JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Weeks after state and local stay-at-home orders closed their businesses, hair stylists and barbers in Mississippi are struggling financially.
And frustration grows as some owners and workers navigate the state’s overwhelmed unemployment system to file for benefits and others face citations and warnings for attempting to open their doors despite orders intended to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
On Monday (May 4), a group of 15 salon owners sent a petition to Gov. Tate Reeves and his Restart Mississippi task force to express concern about salons not being allowed to reopen.
“While dentists and their hygienists, are working in mouths, and doctors are giving Botox injections and providing other elective services, hairstylists are forbidden to give a haircut or paint a little color on a person’s head,” Jennifer Ellis of Jennifer James Studio of Ridgeland said in the letter on behalf of the owners.
More than 7,800 people in Mississippi have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and over 300 have died.
Reeves first issued a statewide stay-at-home order on April 3 requiring all nonessential businesses, including salons and barbershops, to close. Reeves said Monday at his daily briefing that barbers and hair stylists must stay closed, but that he would use some federal Cares Act funds to try to help barbers and stylists financially.
Although she is unable to make a living at her craft, hair stylist Paige Cockrell said hair salons, barbershops, nail salons and others must adhere to orders to remain closed.
Cockrell has been unable to work for about a month at Kirkland Studio in downtown Jackson, which specializes in hair restoration for cancer patients and others suffering hair loss.
She has also been unable to collect unemployment benefits.
“Everyone I have talked to in the hair service industry said they haven’t been able to get through to file for unemployment and no one has has gotten anything,” said Cockrell.
BARBER SHOPS, SALON DEFY ORDERS
Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, who also ordered a stay-at-home mandate for his city on April 3, said recently if the city is aware of such businesses opening in violation of city and state orders, the businesses will face possible fines.
Business owners, Lumumba said, must take personal responsibility not to open in violation of city and state orders.
Despite the threat of fines, reports of barber shops and salons opening have surfaced.
On April 27, Madison police warned a hair salon in that city about being open to customers.
Family Barber owner Mike Land has now seeking an injunction in federal court in Jackson seeking to reopen.
A Grenada beauty supply business owner said in a social media post Wednesday he was cited by the city that day for being open in violation of the governor’s order. Emad Eid said he considers his business to be essential and he will continue to remain open.
Also, a hair salon and barber shop on I-55 in north Jackson reportedly had customers inside on Wednesday. The shop owner said he was only cutting family members’ hair, according to published reports.
WILL BARBERS AND HAIR SALON BUSINESSES SURVIVE?
Jackson barbershop co-owner Perez Atkinson said he was on the phone once for 90 minutes, again for four and a half hours and then six hours trying to get through to apply for unemployment. He is a third-generationa barber.
Atkinson said it’s tough not being able to work and he fears once they are allowed to go back to work, customers won’t come back immediately.
“It’s so frustrating,” Atkinson said.
Atkinson said it could be three months after barbershops reopen before customers feel safe to return. He said he has been busy cleaning his barbershop as he awaits the governor’s order allowing barbershops to reopen.
“We own our property, but some shops are paying monthly rent,” Atkinson said. “Some may not survive.”
Reeves’ “safer-at-home” order which went into effect April 27 allowed some Mississippi retailers to reopen with restrictions that they can’t have more than 50% capacity at any given time inside the businesses.
But the new order said gyms, barber shops, hair and nail salons and tattoo parlors are among those that should remain closed.
The “safer at home” order replaced a “stay-at-home” order that had been in effect since April 3.
Reeves said his concern with allowing businesses, including barber shops and hair salons, to immediately reopen is that there must be physical contact to perform the services.
In early April, Brookhaven barber Eugene Thompson,46, died from COVID-19. After his death, Thompson’s family urged people to practice social distancing.
HAIR SALONS SCHEDULING APPOINTMENTS
A Ridgeland hair salon had said it was planning to reopen May 1, but that was prior to Reeves’ new order. However, Noggins Salon in Ridgeland is sending messages to customers urging them to schedule appointments now for when the business reopens.
“We are restocked and ready to open. The moment we can open you will be called, texted and emailed to confirm your appointment,” Noggins Salon said in a Facebook post. “You can still book online through our website for future appointments beyond the orders expiration.”
Similar to Noggins, Cockrell said she has been contacting Kirkland’s customers to keep in touch when the time come for the business to reopen. Once the business reopens, she said it won’t have customers sitting in the waiting room. Also, she said said Kirkland has individual work areas for stylists.
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