Melissa Timperley Salons owner Melissa Timperley. Melissa wrote some words from the heart a few months ago exclusively for HJ about why she's so proud to say she's a hairdresser. As everyone prepares for reopening, here are her thoughts on what's happened to everyone during lockdown, but more importantly she wants to provide some encouragement and perspective as everyone starts again.

The same but different – is this how you're feeling about going back to work in your hair salon?

"A lot has changed but the essence of what we do hasn’t. Hairdressing is one of the very few things you can’t buy online and clients have now realised the immense value and skill we bring. It WILL be both the same… and different for us. Here’s why: We will continue to use scissors sharper than a chef’s knives and a surgeon’s scalpel that is millimetres from our fingers, moving them quicker than your eyes can follow. But some of us will be wearing gloves (which is like knitting with mittens on). We will get used to it and produce beautiful work. We will still use both science and maths, combined with an artist’s eye for beauty, to find the exact angle to cut our client’s hair so it falls perfectly when they leave, and continues to do so at home. But this time many will turn up to their appointment having cut their own hair, so our skills will be doubly tested… but we are up to it. We will go on using our detailed knowledge of chemistry to create perfect colour formulas for each client’s hair … and we will be fully appreciated for our expertise - especially if they have used box colour. Now we are their hair saviours – professionals with the ability and skill to correct their mishaps without judgment. And we’ll do our absolute best to start putting things right. Yes, we’ll help clients to transform both their looks and mindset. Through our work, we can heal in our own way. We’ll make clients fall in love with their hair again, make them feel like their true selves once more.  We will create beautiful hair – a very visible sign of new beginnings and fresh starts. And we will do it all with a smile. Although they will not see it through our masks, they will see the smile in our eyes. We may be wearing a visor, but a bit of plastic won’t stop the care shining through.

It's going to be tough but we will adjust to it

Of course, IT WILL BE TOUGH. For example, greeting clients in an outfit that’s a cross between a doctor and a welder – visor and all - will be new, but we will be doing it all in super-hygienic conditions that the best hospitals would be proud of…and that means huge peace of mind for our clients, and a massive comfort for us hairdressers too. A salon client journey that involves no waiting, no drinks and no touch DOESN’T mean giving up on having fun, sharing love and stories, laughing and empathy and creating a human to human experience in a super-safe and hygienic place. We need to do more of it. We hairdressers are in a unique position to bring some much-needed joy into the lives of our clients. We can help mend; and shape a new personal optimism through our own approach and attitude. Despite all the challenges, this is a time for us all to make a real difference to each client’s life through our skills. We can create a new and full appreciation of the miracles we perform, now that clients have had a while to look after their own hair. We deserve that recognition – we are the professionals who build our clients’ confidence and help them take on the world…and everyone needs that right now. We are a scientist, artist, counsellor, chemist, time management expert, a friend, architect, diplomat and transformer – all rolled into one. Just as we have been with all our clients for the milestones in their lives; this one is a milestone for all of us – a new phase – and with great hair, we will all move forward! I, for one, am immensely proud to call myself a hairdresser, with all it entails. We design beautiful hair and I'm proud to be standing next to all of us who see themselves in these words – for me, this is the truth about what it means to be a hairdresser right now. How do you see it?" Click here for more information about how the coronavirus and lockdown is affecting you and the rest of the UK hairdressing industry.