Close contact services including facials and eyebrow threading will now not be able to resume until August 15 at the earliest. This news comes just a few days before the number of suspected coronovirus cases doubled in the North West of England.
On July 17 Boris Johnson announced that spas and all the remaining beauty services could reopen on August 1. However following the Prime Minister’s coronavirus update on Friday, the government has postponed reopening remaining beauty services such as; eyelashes, eyebrows and threading until August 15th at the earliest.
“At every point I said the plan to reopen is conditional and we will not hesitate to put the brakes on,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. This uncertainity has left many
heartbroken beauty salon owners who say many in the business won’t survive yet more delays as the coronavirus crisis leaves them penniless.
Struggling beauty salons had just hours notice to cancel hundreds of appointments as they were told the lockdown easing would be delayed ‘at least’ another fortnight. The overturned decision by the government has spurred it’s most vocal opponents to accuse the government of sexism over the issue – pointing out men can get their beards trimmed by barbers, while services popular with women like brow shaping remain banned.
The whole beauty industry is worth an estimated £30billion to the UK economy annually and it is dominated by a female workforce offering however, increasingly with men too.
The government funded furlough scheme is expected to be significantly reduced at the end of August, meaning that business that were hanging on by a thread may completely close by the end of the month, heavily impacting the worth of the beauty industry in the UK.
The ongoing struggle with clarity is still alive and well. As of today the future of the beauty industry is still up in the air.
