Personal care services get the green light

Writer: Hedda Mittner.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement last Wednesday that hair and beauty salons, tattoo and massage parlours may all reopen, under rules published in the Government Gazette on Friday, has been greeted with joy and relief by locals in the personal care services industry.

This after the Employers Organisation for Hairdressing, Cosmetology and Beauty (EOHCB) threatened to go to court when the Department of Trade and Industry initially failed to publish health guidelines and protocols which would have led to personal care services being reintroduced under alert level 3 of the national lockdown from 1 June.

The organisation had previously stated that up to 70% of the country's salons, spas and tattoo parlours were facing closure as their businesses remained under lockdown. It is estimated that about 90 000 people are active in the hair and beauty sector, which is worth about R300 billion.

“Yes, it’s been a very stressful time for us,” says Lindi Prinsloo, the owner of Refine Clinic. “There is no way that businesses in the beauty industry would have survived being in lockdown until alert level 1.”

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