Salons become unlikely battleground in fight to reopen amid coronavirus pandemic

Salon owners across the country are reopening despite coronavirus restrictions, some risking hefty fines — and even their licenses — to get back behind the chair.

The story of Shelley Luther, a salon owner in Texas, was highly publicized after she was sentenced to a week in jail for refusing to close her business, Salon A La Mode, in April despite receiving cease and desist letters from Dallas County which she tore up, McClatchy News reported. She was also fined $7,000 by a state district judge, according to the report.

Two more women in Texas were charged with violation of an emergency management plan for offering nail and eyelash services from their homes to undercover officers, the Laredo Morning Times reported.

The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation has since dropped 200 cases against cosmetologists and barbers who kept operating in April and early May despite orders to shut their doors due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Dallas Morning News reported.

The agency retroactively allowed for “cosmetology and barbering establishments” to reopen on April 2, according to the newspaper.

But while restrictions are loosening in Texas, salon owners in other parts of the country are still risking penalty to reopen during the pandemic.

Oregon

Lindsey Graham, owner of Glamour Salon in Salem, Oregon, was fined $14,000 after reopening in early May despite Gov. Kate Brown’s order mandating that salons stay closed, CNN reported.

“... At this point, I’m deciding that it’s more important for me to feed my family and pay the bills that are going to keep our home and our family alive than take the risk to remain being shut down for an undisclosed amount of time,” Graham told KPTV.

Some Oregon counties began reopening May 15, with businesses once ordered closed now able to operate with amended safety procedures, CNN reported. Marion County, home to Glamour Salon, has not been approved to reopen, according to the outlet.

“She is unquestionably operating in violation of the governor’s executive order, designed to protect workers and the public,” a spokeswoman for Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration wrote in an email to CNN.

Still, Graham says she plans to fight the fine.

“This is unconstitutional and I’ll fight the state in court,” Graham told KXL. “I’ve followed all the guidelines for a safe atmosphere for customers and stylists. Only one person at a time is allowed in and we wear masks, gloves, change capes, and sanitize everything in between.”

California

In late April, two Auburn, California, establishments defied the state’s stay-at-home order to reopen to customers, KTXL reported.

Breann Curtis, owner of Clip Cage, told the outlet she’d lost thousands of dollars during the mandated closure.

“I have to do what I have to do. I’m fighting to provide for my children and myself and my family right now,” Curtis said, according to KTXL. “It’s been very hard. I’m pregnant. I have children at home.”

Her first day open, Curtis had 20 appointments, with more rolling in, KTXL reported.

Beauty Bar Salon owner Tisha Fernhoff also decided to reopen, according to the outlet.

“How much longer am I supposed to go down the rabbit hole before I just throw in the towel and go back to work?” she told KTXL.

She said she worries about some sort of penalty but hopes leaders in the state understand she’s just trying to stay afloat, according to the outlet.

“They need to do something. They need to help us to open up,” Curtis told TKXL. “People are losing their salons. People are losing their barbershops. People are losing their business. That’s going to affect the economy, hugely.”

Michigan

Ardor+Grit Salon and Lounge in Holland, Michigan, reopened May 15, WMMT reported. Owner Sarah Huff said she decided to pull trigger due to concerns about being able to reopen if closures were mandated through July.

The move defies Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive order which required the closure of salons and other non-essential establishments, according to the outlet.

Huff told WWMT she was aware of the potential consequences.

“Doing something like this doesn’t come without any fear or consequences,” she said, according to the outlet. “I believe in what I am doing and I’m also trying to play this smart too.”

Earlier this month, state regulators suspended the license of barber Karl Manke, 77, who promised to keep his shop open “until Jesus comes,” despite the state’s request to close it down, the Associated Press reported.

“The government is not my mother, never has been,” Manke said, according to The AP. “I’ve been in business longer than they’ve been alive.”

New York

Reopening while still under orders to close not only garners risk of penalty, but also risks to health.

A barber in Kingston, New York, reopened despite state orders before testing positive for coronavirus, McClatchy News reported.

“Barber in Kingston was operating in defiance of the close order, infected I think over a dozen people,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said, according to CBS News. “You know, that is a occupation of close proximity, right? You can’t really socially distance and do a haircut … that is by definition an up-close-and-personal occupation.”

Anyone who had their hair cut at the barbershop in the three weeks leading up to May 13 are urged to get tested, the release said.

“As much as we would all like to go out and get a professional haircut, this kind of direct contact has the potential to dramatically spread this virus throughout our community and beyond,” Ulster County Health Commissioner Dr. Carol Smith said in a release.

This story was originally published May 17, 2020 at 1:39 PM with the headline "Salons become unlikely battleground in fight to reopen amid coronavirus pandemic."