Panchkula: Roadside barber shows the way\, wears PPE kit to avoid close shave with coronavirus

Panchkula: Roadside barber shows the way, wears PPE kit to avoid close shave with coronavirus

The barbers also ensure that other grooming equipment like scissors, combs, and blades are clean and sanitized.

Written by Jagpreet Singh Sandhu | Panchkula | Published: May 31, 2020 9:55:06 am
Hairdressers in PPE kit at Sector 9 in Panchkula, Saturday. Express

Mohammad Tasin, 37, a barber, who has been giving haircuts and shaving beards of Panchkula residents under a Gulmohar tree, on the roadside at Sector 9, for the past 20 years was forced to temporarily shut down his open salon due to the lockdown. But Tasin is now back at the same spot, this time wearing PPE kit.

As the number of customers starts picking up slowly, Tasin and his younger brother, Mohammad Azam, 22, expect to get back their Sunday rush of customers. “We shut down on March 22, and started working again only on May 29. Though there are not many customers right now, but hopefully the customers will increase on Sunday, when people are free and have a holiday. Many who have started coming to us like that we are wearing PPE kits”, said Tasin.

Asked about how did they think of wearing PPE kits, Tasin said, “I knew that people are afraid of contracting the virus, even though the lockdown has been relaxed. Like doctors wear PPE kits to avoid spread of the virus, I also thought of buying two kits, which cost me Rs 1000 each.”

He added, “My brother and I wear the PPE kit for the whole day. We begin working at 8 am and continue till 6 pm. Though it is difficult to wear it the whole day in the sun, but for our safety and for customer satisfaction, we will have to.”

Meanwhile, several passersby in the area approached the shop, after watching the working while donning PPE kits.

“My father was moving from this market in the morning and he saw them wearing PPE kits, which appeared to be safe. My father then took me along, and we both got a hair cut from him, which was pending since January,” said Sudhir Gilhotra, a resident of Sector 8, and Tasin’s customer.

The barbers also ensure that other grooming equipment like scissors, combs, and blades are clean and sanitized. Tasin’s open shop also seems to safer to people as social distancing norms are more easily followed in the area than in a closed shop. “I will recommend my friends to come to him to get a haircut,” added Gilhotra.