Salons Take Covid Seriously: Shelene Shaer, Prashen Chetty & Baylee Strike Speak Out

With cases surging, three leading hairstylists – Shelene Shaer of Tanaz, Prashen Chetty of Silver Clippers Hair and Beauty Salon, and Baylee Strike of BStriking Hair Design, explain how they have stayed away from work and even closed their doors, in order to help manage their own safety and the safety of their clients, during the pandemic.

Baylee Strike

Baylee Strike of BStriking Hair Design, Durban, explained on social media:

“So as you all know and if you don’t know yet... I am a high risk patient. I opened Bstriking because I need a safe environment to work from - and with the rise in cases on a daily basis and the presidential speech last night, we have decided to extend our holiday till the 15th of Jan 2021 to help curb the infections and keep our staff and clients safe.

This does NOT MEAN I am closing my salon - it means I am taking an extra holiday and isolating during this time. By doing this I am hopefully saving my clients’ lives and myself.

Thank you so much for the support and if there is anything needed please don’t hesitate to contact me directly.

Baylee - BSTRIKING HAIR DESIGN

074 822 5624.”

Prashen Chetty

“The reason I closed Silver Clippers for two weeks, was there were a lot of clients coming in with family members who tested positive for Covid-19, and I did not want to chance anything. I rather made the decision to close for a time. With so many people coming to Durban for the holidays there was always going to be a surge, and I also had a premonition that tighter lockdown restrictions were coming” Prashen explains.

Shelene Shaer

Speaking from self-isolation due to quarantine, Shelene Shaer of Tanaz explains:

We have a responsibility with the people we work and to the industry. I am shocked at how many people disrespect this disease – whether you believe in it or not is irrelevant. This is not an “I” but a “we” situation, at no point can we think only about ourselves.

The next two weeks are going to be very concerning. When people come back from holiday we are going to have a ton of positive people who might not even know they are sick. Rules and regulations must be followed more than ever.

I had a client last week whose hair I have been doing for a very long time. This client was keen to remove their mask during the service but I insisted it must say on. That is the problem with long term clients and the familiarity in the relationship – people know each other and feel comfortable with each other – I got a call from this client two days later to say they had just tested positive for Covid and were very grateful that we had followed all the rules.

In this pandemic, we can look for the negative or the positive, and there is a lot of positive. Most importantly, although business has got slower, it has got stronger. The clients that we are seeing are getting superb, one on one service, and I have actually startedto ot get referrals based on this. Improved customer service is something we keep speaking about over the years and this has forced us to do what we have always been meaning to!

I have been following a lot of international hairdressers and you don’t feel so isolated and angry with your own government or community when you are reminded it is a global challenge. It has alleviated my stress to keep up with what people are experiencing internationally and to see the bigger picture.