Covid-19: from hairdressing salon to traveling haircut
In Brussels, where hairdressing salons have been closed since the beginning of November, hairdressers are becoming itinerant.
AFP - NICOLAS MAETERLINCK
Text by: Sabine Cessou Follow |
Sabine Cessou Follow
5 mins
With the Covid-19 pandemic, a number of hairdressers in Brussels, closed since the beginning of November, are reinventing their profession by working from home.
Among them, Abdou *, Belgian hairdresser of Senegalese origin, became itinerant.
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This hairstylist and barber in his forties with a slender silhouette, agreed to testify anonymously, because he operates in an “
underground
” way, not to say illegal.
He closed his salon like all the others in early November, at the start of the second confinement decreed in Belgium in 2020, but he chose to work differently.
Not like in March, when he had been inactive.
He then obtained “Passerelle” assistance from the State, which he does not intend to ask for again for the current period, since he has more work than normal.
“
Fortunately, I saw Abdou before confinement, otherwise I would look like a yeti,
” testifies one of his clients, whose dreadlocks will need maintenance before spring.
Hairdressers, beauticians, bars and restaurants ... Nothing in the so-called “contact” trades should reopen before February, and pessimists expect a spring similar to that of 2020 - confined.
Caver lamp as light
Equipped with a caver lamp screwed to his head, Abdou combs his hair at home with his light, to be sure he can see what he is doing.
“
I see clients at their homes, which I did before, a service that I offered for weddings, events, artists and athletes.
I have a work kit to get around and I do cuts, colors and brushings, for men, women and children, afro hair or not.
I do everything except the braids, that doesn't interest me
”.
The big change, for Abdou, is to no longer do more than work from home, traveling for his appointments with his usual clientele, which has grown through word-of-mouth.
His prices have remained the same, around 30 euros for a men's cut, to which he adds 10 euros for travel.
"
I'm booked,
" notes Abdou, who is not afraid of being contaminated by the coronavirus.
He puts on the mask and washes his hands, but cannot socialize with his clients when looking after their heads.
Especially since some have to remove their mask, when it has to make them beard.
On January 9, 2021, he started his day at 10:30 am, to end it at 9:00 pm, moving to different districts of Brussels.
He also happens to go to Antwerp, the city where he arrived with his parents at the age of 8, where he grew up and trained in his profession, "
European-style hairdressing with European hair.
".
He learned to cut the frizzy hair of his African and Afro-descendant clientele from a self-taught uncle, then by going to an Amsterdam salon run by Surinamese, who give trainings for short periods, once a week for six weeks.
A hairdressing "Uber"
The only thing he misses, he explains, is his barber's chair.
For the rest, he thinks he has become an “Uber” in hairdressing, and is thinking of transforming his art in the long term, by investing in a “Hairdressing truck”.
He has noticed that this system is more comfortable for the clients, who he asks to shampoo themselves, before his arrival.
An online appointment booking system would allow him to work by traveling, inviting clients to come to a mobile lounge that would park at the foot of their door, and where he would have his chair, his light and all his instruments.
“
It may take years to get back to normal and nothing will be the same again
,” he thinks.
Is he the only one to operate in this way?
“
All the hairdressers work in Brussels except one I was told about, who is depressed and too afraid of catching Covid-19,
” he says.
For him, it is “
incomprehensible that the government has made the decision that people do not comb their hair for months, when stores and public transport are crowded.
The people who make these decisions have their hair cut
”.
He wonders about the circulation of the virus in hairdressing salons.
“
Between the two confinements, we only took one person at a time, and the waiting rooms were empty, people coming only by appointment
”.
It was not contaminated by Covid-19, but is being stimulated by the pandemic, which highlights the gaps in the market.
“
Afro hair training is lacking in Belgium, where autodidacts are very numerous.
Those who want to improve must go to London or Amsterdam to progress
”.
For him, clearly, “
there is a market to be taken
”.
* His first name has been changed at his request.
►Our Covid series: disrupted professions can be found here
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