Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

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CobraKai
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Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by CobraKai »

I am going back to the office soon and long overdue for a haircut!

They recently re-opened the hair salons and barber shops in my state. I have heard that some have plexiglass and require wearing masks. W

With that being said, it is impossible to get a haircut from 6 feet away.

Are you comfortable going to one of these establishments at this time? Or would you rather you take your chances and cut it yourself? (assuming you don't live with someone who is capable of cutting hair)
02nz
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by 02nz »

I would not feel safe even with masks. I say this even though I feel reasonably comfortable going to the grocery store wearing a mask and maintaining social distance, which as you say is simply impossible while getting a haircut. See the news stories about barbers who may have infected dozens of people.
jebmke
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by jebmke »

I am planning to wait a while because case rates have not fallen in my area. We are rural area so late start and now that beach season is upon us, there is a huge transient traffic stopping at restaurants and mini-marts on the main route through town on their way to and from the beaches.

I have gotten two haircuts so far from my spouse. At first she was a bit timid but the second time, she got me closer to the length the my regular person does.
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go_mets
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by go_mets »

If you are a man and married, having your significant other cut your hair is a better option.
My mother cut my father's hair for the longest time. She used a clipper.

The reverse is not so easy. :happy
Big Dog
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by Big Dog »

got my haircut on Wednesday, so yeah, felt safe enough.
jebmke
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by jebmke »

go_mets wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 11:36 am If you are a man and married, having your significant other cut your hair is a better option.
My mother cut my father's hair for the longest time. She used a clipper.

The reverse is not so easy. :happy
My father was career military. He cut my hair for many years as a child. The way he learned was to do a cut with clippers and scissors to practice on me. Then at the end, like using an eraser, he buzz cut my whole head. Repeat every few weeks until he got the technique right.
Don't trust me, look it up. https://www.irs.gov/forms-instructions-and-publications
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winterfan
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by winterfan »

Yes, I went last week. The salon did a good job of keeping everything clean and masks were worn. That said, I'm not in a high risk group.
Ron
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by Ron »

I would if I could but I can't so I won't 8-) ...

- Ron
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goingup
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by goingup »

Got one yesterday. Felt great since hadn't a proper cut since March.
bob60014
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by bob60014 »

Not now, it seems too early and I'm not confident the shops can keep everyone safe, including the employees. So, I'm happily letting my hair grow out like back like it was back in the late 60s.
sailaway
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by sailaway »

go_mets wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 11:36 am If you are a man and married, having your significant other cut your hair is a better option.
My mother cut my father's hair for the longest time. She used a clipper.

The reverse is not so easy. :happy
Tell me about it. I have to cut his and my own because he won't try :annoyed

I think this is going to be at least partly regional. My area is opening despite not getting better AND the counties to the south, north and east are all getting worse. To the east, the hospitals are already overwhelmed.
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unclescrooge
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by unclescrooge »

I do not feel safe.

I haven't stopped into a grocery store in 3 months either.

I will let my hair grow out. So far, the neighbors say it looks good.

I cut my 3 year old son's hair myself using sissies. It's not expert level, but socially acceptable. My daughter and wife never get hair cuts.
Nowizard
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by Nowizard »

Have been in two or three stores, total, since March but went for haircut last week. I know the person, some of her history, trust that she would be as safe as possible, etc. The shop has eight chairs, allows no more than three in the shop at a time. All wear masks, including customers. I interacted briefly at front desk, handing money and taking no change. Haircutter wore a mask, I an N95 not removed during the haircut. Felt safe. Developed a mild sore throat either just before or after, not sure, so got tested and was negative. Talked to doc who said I might have Strep based on description, though did not go into office. Was prescribed and am on antibiotics. No certainty it's Strep, but if it is, there is high probability was caught while getting haircut. Will not get another one in near future for sure.

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hookemhorns
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by hookemhorns »

I did it ~3 weeks ago. I felt reasonably ok with it because each of the barbers at my regular place have their own segregated room, so it wasn't an open bay-like area that you usually see. We both wore masks the entire time and I didn't have him wash/rinse my hair afterwards. I will definitely reduce my haircut frequency until new infections are way down though...probably won't get my next cut until August.
Socal77
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by Socal77 »

I feel safe as I ever was in life going anywhere. I'm of the opinion this situation has sadly and erroneously scarred public social psychology. Plexi-glass added between common public social human transactions? Ummm. Seriously?
Grt2bOutdoors
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

Invest in a $50 hair clipper with all the attachments. Either you do it or have someone in your family or close to you do it. Start with the highest number and slowly go down the numbers until the hair is at the length you want. Which is safer? - in house or the barber shop? Last hair cut I received was exactly one week before the state shut them down, the guy cutting my hair was suffering from a "cold" :shock: - I think it was just that, but heck, I was a bit concerned for a few weeks, nothing materialized so I assume he didn't have it. This was back in early March.

