Reopening Guidelines: Our COVID-19 Salon Plan
On Monday, Leila and I returned to the salon to discuss adjustments, go through processes, and finalize our COVID-19 Salon Plan. As you can see from the previous posts, there will be many adjustments. I am going to walk you through our plan, including content from the previous parts in this series, while detailing our salon’s specific plan.
Preparing to go to your appointment:
Self screen for COVID symptoms before leaving for your appointment, including fever (via thermometer), cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, muscle aches, and new loss of sense of smell. Check that your feet have no new changes to color or unexplained blisters. If you find that you have any of these symptoms, let us know right away. Technicians will also be doing this each day before going to work.
Call to reschedule if you are ill, were recently ill, or were recently exposed to COVID-19. There will be no cancellation charge for appointments that are canceled prior to start time. Appointments that are not canceled, and become no-shows, will be charged at full price.
Bring a face covering. You will be required to put it on before entering the building. We are not allowing valves on masks, as they let droplets through, providing very little protection to those around you.
Know that we cannot allow any additional people in the salon. Even if you live in the same household, we cannot allow partners, friends, etc to wait. If you have a back to back appointment with your friend or family member, you will still need to wait in your car or elsewhere outside the salon. If you need assistance to get to and from your appointment, we will of course allow your helper to do that. Anyone assisting will need to comply with the same guidelines as clients. They will not be able to wait in the salon.
In order to improve air circulation, we will be keeping our windows open whenever possible. Please dress accordingly.
Do not bring anything with you that isn’t critical. You will not have access to personal items during your appointment.
Plan to arrive not more than 5 minutes before your appointment. We will not be able to let you wait in the salon.
Arriving to the building:
Ensure your face covering is on. It must cover your nose and mouth throughout your appointment. Because you must have your face covered, we will not be offering or allowing any food or beverages during your appointment.
Enter through the front door and take the elevator to the 9th floor. If it is after six on weekdays or any time on weekends, enter at 1913 4th Ave. next to Ace Hardware. Look for L Klein on the call box, and we will buzz you in. Go through two sets of glass doors, down the ramp on your left, and take the elevators on your left up to the ninth floor. We’re in Suite 935, to your right as you exit the elevator.
Knock on our door to let us know you have arrived. Our door will be locked to control access to the salon.
Before entering the salon, we will screen you for COVID symptoms: fever (via touch-less thermometer), cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, muscle aches, new loss of sense of smell or taste, changes to feet, or known exposure to COVID. If you have any of these, even if they are from allergies, we cannot let you into the salon and will reschedule your appointment.
When we enter the salon, you will be asked to place any personal items in a designated location, to prevent handling throughout the service. This means you will not have access to your phone until the service is complete, so please do plan accordingly.
We will have a client log, where we will track each client’s name, date, time, phone, and email information for each client. This will assist in contact tracing, should it become relevant. This is good information for us to have anyhow, in case we need to contact you about changes to your appointment.
In the salon:
While it is important to maintain 6’ distance from others in a salon unless during service, we will only have one technician and one client in the salon at any time.
Clients must wash hands for a minimum of 20 seconds, following proper hand washing techniques, before starting any service. Additionally, we expect to provide nail brushes to get under the fingernails. Technicians will always wash hands between clients and after touching a potentially contaminated surface.
Clients must wear a cape or gown throughout all personal services. We will be providing a cape similar to ones in hair salons, which will of course be washed after it is used. Technicians will be wearing jackets, as usual, and will change them between each client.
Technicians will be sporting N95 masks, to protect from the extended exposure of working in close contact with clients throughout the day, as well as face shields. These items will help to protect both you and your technician from any potential exposures. As always, we will be wearing gloves for all services.
Payment should be with credit or debit card if at all possible. We have a fancy new payment system that will eliminate technician contact with cards. If you have a payment method on your phone, you will be able to just tap your phone.
As always, we will be following best practices in cleaning and disinfecting tools, equipment, and linens. Any porous items will be either offered for you to take or disposed of. All other tools are cleaned and disinfected (if they are plastic) or sterilized in an autoclave. Linens are used only once, then washed per WA law.
We always use EPA registered, virucidal disinfectants to disinfect furniture and equipment.
In the time designated between clients for enhanced cleaning, we will be disinfecting all surfaces that have had contact during that service, including knobs, sink, and buttons, along with all our standard cleaning. This additional time will also allow for increased air circulation between clients.
Should we have a known exposure:
We will follow best practices and address it head on. We will:
Close the salon and notify any existing appointments that they will be rescheduled.
Keep any exposed technicians at home for the recommended 2 weeks. This could potentially mean the salon closes for 2 weeks.
Use our client log to assist in contact tracing.
Deep clean the salon prior to reopening.
Other points to note:
We absolutely expect clients to notify us if they develop confirmed or suspected COVID within 2 weeks of their prior appointment.
We will be implementing some price adjustments, including raising manicure and pedicure prices by $5 each, as well as including a temporary PPE Surcharge of $15 for each visit. These adjustments will help us to cover our increased operational expenses from the additional equipment and time required to keep us all as safe as possible.