The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic has turned around the way man has been living. With specific no vaccinations and cure, it is even more challenging to function and carry out day to day activities normally, more so for the entire grooming industry worldwide. With the salon business involving close contact with clients, it would become extremely challenging to reinstate trust in the hearts of the existing clients.

Irrespective of the market size and presence, each salon will be faced with the tectonic shift of re-inventing operational procedures according to the health and hygiene norms.

Since social distancing will be relatively impossible to adhere to in salons, frequent sanitization of the workplace and sterilization of equipment will be of foremost focus. In a report published by Indian Express on 16th May 2020, veterans from Indian grooming industry have suggested various best practices that could be followed to carry on the business seamlessly with minimized risk of contamination leading to infection.

Some of the Best Practices that salons must implement at their end after the lockdown is lifted are as follows

1. Staggered appointments:

No more walk-ins at one’s whim and fancies. Keeping one’s safety as foremost, salons must only service clients with a prior appointment to minimize unnecessary crowding and socializing. Moreover, after every minuscule batch of clients leaves, the workspace has to be sanitized.

2. Fumigation of seats before and after use:

Just like the front line healthcare personnel, salon services call for close contact between people. Hence, it is very important to sanitize the salon seats and chairs before and after use to ensure a great deal of safety and prevent any possible chances of contamination.

3. Monitoring of staff and clients using Aarogya Setu app:

Most of the registered clients and the Salon staff will be mandated to register with the Aarogya Setu app to keep a track of unusual movements. This is not a personal tracking but a means to ensure that anyone staying near containment zones will not be allowed. The salon services will be provided to clients from zones marked as green.

4. Mandating the use of protective gears for the client servicing team:

N95 masks or cotton masks, face shields and gloves are mandatory gears to be worn by the salon staff depending on the service they are doing. Even the clients are mandated to wear masks.

5. Mandating online booking and payments after service:

The focus is to minimize multiple touchpoints. So app-based bookings and cashless payments will be new and mandatory order of the functioning from now on.

6. Temperature Checks before entering the Salons:

Temperature checks are a part of the global screening procedure for COVID-19. Hence going forward, there will be dedicated salon staff to screen the clients entering salon premises at all times.

7. Allowing personalized services at home:

Based on app-based bookings, salons can also offer personalized home services with even higher levels of sanitization. The customer service personnel will not only carry disposables but also temperature check devices, portable fumigators and alcohol-based sanitizers.

These are some of the best practices that can gradually become the new normal of functioning. This way they will be able to resume their services with great trust and safety.