Barbershops and salons open to ‘make SLO beautiful again’ after coronavirus closures
Many barbershops and salons in downtown San Luis Obispo are open again, and customers who have waited more than two months for a haircut are eager to get styled.
At Anderson’s Barber Shop, Ray Shearer said his phone has been “ringing off the hook” since opening at 8 a.m. Wednesday after the restrictions on hairstyling in San Luis Obispo County were lifted amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Shearer has cut hair for 50 years in the same location in the former Anderson Hotel at 953 Monterey St.
“I’ve never been off for two months before,” said Shearer, who jokes that his name predestined his career. “And more importantly, I’ve never gone two months where I wasn’t getting paid.”
Like other barbershops and salons in the city, Shearer is spacing out chairs six feet from each other.
Shearer sanitizes frequently, he said, and only takes appointments to discourage too many people from gathering inside the shop.
Customers and hair stylists both must wear masks under the state’s public health safety guidelines for barbers.
Sometimes people walk in with misshapen haircuts done at home during San Luis Obispo County’s shelter-in-place order, which began March 18, Shearer said.
“I’ve been fixing some patchy spots and uneven places where a wife or a friend or whoever tried to cut it,” said Shearer, who charges $23 a haircut. “My customers usually come in every four to six weeks. So many of them have waited two months, three months or more since they last came in.”
Customer Bob Nichols said he has come in to the shop every four to five weeks for about 20 years but couldn’t visit during the pandemic.
“I’ve been wearing a baseball cap for the last few weeks,” said the San Luis Obispo man after his gray hair received a closely cropped trim. “I was like a big, woolly sheep.”
SLO salon owners open for haircuts, coloring
A few blocks away at Salon 62, next to Linnaea’s Cafe, owner Kim Boege opened Thursday after conducting a training with her staff Wednesday to ensure sanitary conditions.
Boege said the number of chairs at her salon at 1112 Garden St. is half as many as usual. She’s employing four staff members, down from the usual seven or eight, and trying her best to respond to 84 texts, 132 emails and numerous calls for appointments.
“We’ve been working diligently to try to respond to everybody,” Boege said. “We’re only taking appointments, and we’re reminding everybody to wear masks when they come in.”
Some of her customers tried coloring their hair themselves, with varying degrees of success.
“Some told me they goofed it up and want to get it corrected,” Boege said.
Bluebird Salon owner Maryah Lilly said that she is booked solid for the next couple of weeks after opening Wednesday, and that they use new capes for each client, disinfecting for between 15 and 20 minutes between patron visits.
“Everything has to be pristine,” Lilly said. “... The first day of wearing a mask was a little weird, but after the first hour or so, you get used to it.”
Transitioning back
At The Ritual at 781 Higuera St. in San Luis Obispo, barber and store co-owner Sammy Mejia said he’s been fixing the funky home trims that he calls “quarantine cuts.” The hair salon was booked for appointments through the middle of next week.
“We’re here to help make SLO beautiful again,” Mejia said, smiling.
His wife and co-owner, Brittany Brown, said the feeling of being open again is “awesome.” The retail clothing side of the store reopened last week.
“We basically spent two months using (the e-commerce tool) Shopify to create an online store during the pandemic,” Brown said. “We did it all ourselves and it was very time-consuming. We spent 45 days every single day setting it up. But it’s great to have that now too.”
Todd LeMay, owner of The Bladerunner Salon & Day Spa, said his shop opens at 741 Higuera St. in San Luis Obispo on Monday. Hairstyling will be available at that time, he said, but spa services such as facials, body waxing, and massage therapy are still on hold under county guidelines.
“All of our hairstylists will be back,” LeMay said. “Our aesthetician is able to cut hair as well, so she’ll focus on that until her other services are able to resume.”
The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was hard-hitting, as rents come due.
“My landlord was understanding, and he let me delay,” Shearer said. “But the rent is still due, and I didn’t have income for two months. I can’t cut twice as much hair over the next two months.”
This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
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