These are the new safety measures you must follow as beauty salons reopen - and the services that won’t be allowed

Beauty salons and nail bars will be able to reopen from Monday 13 July in England, with new safety measures in place and limited services available (Photo: Shutterstock)Beauty salons and nail bars will be able to reopen from Monday 13 July in England, with new safety measures in place and limited services available (Photo: Shutterstock)
Beauty salons and nail bars will be able to reopen from Monday 13 July in England, with new safety measures in place and limited services available (Photo: Shutterstock)

Beauty salons and nail bars will be able to reopen from Monday 13 July in England, with new safety measures in place and limited services available.

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Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden announced the news at a press conference on Thursday 9 July, stressing that beauty salons must open safely and in line with government guidance.

Here are the new safety measures in place - and treatments that won’t be allowed.

What new safety measures will be in place?

The government has issued new guidance for beauty salons to ensure they are COVID-19 secure when they open.

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This includes social distancing measures and increased hygiene practices.

Businesses will also need to keep records of staff and customers, in case these details need to be shared with NHS Test and Trace.

Some of the new guidelines include:

  • Wearing further protective equipment when two metres social distancing cannot be maintained
  • Avoiding skin-to-skin contact and wearing gloves where it is not crucial to the service
  • Using screens or barriers to separate clients from each other, and to separate practitioners from clients, such as in nail salons
  • Making sure limited and fixed numbers of workers work together if they have to be in close proximity to do their jobs
  • Operate appointment-only booking systems to restrict the number of customers at any one time
  • Increased handwashing and hygiene practices, including disposable equipment where possible
  • Allowing for space between customers, and not allowing food or drink to be consumed by customers - except for water
  • Keeping the activity time involved to a minimum

What services won’t be allowed in beauty salons?

Although beauty salons will be able to reopen from 13 July and services such as nail treatments and waxes will resume, no treatments on the face will be permitted, as this is considered a ‘high-risk zone’.

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Treatments in the “high-risk zone” are those carried out directly in front of the client’s face, which put people at higher risk of spreading COVID-19.

These include face waxing and threading, eyelash and eyebrow treatments and microblading.

Dowden said: "Having allowed hairdressers to reopen, beauticians, tattooists, spas, tanning salons and other close contact services can now do the same, I'm pleased to say, from Monday.

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"Of course that will be subject to some restrictions on particularly high-risk services."

Hilary Hall, chief executive of the National Hair & Beauty Federation, said: “We don’t yet have a date for when treatments in the ‘high-risk zone’ will be allowed, and so will continue to push hard for more financial and business support for those in beauty who cannot yet return to work.

“This is essential to protect people’s livelihoods and our industry’s future.

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“We will keep working closely with government officials, alongside other industry bodies, to get these businesses open as soon as it’s safe to do so.”

Beard trimming will be permitted, providing that services are simple beard trims, thinning or removing bulk or length, which can be done using either clippers or scissors.