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Berlin (dpa) - Chairs are going crazy, partitions are being put up and dispensers are being filled with disinfectant - preparations for many hairdressing salons are in full swing before they reopen next Monday.
"The anticipation is great - with customers and their hairdressers alike," said the general manager of the Central Association of the German Hairdressing Trade, Jörg Müller.
The companies are prepared for the onslaught of customers.
On the other hand, there is frustration among many beauticians, whose shops continue to stay.
The hairdressing salons have been closed since mid-December because of the pandemic, and in spring 2020 they had to close.
In between, the companies were only allowed to open in compliance with strict conditions - this time too, the preparations are based on a strict hygiene concept.
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“We keep a safe distance of 1.5 meters and wear a medical mask.
Capes are changed after each customer and the workplace is disinfected, ”said Müller.
In addition, hairdressers only worked by appointment.
A look at the shelves of drugstores shows how great many customers are longing for a new haircut.
The drugstore groups dm and Rossmann report, for example, that the demand for hair scissors has risen in the past few weeks - at Rossmann, according to company information, in some cases by four times.
So it's no wonder that the appointment books of the hairdressing salons fill up quickly since the openings were announced.
According to industry information, customers must expect a waiting time of several weeks.
The operator of a salon in Duisburg, Sadiye Kisin, wrote on Facebook: «(...) Our phone has not been idle for days, until March 11th, 2021 there are no more free appointments.»
A hairdresser from Bayreuth auctioned the first appointment after the lockdown for a good cause - for 422 euros.
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In order to cope with the rush of customers, many companies want to open longer every day and also on Mondays and introduce shift work for employees, said Matthias Moser, the managing director of the Baden-Württemberg Hairdressing and Cosmetics Association.
Unlike after the easing in May last year, Müller does not expect price increases this time.
At that time, customers had to pay 5.4 percent more for haircuts than in the same month last year, according to the Federal Statistical Office.
But even price increases were often unable to compensate for the sharp drop in demand.
The slump in sales, for example, pushed Germany's largest hairdressing chain Klier into bankruptcy.
At the beginning of December, proceedings were opened to examine the claims of the creditors.
A creditors' meeting is scheduled for this Thursday.
March 1st is not all positive.
«Hairdressers should be», say the members of «#ZeroCovid» - an initiative of scientists, activists and health workers.
They are demanding a strict lockdown so that the number of infections can drop to zero.
Opening the salons has the opposite effect - it can be assumed that the numbers will rise again.
"The next corona wave is rolling in," said David Stepesser from the initiative's press team.
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Criticism of the openings also comes from cosmetologists, albeit for a different reason.
"I'm shocked about the unequal treatment," said the state guild master of hairdressers and beauticians in Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, Sybille Hain.
After all, there is always a distance between the beautician and the customer, then the FFP2 mask and a protective visor.
The Potsdam Chamber of Crafts also speaks of a huge disappointment among beauticians, which is now turning into anger and frustration.
"The fear that they will end up in increasingly difficult waters for economic survival as a result of the further closings is growing," said spokeswoman Ines Weitermann.
It remains to be seen whether the corona numbers will not increase despite the hairdresser openings and whether the cosmetics companies will soon be able to follow suit nationwide.
But for the time being: Get rid of the corona mane!
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210224-99-568278 / 2
Communication from the Federal Statistical Office
Facebook post from the hairdressing salon in Duisburg
Homepage Barber Bayreuth