After that, I invested in that hair clipper I spoke about, my spouse now does it - as good as the barber and alot cheaper too! :wink:
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sailaway
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by sailaway »

Socal77 wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 11:55 am I feel safe as I ever was in life going anywhere. I'm of the opinion this situation has sadly and erroneously scarred public social psychology. Plexi-glass added between common public social human transactions? Ummm. Seriously?
I mean, why should we protect the grocery workers from horrendous outbreaks, like those that have actually occurred in that setting, amirite?
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JonnyDVM
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by JonnyDVM »

Yes. How long does everyone plan to hide? The idea was to flatten the curve and we succeeded. An effective vaccine, if developed at all, wouldnt be out until 2021. If you are in high risk group or live with someone who is then I get it. Otherwise, I think it’s time to start living again. Wear a mask. Wash your hands. Hope for the best.

The place I got to they all wear mask and there’s hand sanitizer everywhere. Seems as safe as anywhere.
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HomeStretch
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by HomeStretch »

OP, where one lives and risk group may add context to the replies and their usefulness to you.

I’m mid/late 50s with no high-risk health issues in a hard hit area that has increasing confirmed cases due to more testing but declining hospitalization/death rates per capita. My state is not yet fully reopened.

I went last week when salons/barbershops reopened for a haircut wearing an ear loop surgical mask. I will go at a 50% frequency rate for awhile to see my state’s reopening impact on the infection rates. I didn’t feel “safe” with multiple stylists/customers around me and blow dryers going. But I also don’t feel “safe” going to the grocery store or, more recently, for restaurant take out. But I realize I personally need to get out and do those things as it’s not feasible for me to remain quarantined to the extent my family has been. I’ll continue to be careful but recognize the increased risk.
Socal77
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by Socal77 »

JonnyDVM wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 12:13 pm Yes. How long does everyone plan to hide?
Exactly. Is 2020 the year in which the global human population needed to adopt a plastic bubble society for survival?
Socal77
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by Socal77 »

sailaway wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 12:20 pm
Socal77 wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 12:16 pm
sailaway wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 12:06 pm
Socal77 wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 11:55 am I feel safe as I ever was in life going anywhere. I'm of the opinion this situation has sadly and erroneously scarred public social psychology. Plexi-glass added between common public social human transactions? Ummm. Seriously?
I mean, why should we protect the grocery workers from horrendous outbreaks, like those that have actually occurred in that setting, amirite?
I do not think you are right. Because IMO, this was not a horrendous outbreak. The fallacy of the media and political bureaucracy successfully scared and scarred the public. Have you not noticed the aforementioned ability to stir up the hornets nest? That's what they did with Covid just on a much more subtle level. The vast majority of all the human population and public including the grocery workers were never in real danger.
What would define a horrendous outbreak for you, then?

I mean in my opinion, it has turned into a horrendous outbreak even with the measures we have taken, but in your opinion, how many hospitalized and dead does it take to reach horrendous?
I respectfully believe you've succumbed to the fallacy of the media. There's not much else I can do but provide a dissenting opinion to the popular opinion that this was a massive threat to the human population - it was not.
oldfort
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by oldfort »

Right now, I prefer to minimize my risk. I hope we'll see a big decline in COVID-19 infections over the next 4-8 weeks. However, my office building normally houses several thousand people. When WFH ends in the next month or two, I expect the risk from being in the office 40 hours a week to be much greater than my risk from getting a haircut. Unlike some of the posters who are retired, stay-at-home spouses, or can WFH indefinitely, sheltering in place until we have a vaccine or a cure isn't a realistic option for me.
Last edited by oldfort on Sun Jun 07, 2020 12:56 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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TomatoTomahto
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by TomatoTomahto »

This thread has been helpful. Not in terms of getting a haircut/shave (I’m looking like David Letterman or Herman Melville lately), but to know which users I’d ignore if BH had such a function.

For the record, as I’m in a high risk group, I will use my electric razor one of these days, but I’m dealing with looking like a mountain man and my wife doesn’t seem to mind.
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protagonist
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by protagonist »

Will you get COVID if you get a haircut?

The probability is VERY low.

That said, consider how much getting a haircut now vs. a month or two from now will improve your life. Compare that with how much getting COVID could ruin (or end) your life, or the lives of others including your loved ones.

If it were me, given how unimportant a haircut is in the grand scheme of things, I would wait it out.

Or even better, have somebody you live with cut your hair, or do it yourself. My wife cut mine. She never cut hair before. It may not be the BEST haircut I ever received, but I have definitely gotten worse, and she really did a very acceptable job. Let's face it....cutting hair is not like painting the Sistine Chapel.

(She refused to let me cut hers, but she did it herself *laughing*)
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Kenkat
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by Kenkat »

Yes.

I look at these kinds of decisions with a risk management lens. Are you assuming more risk going to get a haircut than if you skipped it? Yes, of course. But how much risk? Every time you get into your car and drive somewhere, you are taking some level of risk.

My approach has been to limit risk within reason. We all can decide on what that is and our opinion of where exposure might be greatest. Based on all of the reading I have done, and no, I am not an epidemiologist or medical expert, a large transmission factor is a combination of high viral load plus time. I avoid large gatherings, or situations where there is a lot of interaction, especially over a long period of time. I am a lot more comfortable with limited interactions with one or two people for a short period of time. So, I go to the hardware store if I need something, or the grocery store. I pump gas. No crowds, no big parties, etc.

