‘It’s one rule for men and another for women’: Beauty salons criticise government’s ‘sexist’ reopening guidelines

From Saturday 15 Aguust, beauty salons in England are allowed to offer customers close-contact services such as eyebrow threading and facials. But they were previously forced to delay reopening fully, after Boris Johnson postponed lifting lockdown restrictions further due to a rise in Covid-19 infections.

Salons were initially permitted to reopen, along with tattoo parlours, tanning shops, and nail bars, partially on 13 July and were meant to reopen fully on 1 August to allow treatments involving the face. However, this was delayed to the increase in coronavirus cases in the north of England.

Salons were told that facial treatments were still too dangerous due to the increased risk of spreading Covid-19 between workers and customers. This is because splashes and droplets from the nose and mouth could be easily transmitted from one person to another. Although workers understood the science, they criticised the details of the plan as “sexist” because the list of permissible treatments deemed a beard trim safe, but eyebrow threading unsafe, when both require close proximity.

The discrepancy sparked outrage in the beauty industry. The Beauty Guild, the UK’s largest trade body representing over 16,000 beauty professionals, wrote an open letter to Boris Johnson, urging him to reconsider, stating: “While it is understandable that some treatments must remain off-limits, there is no scientific reason why eyebrow treatments pose more of a threat than beard trimming.”

Beauty Guild director Rebecca Archer said the large majority of its members are female entrepreneurs who have suffered financial hardship during lockdown. “Imposing further unnecessary restrictions on their livelihoods is grossly unfair,” she told The Independent, adding that the rules “favour the grooming needs of men over women”.

Salon owners were equally frustrated by the restrictions. “This is such a patriarchal issue to allow barbers to provide facial treatments for men, while women can’t get any facial treatments at all,” said Aya Hassan, founder of Portobello Girl beauty salon in west London, who pointed out that barbers often administer facial treatments themselves on men. “They all have steamer cabins for hot towels, so what is the difference?” she asked.

Several beauticians argued that the rules don’t make sense in terms of proximity to the client, given that you have to be just as close to someone to trim their beard as you do to wax their eyebrows, for example. “I find it hard to believe it makes a difference if you are cutting hair, trimming a beard, doing nails or facials,” said Katie White, facialist at Re:lax in east London.

“We haven’t seen any science that confirms the virus can tell the difference between 10, 20 or 30cm distance, nor if the facial hair belongs to a man or a woman. In all of these treatments you are touching the client, hence the need for PPE, taking temperatures on arrival, having hand sanitation stations on entry and very strict cleaning protocols. It does feel like it is one rule for men and another for women.”

Many salons will have lost out on a significant portion of their business due to the rules. Sam Marshall, owner of The Beauty Guru in Salford, explained that facial treatments are one of their key services, making up almost a third of the business. “This will be a major blow,” she added. Similarly, Penny Weston, director of Moddershall Oaks Country Spa Retreat in Staffordshire, said that not being able to offer facials will have resulted in a 25 per cent loss in revenue. “However, it is not just treatment revenue we will be losing, as we use our facial treatments as a springboard for the retail of our products,” she added, explaining that the spa profits significantly from the facial products purchased after a treatment.

Earlier this month, while salons offering a wide range of services had opened up, those that offered specialist brow or lash treatments were forced to remain closed. However, close-contact services are now permitted from 15 August.

Before the change in rules, brow specialist Liarna Jessica Yearwood, director of Liarna Jessica London, explained that her company had not received any support from the government because she uses a shared space and is therefore not eligible for any grants. “We have not had any income since 23 March, but we still have ongoing business expenses to pay out. There is a real risk that we may not survive if we do not start working very soon,” she said. “I know this is the same situation for many other beauty-based businesses. I would urge the government to reconsider and our clients would support us in this.”

For some salon owners at the beginning of August, it was already a case of being too little, too late. Edyta Kurowska launched a new lash bar in Oxford Circus shortly before lockdown began and after one week of successful business, was forced to close down. “To me, it seems like pure sexism,” she said, stressing that her treatments do not require close contact. “I sit behind my clients, there is no face-to-face contact,” she says.

“I can’t imagine you can trim a beard without getting closer to the person than eyelash extension applications require. I am absolutely heartbroken at how beauty businesses have been treated by the government during this pandemic.”

Many industry professionals complained the rules highlight how the beauty industry had long been wrongly perceived as superficial, despite the fact that it’s worth nearly £30bn to the UK economy. This view was highlighted in a recent Prime Minister’s Questions, when Mr Johnson was criticised for his response to an enquiry from William Wragg MP about when salons might be able to open. “I am sure that one day I will go with my honourable friend to Lush Beauty, but it is a sad reality for many of those excellent businesses that they cannot yet open in the way they want,” he said in early July.

Leisa Roberts, who runs a brow studio in Chester, said such a response shows how the industry is disregarded by those in power. “It’s evident from recent comments and laughter from Prime Minister’s Questions, as an industry we are perceived as frivolous and unnecessary when in fact this couldn’t be further from the truth,” she said.

“We treat thousands of clients suffering after chemotherapy, from alopecia, polycystic ovaries, or low self-esteem and take our roles in their recovery and safety very seriously.” Roberts added that not being able to administer any eyebrow treatments was “catastrophic” for her business. “Beauty businesses as a whole are now under severe financial strain and at risk of closure.”

A government spokesperson previously told The Independent that the guidance had been developed alongside the beauty industry, warning that close contact services “put workers and customers at a much greater risk of transmission of the virus”.

The government now says that “close contact services – including front of the face treatments such as eyebrow threading, eyelash treatments and facials” are permitted from 15 August ”under new guidance”.

The new rules state that all staff who offer close contact services, including hairdressers, should wear a type 2 surgical face mask, in addition to wearing a clear visor that covers their face.

“This will help protect the customer and staff from respiratory droplets caused by sneezing, coughing, or speaking,” the regulation says.