Unkindest cut could return comb-overs and Brylcream

How do you fancy having to cut your kids’ and your own hair at the kitchen table, just like the old days?

Over-restrictive and impractical post-lockdown hairdressing regulations could see many premises stay closed, local owners say.

Home haircuts from the 1930s could again become the order of the day, they believe, unless more realistic guidelines are set by the NSW Government. (See our doctored photos on this page showing what our post-COVID-19 haircut future could look like for our elected betters!)

So, what does our stylish, fashion-conscious, 21st century teenager fancy from Mum or Dad, the home-hairdresser, or barber?

How about the lopsided 1980s “mullet”? A modern classic that recalls Richard Dean Anderson picking locks with his girlfriend’s hair-clip to escape South American drug lords in “MacGyver”!

Or the rather technically-simple (easy), “short, back and sides” from the 1960s, “favoured” (if that is the correct word) by sometimes-unwilling Army recruits during the Vietnam War?

Or let’s go to that old standby, the “bowl cut”? Wherein, a large soup bowl is placed on the subject’s head, and all hair sticking out the sides is trimmed unevenly with a pair of home scissors!

In the far-off 1970s, parents would occasionally just use a razer to trim all their son’s hair off to a close crop, which usually led to merciless bullying at school, but it was very good for head lice control!

Putting five-people limits on all local salons after reopening is the unkindest cut of all, local member Phil Donato said.

Hair dressers are one of those very typical small businesses that have been disproportionately affected by the lockdowns, quarantines and restrictive trading rules since we first encountered COVID-19 in February last year, he said.

“The Government’s roadmap to freedom is just a mish-mash, a mess... there’s no certainty and no assurances,” Mr Donato said.

“I just don’t want to see them keep moving the goalposts,” he added.

He believes that, despite majority vaccination levels for the adult population, “unelected health bureaucrats” are still holding too much sway over our lives and it’s time for people to be able to reclaim their freedom.

“We’re now approaching 70 per cent vaccination rates, we should be winding back and letting people get on with their lives,” he added.

“Many of the Government’s new trade restrictions are subject to the four-square-metre rule, however in the case of hairdressing and nail salons, that is capped at a maximum of five people – irrespective of the total area of the individual salon.

“On the other hand, pubs are not limited to a maximum number of patrons, so long as they stick to the four-square-metre rule.”

Mr Donato was supported by two of Orange’s hard-working local salon owners who believe that the single-digit limit on both customers and staff for all salons just won’t fly.

“Having it capped at five simply isn’t practical,” Teegan Wing from Studio Desire said. “We just want a fair go just like any other businesses, we want the four-square-metre rule like anyone else,” she said.

“All our clients are seated, and we practice very high standards... we’re not like pubs with people walking around, we don’t have clients intoxicated.

“If we had poker machines, we’d be open alright,” she added.

Fellow hairdresser Jessica Lamrock said that the five-people limit won’t allow enough customers and staff to make business viable. “It was like last year, their (short-lived) 30-miniute haircut rule, it just doesn’t make sense,” she said.

“I’ve got seven staff all stood down... what makes hairdressers different to other businesses is that we’ve had the goal posts moved further,” Jessica added.

Mr Donato, however, had the final word on the home haircut revolution. “Actually, my wife cut my hair in the shower the other day.”