Cincinnati Salons and Barbershops Get Ready to Reopen with These Health and Safety Precautions in Place

On May 7, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced in a press conference that salons and barbershops may reopen beginning on May 15. Specific guidelines have been put into place to ensure the highest level of sanitation to protect the health of salon employees and customers.

Guidelines include customers waiting in their cars until their appointment times, stylists wearing masks — and asking customers to do so as well — and customers coming to their appointments alone, unless the appointment is for a child, who can be accompanied by an adult. You can read the full list of mandates on the Responsible RestartOhio sector reopening page. 

Many salons and barbershops across Cincinnati have anxiously been awaiting the governor’s announcement and have already begun outlining a plan to reopen once given the OK. Bishops Cuts/Color, a barbershop with locations in Clifton and Oakley, plans to reopen on May 15 with extended hours from 8 a.m.-9 p.m. every day except Sundays, when it will be open from 11 a.m.-7 p.m.

Bishops will require employees and clients to conduct daily wellness checks before entering the building and stylists and barbers will wear “scrubs,” which will be sanitized nightly to prevent bringing “home germs” to work or “work germs” to their homes. 

“We have been working (obsessing) on this for two months and feel as though we have really thought of pretty much everything we can,” store manager Madelaine Wilkerson says in an email.

The barbershop has also installed easily sanitized vinyl dividers between each chair and will host two days of employee training on sanitation procedures prior to reopening. Though the transformations will be drastic, Wilkerson says Bishops is eager to return to some sense of normalcy. 

“Bishops Cuts/Color is all about great hair, but even more so, it is about community and celebrating each other,” she says. “We all desperately miss our ‘Bishops Family’ and cannot wait to see everyone again, both colleagues and clients alike.”

Other salons, like Parlour in East Walnut Hills, have opted to hold off on reopening for a few days in order to feel even more confident in ensuring the health and safety of its clients and employees. Parlour will reopen on May 18 and although all scheduled services through May 17 have been canceled, the salon’s books are currently open and you may begin scheduling appointments online. The salon asks that only one appointment per person is scheduled to limit the number of clients in the store.

In addition to the aforementioned requirements mandated by the governor, Parlour also requires that all staff and clients to consent to have their temperature taken before entering the salon. Anyone with a temperature of 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit or above will not be permitted to enter and will not return to work or reschedule their appointment for at least 14 days.

Clients also have to sanitize or wash their hands upon entry.

Parlour also says, “All staff and customers will be required to wear masks that secure behind the ears. Your mask will likely get wet and may be stained during color service.” They also say some appointments may run short on time so blow-outs may not be available for every service.

They are also suspending their popular cocktail service and are requiring touch-less greetings.

Hyde Park’s Alba Beauty Studio has also taken its precautions one step further and will not reopen until May 26, though appointments may still be scheduled by phone. Online booking will be closed until all existing appointments have been followed up on. Appointments previously scheduled on or after May 26 may need to have a timing or stylist change due to restricted schedules.

This article appears in May 6 – Jun 14, 2020.