With salons and beauty parlours opening up in Tiruchi city on Sunday, several hairdressers hiked the rates for their services. “We are unable to afford disposable aprons, sanitisers and disinfectants without charging the customer for it,” they say.

Salons were allowed to open in areas other than municipalities on Tuesday, and those in the city started functioning on Sunday. A series of guidelines have been given to the shop owners on maintaining personal hygiene and regular disinfection. Although most have agreed to follow them, they said that the operational costs would be affected.

Speaking to The Hindu, P. Dharmalingam, Secretary, Tiruchi District Barbers’ Association, said that they have been asked to disinfect their shop at least five times a day, provide sanitisers and hand wash soaps. Each customer must also be given a cloth apron which would be disposed of after the service is completed, he said.

Cloth coverings costing ₹30 each have been purchased in bulk by the hairdressers. “We have no choice. All these things cost money and the customer has to bear the brunt,” he said.

The Tiruchi District Barbers’ Association fixes the prices for haircuts and had last hiked the prices in 2017, when they decided that they would charge ₹180 at air-conditioned shops and ₹140 at other shops. The prices are revised every three years and in 2020, if not for the pandemic, the prices would have been hiked to ₹200, Mr. Dharmalingam. “We are still charging the customer only ₹200, even at this time with all the cost additions,” he said.

Of the 30 people who visited a hair salon in Thillai Nagar, 15 were men who had, during the course of the lockdown period, attempted to self-style themselves. “They came asking me to fix their mess-up,” laughed U. Raja, a hairdresser. Many men, especially youth had tried to cut their hair with trimmers, he said. Some men had also asked their wives or sisters to cut their hair and the results were quite bad.

Some 100 shops in the city were not allowed to open as they had been sealed by authorities during the lockdown.

“These hairdressers had opened their shops because they were unable to afford even one meal a day for their families. The authorities must pardon them and allow them to function,” Mr. Dharmalingam said.

Some hairdressers however, had violated norms. Although most wore facemasks and aprons, gloves were rarely worn. “It is difficult to comb the hair and trim correctly with gloves on. These norms are quite unreasonable,” a hairdresser said. The man had air conditioning on too, and said that in the scorching heat, it was not possible to function without it. “The fans are not practical and in a salon, hair would fly everywhere,” he added.

Women’s beauty parlours too, saw customers rushing to have their eyebrows trimmed and arms and legs waxed. “For three months I could not have my hair waxed. It had become so itchy and unpresentable. I’m so glad the shops have opened now,” said M. Rani, an IT professional.

Some women had also visited the parlours before Eid on Monday. “Even though we cannot visit our relatives, we are happy that we will at least look good in the photographs which we will share on our WhatsApp groups,” two women at a parlour in Woraiyur said.