Tallahassee salons open after weeks of closed doors

May 11, 2020

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) -- Chairs are filling and hair dryers are blowing as hair salons in Tallahassee open doors.

On Monday, hair salons and barbers joined the list of industries allowed to open back up in Florida.

One of those is Haute Headz in Midtown. The salon started welcoming clients right away on Monday, but implementing a number of changes.

Monique Wood, one of the salon owners, says they have preparing for this day since they closed nearly six weeks ago, doing things like spacing out stations and adjusting scheduled and appointments.

This weekend, that preparation went in to overdrive.

"We were up here all weekend long, because we got the news late Friday evening," Wood said. "We were here, probably, two 12-hour days, all day Saturday and all day Sunday, preparing to get the salon open and make sure it was sanitized and ready to go."

Every person entering the building has their temperature taken by salon staff. They're also adding extra sanitizing, cleaning each station and tool after every use.

All employees and clients are wearing masks and each station is spaced out at least six feet apart for social distancing recommendations.

Stylist B Kaufmann says the extra measures are easy to implement, because the industry already has a lot of the sanitation practices in place.

"It's a lot quieter, we're more spaced out. It's a little more intimate so I kind of like it, I can still talk with our clients and be with our clients," Kaufmann said. "It's a lot more spaced out, we just want to make our clients feel most comfortable."

Kaufmann added that while some customers might not be ready to come back, many people are. Her appointments are booked up through the next month.

Wendy Miller is one of the clients ready to get back in the chair.

She's been coming to Haute Headz as long as she can remember, and says this time is more than just a hair cute. It's like therapy.

"This makes all the difference in how you feel," Miller said. "We talked about our dogs. My husband just had surgery, we talked about that, going to TMH. So really important, it's like back to normal."

Wood says while they are grateful to be be open again, they're hoping this is just the start.

"I hope maybe with time we can go back. I don't know if it will ever be back the way it was, I just don't know. But safety comes first," Wood said.

The salon has ordered 1,000 masks for clients and staff. They also have hand sanitizer stations, ordered from Proof Brewery in Tallahassee.