Get your grooming on

SAY goodbye to greying roots, pesky cuticles and untamed beards. The stylists are back in town, and their customers could not be more thrilled.

Newsday visited several businesses in Port of Spain on Monday to find customers back in the chairs of their favourite technicians, hairstylists, and barbers.

“I’ve been waiting three months for this,” said one customer, as he chuckled while his barber trimmed his beard. His barber, Sean Fred Glascoe of Fred’s unisex salon in Arlene’s Mall Charlotte Street, said people have been “waiting in abundance.” He said he is booked up for the rest of the week. “This was long overdue.”

In order to maintain physical distancing, things are not going to be the same as before and people need to prepare themselves for the change. Glascoe explained barber shops and salons used to be a place of retreat and comfort for customers, but now they will not be able to gather as they did in the past.

“There won’t be any liming like how it was before. People want to talk and share how their lockdown experience was (but can’t).”

In his shop, seats are separated as much as possible even though the space is small.

“We, the barbers and the hairdressers, are just going to have to pick up the pace.”

Nail technician Reneasha Black, known to her customers as Pinky, said she usually takes appointments during the week, between Monday and Thursday, and walk-in customers on Fridays and Saturdays.

“There could be up to eight people standing up waiting for me in the morning. I had to cancel that.”

Black said although she’s been waiting a long time to get back to her customers, she is limited to strictly two appointments a day and has a 6 pm “curfew.”

“We usually make our money working overtime.”

But, she said, “I’m not fussing. I just need to adjust my spending, because at the end of the day, bills have to be paid.”

Black said she did not have to pay rent at her Charlotte Street location in Arlene’s Mall during the lockdown, for which she was grateful.

“This period was like a vacation for me,” she joked. “I’m always working.

“I didn’t want to get up this morning, but it’s back to the usual programming.”

Not everyone, however, had a busy first day back. Hairdresser Christine George of Hair R Us on Prince Street, was tending to her first customer of the day when Newsday visited on Monday.

She said she only had one more customer for the day and no appointments booked for the rest of the week as yet.

“Things have been really hard,” she said, “but I had to make it work.”

She said she is not sure about arrangements for the rent for the months she was not working but believes her landlord will treat her fairly.

“It should not be a problem.”

Physical distancing is still a major concern, and some salons, owing to their size, are limited to two or three customers at a time.

Such is the case for Charlene Ashton of AC’s Beauty Salon on Prince Street, who can only manage three customers at a time. She said while she was at home, her customers were calling, anxious for her to get back out to work.