Beauty Salons Are Reopening, But the Risk Is Real
This situation highlights the lack of security in our industry
The salon industry’s job growth has consistently outperformed the overall economy in 11 of the past 14 years. It is touted as a career that offers you the ability to be your own boss, travel, and connect with clients, forging relationships across racial lines and class differences. That growth may falter in the wake of Covid-19’s catastrophic impact, particularly Black and Hispanic communities around the country. The results disproportionately put marginalized workers into the crosshairs of the demands of richer — and often White—clientele.
Black and Latino business owners in the beauty industry are far more likely to be self-employed, more likely to be rejected from federal funding, and less likely to receive government assistance during this crisis. They have fewer resources to fall back on, as it’s also known that African Americans have less intergenerational wealth, which means the pressure to reopen is high. Worse, the likelihood of dying from doing so after being exposed in a setting where it is impossible to socially distance, is also much higher.
Because of these challenges, many stylists have begun banding together to create guidelines for local and state officials with the hopes that their…
