Beauty industry 'completely forgotten about' in government lockdown plans

Jennifer Lowery runs Rose Aesthetics Yorkshire, where she offers treatments including fillers, permanent makeup, scar reduction and stretchmark reduction.

Because of the technical nature of her work, she says her salon was using personal protective equipment and industry-standard cleaning solutions long before the coronavirus pandemic.

Under current government rules, hairdressers, barbers, restaurants and pubs will be allowed to open from this weekend, providing they follow social distancing guidelines.

But beauty salons such as Jennifer's must remain closed, and no date for their reopening has yet been confirmed.

She said: "My premises actually carries a licence issued by Wakefield Council to say that the risk of infection and cross-contamination is as low as possible.

"It's probably one of the safest and cleanest and most sterile environments that you can walk into. It's having a devastating impact on businesses and families and people's finances.

"I think it's down to a misunderstanding around what our procedures actually are. They don't realise that we're highly skilled and we have to carry a license.

"We have a physical inspection by Environmental Health. PPE is my standard practice. I use medical grade disinfectant, the same that is used in hospitals.

"We seem to have been completely forgotten about."

Jennifer said she was excited to see other businesses begin reopening, but believed the importance of her work had been overlooked.

"I absolutely celebrate other industries getting back," she said. "But it seems absolutely outrageous that pubs and hairdressers can open while we can't.

"Something people are really missing is self-care. It enormously compromises people's confidence.

"Helping people look good and feel good about themselves. It massively changes their feeling of self-confidence and self worth.

"After every single appointment the clients personally thank me for doing a personal job. And that's something that no other industry gets."

A spokesperson for the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: “We are taking a phased, cautious approach to reopening our economy and we want to reopen closed businesses as soon as possible, once we’re confident they are able to operate in a COVID-secure way.

"This is particularly important for close contact services such as beauty salons, which can often pose a greater risk of transmission due to prolonged periods of face-to-face contact.

“Businesses including beauty salons can continue to access our extensive package of financial support to help them through this difficult period.”