It will all change at Colum Cooke Hairdressing when it reopens next
On Thursday, the Stormont Executive announced that hairdressers, barbers and beauty salons could reopen to the public on Monday, July 6.
Colum Cooke closed his salon he runs with his wife Pauline at Trench Road on Saturday, March 21 over the Coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Cooke said that despite July 6 being a Monday, a day traditionally hairdressers and barbers are closed, it is likely that this will not be the case for the foreseeable future to help deal with demand.
“It is likely the first few weeks, I’ll be working seven-days-a-week,” Mr Cooke told BBC Radio Foyle.
Mr Cooke said his hair salon will need to introduce a number of safety measures in preparation for the reopening date.
He said they will likely go down to about “40% of their salon chairs”, taking one chair out of each row to keep a 2m social distance between customers.
He said they will also need to erect protective shields and potentially wear PPE.
“I’m not sure how I am going to manage with a mask and a visor,” Mr Cooke added.
Mr Cooke said he thinks his customers will struggle to sit in silence if chat is limited in hair salons to minimise the spread of the virus.
However, Mr Cooke added: “We have to adhere to whatever the executive has told us.
“We have to do everything we can to make sure our clients and staff are safe.
“It’ll be very different for everyone but as hairdressers we will make it work.”
