CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — Salons across Northeast Ohio remain cautious, yet prepared ahead of Gov. Mike DeWine's May 1 reopening announcement.
Marcy Cona's salon has been a mainstay in the town for nearly 40 years.
And she does not like seeing the chair empty and the salon waiting room quiet.
"I miss our team," she said. "I miss them."
The thought of her employees not working, not being in the salon made her tear up.
Cona employees 48 people. She knows the empty chairs means empty paychecks. So when the salon closed it's doors on March 16, Cona started working on a plan to reopen.
"It is a protection of our team. Our team has to feel confident and reassured as well," she said.
To protect everyone Cona's employees at MC Salon, Spa and Studio will wear face masks, gloves and disposable capes.
But, she knows contact is unavoidable in a salon.
"What we're doing is ensuring that guest to guest are six feet away," she said. "Staff to staff are six feet away." While the salon has been closed, Cona had a plexi-glass barrier installed around the checkout counter.
Waverly Willis is dealing with the same thing at his barbershop in Cleveland.
"We're going to have to do a serious cleaning regimen," he said. "Everybody is going to be on rotation. If somebody is not cutting hair, they are going to be cleaning."
This is Willis' second barbershop. It's been open for six years. He said a lot has changed in the last month including his plan for walk-ins.
"If (a customer) can't get in to a chair immediately, we're going to have to take his name and number down," Willis said.
Then that customer would have to wait until a chair is free.
On Sunday night, all Cona and Willis could do was wait for the announcement for Governor DeWine. But Cona said all the precautions were worth it for her employees. "It's beyond the physical transformation of a haircut," she said. "It's about how one feels about themselves."
