Salons and barbershops have been closed for more than a month due to COVID-19, but hair-care professionals in Nanaimo advise against chopping off too much with do-it-yourself cuts.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C. health officer, ordered closure of hairdressing businesses on March 21, and residents in Nanaimo have been left to their own haircutting devices since then. Dave Lawrence, That 50’s Barbershop owner, and Sarah Hegedus, stylist at Kiyo Hair Salon and Day Spa in Nanaimo are both itching to get back behind the chair and say some things are better left to the pros.
Lawrence recommends not doing it yourself, as it is very difficult to do.
“There’s just so many angles of doing it yourself, or even [having] other people attempting to do it that aren’t trained … I know for most guys it absolutely drives them nuts if their neck hair gets too long, so that’s fine to use a little trimmer. It’s one of those things that is an easy fix,” said Lawrence. “To do the neck hair, or even just your sideburn area, or maybe even slightly over the ear, and just doing something somewhat little will make you feel so much better and will help out for the time being.”
Hegedus says she’s been receiving a lot of messages from clients asking for advice.
“When it comes to colour, I just say, try to find a pigmented root spray [or] wear a hat,” she said. “But when it comes to cutting, I totally get it. Having bangs, it gets in your eyes right away, so just a little bit at a time, try to leave it for me because we’re all in this together.”
In terms of tips for men, she suggested having someone trusted use trimmers on the neckline and sideburns, cutting a little bit at a time.
“When it comes to bangs, small sections, take off a millimetre at a time,” she said. “It’s never going in and hacking off as much as you can.”
With people handling their own ‘dos, both Hegedus and Lawrence have seen some hilarious results.
“People are going for that drastic crisis change…” said Hegedus. “As hairdressers, [we find that] people generally want to change when they aren’t in control, so generally the more dire the situation, the more drastic and extreme they feel they need to go. Right now it’s just all about getting over that feeling that you need to change and just going with the flow until it’s safe.”
Lawrence said customers and friends have sent him pictures of their own home haircuts.
“Some people have a little bit of an idea and they know how to do a little bit, maybe, and they can do an OK job,” he said. “And then there’s the ones that are just completely terrible hatchet jobs. The only thing to do is to shave the person’s head to make that look better. So it’s been quite entertaining on that front, for sure.”
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