Leeds hairdressers and beauty salon owners 'despair' over fears they will 'never recover' as industry kept closed until at least April in 'devastating' blow

Hairdressers and other beauty services such as beauticians, tattooists and sports and massage therapists, have not been open in Leeds since before the start of the third national lockdown at the beginning of January.

Now, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced today in the House of Commons that hairdressers and other close contact beauty services will not be allowed to reopen until April 12 at the earliest.

This is as part of the lockdown exit strategy roadmap, which will see schools reopening on March 8 as the first step of Boris Johnson's 'one way road to freedom'.

But, life does not look like it will be 'free' for a while for the owners of salons across the city, as they are concerned that their business will 'never fully recover' from nearly a whole year of missed work.

Izzy Crosby is the co-owner of 41 House of Hair in Oakwood in Leeds, and planned to open her newly built salon with her best friend Emma Harris in April last year.

Just five days after they had given up their jobs to open the new salon, the first national lockdown news hit and they weren't able to open.

The pair were able to trade for four months when restrictions were lifted, were closed again in November for the second national lockdown, and then had one last month of trading in December.

24-year-old Izzy is now in a state of 'despair', having had no Covid cases reported from her salon at all in the duration that they were open.

She said: "I don't understand what the government expect us to do and I despair.

"We are not entitled to any grants for the business as it has not been open long enough and I can't get any benefits at all because I live with my partner.

"Our clients have had to result in doing their colour at home again and we keep receiving messages from them begging for advice on how to fix their hair problems.

"In the short space of time we were open, all clients were wearing masks and staff were wearing visors and masks and we did all we could to keep a minimal amount of clients in the salon.

"We, and clients, felt comfortable and safe and we also had no reported Covid cases from the salon so I really think we should be allowed to open as soon as possible.

"The impact this has had on our industry is devastating and if we aren't allowed to open until after April, we will have only worked for around half of the year since opening our business."

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Melissa Rosenberg has been working in the beauty industry for over 20 years, and spent the year before the pandemic paying rent at a salon where she worked as a self-employed nail technician.

When the news of lockdown was announced last March, she handed in her notice as having no income meant she wouldn't be able to afford the salon's rent.

Instead, the mum-of-three had her own small salon built in her back garden, and was hoping to rely on business when she reopened to pay it off.

But, with over 20 weeks off work last year, and what is looking to be the same this year, Melissa's Covid-safe set up in her garden has so far not been able to be a success.

She added: "I'm disappointed we can't open, don't get me wrong, but of course the health of the country is most important.

"I've put money into a salon, which I now can't afford to pay off so I've paused all my payments on that but I couldn't pay rent with no income at the salon before.

"Support from the government has been so minimal and I've had around 20 weeks off work last year and it looks like that will be the same this year.

"I think we have to give kids the opportunity to have a good months worth of education and if things don't get worse then it's the right time for us to open after that month.

"I've got all the PPE in place that I can have, and a lot of my 'vulnerable' clients have now been immunised.

"I work one-on-one and there are only a maximum of two people ever in my salon so it's not like it's a busy environment.

"I just can't wait to be allowed to work and get back to making my clients happy."

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When hairdresser Jaime Payne is allowed to work, she works both from home and at HRH Hairdressing on King Lane in Leeds.

She says that being in a job which involves close contact is 'absolutely devastating for the industry' due to how long they have had to close for so far, and how long they will have to continue to stay closed for now.

Jaime added: "I just don't see how we are ever going to recover properly.

"I've missed nearly a year of working and now people have found that they can do their own hair because they had no option.

"They've turned to box dye for example and realised they can do more than what they thought themselves, so why wouldn't they carry on with that to save a few pounds?

"Whilst I've got a good clientele, I was quieter last time we were allowed to open and I've certainly lost elderly clients who don't feel comfortable.

"A lot of hairdressers have lost a lot of revenue but I do think it's the right decision not to allow close contact services at the moment if I'm thinking logically.

"I don't want to have to go back and then close again, but of course we are desperate to get back to work - everyone is."