Could I get infected touching a gas pump? Sure, yes. Do I think that is how most people become infected? No.

Wear a mask (if just out of respect for the workers at the establishments you frequent), use hand sanitizer and wash your hands when you get home, limit interactions. If you are in a high risk group or regularly interact with someone who is, that changes your risk profile considerably and you should adjust accordingly.

That’s my advice.
startwithtruth
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by startwithtruth »

No, it doesn't seem worth the risk. Even with both me and the stylist wearing a mask, there's no way to avoid being very close to each other.
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by Ed 2 »

CobraKai wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 11:31 am I am going back to the office soon and long overdue for a haircut!

They recently re-opened the hair salons and barber shops in my state. I have heard that some have plexiglass and require wearing masks. W

With that being said, it is impossible to get a haircut from 6 feet away.

Are you comfortable going to one of these establishments at this time? Or would you rather you take your chances and cut it yourself? (assuming you don't live with someone who is capable of cutting hair)
I never stopped going to my barber at her home or her shop. Stop been paranoid. This virus stay with us for longer than you think. Deal with it. Wash your hands, don’t touch your face period on the street or after you come from . Masks are nonsense. I worked with hazardous materials in the laboratory for more than 26 years. Washing hand and not touching anything you don’t need to touch will do away many probabilities to get sick.
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Socal77
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by Socal77 »

Ed 2 wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 12:47 pm
CobraKai wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 11:31 am I am going back to the office soon and long overdue for a haircut!

They recently re-opened the hair salons and barber shops in my state. I have heard that some have plexiglass and require wearing masks. W

With that being said, it is impossible to get a haircut from 6 feet away.

Are you comfortable going to one of these establishments at this time? Or would you rather you take your chances and cut it yourself? (assuming you don't live with someone who is capable of cutting hair)
I never stopped going to my barber at her home or her shop. Stop been paranoid. This virus stay with us for longer than you think. Deal with it. Wash your hands, don’t touch your face period on the street or after you come from . Masks are nonsense. I worked with hazardous materials in the laboratory for more than 26 years. Washing hand and not touching anything you don’t need to touch will do away many probabilities to get sick.
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Socal77
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by Socal77 »

TomatoTomahto wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 12:36 pm This thread has been helpful. Not in terms of getting a haircut/shave (I’m looking like David Letterman or Herman Melville lately), but to know which users I’d ignore if BH had such a function.

For the record, as I’m in a high risk group, I will use my electric razor one of these days, but I’m dealing with looking like a mountain man and my wife doesn’t seem to mind.
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BrownEyedGirl_27
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by BrownEyedGirl_27 »

One of our friends who cuts hair cut my husband's hair a few weeks ago in her home. She is a licensed hairdresser. We weren't concerned because she was one of two friends in our neighborhood we have spent time with during the pandemic. We haven't had anyone else enter our home.

My advice is to either have a friend you've had contact with in your home cut your hair or have your spouse/ SO cut it.
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stan1
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by stan1 »

Each person is going to have to make their own risk assessment and decide what to do. There already have been cases where beauticians and barbers have tested positive and a number of customers had to do contact tracing. Asymptomatic transmission is one reason as is workers in this profession often not having paid time off or medical insurance.

If you are higher risk for COVID due to age and other underlying conditions I'd really think twice about it and have your spouse or someone in your socially distancing circle cut it. You may want to consider the infection rate in your county and city. Unfortunately everyone's willingness and ability to accept risk is going to be different. If you decide to it you might want to go less frequently and ask the beautician/barber to go quickly and minimize talking while cutting your hair.
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by Misenplace »

This thread has run it's course and is locked. In addition, posts with speculative medical advice re COVID-19 had to be removed. See this link at the top of every forum: Subject: Please read before posting on coronavirus/COVID-19
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Re: Do you feel safe going to a hair salon or barber shop?

Post by LadyGeek »

motorcyclesarecool was composing a post while the thread was being locked. By request, here it is:
I went for a haircut Tuesday and it was amazing.

In my state, the Barber & Cosmetology Board worked with the health department to develop good protocols. These include:
  • Appointments now mandatory.(not common for barbershops around here)
  • Text your arrival from the parking lot. Barber escorts you in.
  • Every surface sanitized between customers
  • They retain your address and phone number for contact tracing purposes
  • Everybody wears a mask and masks stay on the whole time. This means no more shaves or beard trims for the time being.
My barber is unable to serve as many customers in one day as he could B.C.E. (Before COVID Era) but so far refuses to increase his fee. He says, “we’re all in this together” I’m glad his business survived at all.

With these sorts of protocols, I feel like they’re doing a good job managing risks. The barber does not want to be the source of an outbreak and is highly motivated to ensure both he and his customers are safe. I’m certain not everyone will share his diligence. It feels awesome to get a haircut, but with furlough hanging over my head, I’m going to have to hold back on such luxuries.
(Thread remains locked.)
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