Staffers at a beauty parlour in Lalbaug wear safety overalls as they open for customers Sunday. (Photo by Nirmal Harindran)

After being shut for over three months, salons, beauty parlours and barber shops across Mumbai reopened on Sunday with heightened safety measures.

Social distancing, regular sanitisation and Aarogya Setu app are the three major practices that salons and beauty parlours have decided to opt for as they resume operations.

The state government on Thursday had decided to reopen such units provided they do not offer any skin-related services and limit themselves to haircut, hair dying and waxing among others.

Salons and parlour owners on Sunday said that although the footfall was low compared to other Sundays before the lockdown was imposed, they are looking forward to serving their customers by following government’s norms.

Krupa Manik, the manager of Enrich, said from their Churchgate outlet: “We can attend 10 customers at one time, but keeping social distancing in mind, we are attending only five at a time.” However, the Aarogya Setu app is compulsory for every customer who enters the outlet.

“We check the temperature of the customers at the entrance. They are then given gloves, shoe covers, masks and certain other things that are disposed after their use,” Manik said.

While the employees of salons and beauty parlours are covering themselves with personal protective equipment, other precautions are also being taken.

“We are using disposable equipment as much as we can. We are repeatedly sanitising the seats, scissors, combs and machines,” said Mohamed Ahtesham, an employee of Hairnest men spa in Mulund.

He added that he opened his salon at 9 am on Sunday and since then has been constantly getting calls for advance bookings. “In the initial four hours, we must have got at least 50 calls from customers either inquiring whether we are open or for fixing an appointment. We are serving only three at a time for now.”

Ram Harsh Sen, who runs Harsh salon in Juhu, said he received 25 patrons on Sunday. “Many people have started calling in the last few days, asking when we will reopen,” he said.

He only provided hair-cutting service on Sunday, taking 15 to 20 minutes per customer and making the rest wait outside the building in their cars. “We are following the basic safety measures like using sanitiser, gloves and masks,” he said.

Many salons and parlours, however, opted to remain closed owing to less manpower. A salon owner from the eastern suburbs said, “I have not generated any revenue in the last three months… I wanted to open today but all my staffers have left for their native places. I have reached out to them and am expecting them to return in the next couple of days.”

Staffers also said that they had to invest more time on customers to restyle their hair. Ahtesham said, “Almost all the customers that showed up had cut their hair at homes in the last three months. They are not professionals, due to which, we had to make extra effort to restyle their hair.”

He added that reporting back to work feels like Eid to him. “Usually, we are excited and fight with our employers to go on leave, but this morning I was excited to come back to work. The feeling was as good as Eid,” he said.