Hairdresser: "Does any politician know what he has done with it?"

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“Human dignity is inviolable”, says the Basic Law, and it is certainly no coincidence that Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder chose the word “dignity” at the beginning of March when he defended the premature opening of hairdressers from lockdown: the decision to open hair salons In a better position than cafes or cinemas, clothes shops and zoos, “not only has to do with hygiene”, but also with dignity.

People should be able to "find themselves" in the pandemic.

In fact, the need for self-discovery with highlights and tiered cuts seemed to be great.

The hairdressers were overrun when they were allowed to unlock the doors again after almost eleven weeks of lockdown, with many appointments being booked for weeks in no time at all.

But since the so-called federal emergency brake also made washing, cutting and blow-drying compulsory for a corona test, the euphoria and relief in the industry are over.

Hairdressers are worried about countless rejections or customers who stay away without comment.

In many salons, employees have to laboriously explain the new compulsory test on the phone and are often not rewarded with an appointment booking in the end.

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Some even get the hot outrage of their customers themselves, for example the Hamburg master hairdresser Silvia Köhler, who runs the "Haar-a-kiri" in Barmbek: She has already been yelled at, she reports, because she is now after disinfection, contact details and mask still have to ask for a test certificate.

A regular customer who has had her hair styled by Silvia Köhler for over a quarter of a century and has so far come almost every week, even canceled all appointments for the rest of the year with indignation.

Hairdressers complain of massive losses

Whether in Hamburg, Bavaria or Baden-Württemberg, the picture is the same everywhere.

Obviously, the willingness to be tested for a corona infection is far from being as pronounced as politicians would like it to be.

Loss of 60 percent is how master Sandra Schlotter outlines the situation that runs “Hair & Care” in Montabaur in Rhineland-Palatinate and had to send her employees back to short-time work.

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Since the obligation to test, she has only had to do half the time, reports Ute Köhn from "Wuschelkopf" in Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia - and that some people openly justified their rejection by saying that they wanted to boycott the obligation to test imposed by the politicians.

In Frankfurt, the owner of a salon in the Bahnhofsviertel, who otherwise cuts the hair of many Turkish men, reports that there has been a yawning emptiness since the test was compulsory.

His customers are "not in the mood" for a test: "They are afraid that they will be tested positive."

Now one could argue against the hairdressers that other industries and people also suffer from pandemic restrictions, many even more.

Hairdressers are still doing comparatively well compared to artists or showmen, hotels, restaurants or boutiques, after all they have been back in business since the beginning of March.

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But when it comes to compulsory tests before haircutting, it is once again particularly clear how briefly the corona measures are obviously thought.

The obligation to test was written into the law without considering the consequences.

And that of all things in a profession, politics, one follows the words of Markus Söder, as a kind of "dignitary", as a pillar that is important for the well-being of the population.

This begins with the contradiction that visiting the hairdresser has so far been described as extremely safe by politicians themselves.

Scientific data are available for this, which politicians also referred to when they allowed the opening on March 1st.

In computer simulations, experts came to the conclusion that a visit to the hairdresser is much safer than many other possible loosenings.

Even with a women's haircut, which often lasts significantly longer than that of men, the risk of infection is lower than with everyday shopping - not to mention going to school, even with a mask on.

It is therefore hardly possible to convey why politicians have made compulsory tests for hairdressers at all, while at the same time they are still not found to be necessary for massages or lymphatic drainage, for example.

Or the problem with the still inadequate test infrastructure, from which smaller towns in particular suffer.

Master hairdresser Jasmin Letschert from Höhr-Grenzhausen, around 20 kilometers northeast of Koblenz, currently only has two or three customers a day in her shop “Freestyle by Jaz”.

Because the test station in town is only open three times a week, and only for a few hours.

The test may only be a maximum of 24 hours old, so customers would have to drive to another location to get the necessary negative certificate.

In her need, Letschert bought a few tests herself, which customers can take directly in front of their shop door and under her supervision.

“But the customers don't want to pay the 7.20 euros for it either, because there are free tests elsewhere,” says Letschert.

Visiting the hairdresser has become extremely complicated, especially for older people.

"They don't feel like it, they don't have the opportunity or the money to go to this effort."

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CDU boss and Prime Minister Armin Laschet had expressly emphasized in front of the Düsseldorf state parliament how important the help with hair care was, especially for seniors. Countless letters to the North Rhine-Westphalian state government demanded that the hairdressers be reopened. It is important for politics to take into account the needs and needs of the elderly. For them, hairstyles have "a different meaning" than for younger people.

But especially in the smaller, rural towns, the population is often rather elderly - and thus affected by the difficulties with compulsory testing.

The state manager of the professional association for hairdressers and cosmetics in Baden-Württemberg, Matthias Moser, sees hairdressers in rural areas as the biggest victims.

He assumes a drop in sales of up to 80 percent, especially where the infrastructure is poorly developed in terms of test sites and centers.

His association had asked the districts to create the necessary infrastructure for the implementation of the mandatory test, but this has not yet happened everywhere.

“We ask for a pragmatic, workable solution.

The current regulation is threatening the existence of the company, ”warns Moser.

The problem also spreads to other areas. According to the "Deutsche Apotheker Zeitung", the pharmacies are also being overrun. “Does any politician know what he has done with the compulsory test?” Asks Christoph Flerlage, owner of several businesses in Osnabrück, at a loss. Two of his employees are almost always busy coordinating appointments on the phone because older people are overwhelmed with the online booking that is also offered.

Even the pharmacists often feel the anger of some customers who are upset about the new regulation.

Even pharmacists who cannot offer tests due to a lack of space have to grapple with the consequences of compulsory testing.

A Memmingen pharmacist, for example, reports that people kept showing up in his shop who wanted to take a test on the spot - even on night duty.

Different rules in the federal states

The nationwide confusion in the implementation is also remarkable.

While Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia or Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have already issued the corona test for the hairdresser visit to all twice vaccinated, those immunized in Hamburg and Saxony still have to present a negative test before the haircut.

And while it is theoretically allowed in Rhineland-Palatinate to take a self-purchased rapid test in the presence of the hairdresser, this is not possible in Baden-Württemberg: only official test certificates are accepted there.

Whether the respective hairdresser in Rhineland-Palatinate is ready to monitor a self-test is another matter.

Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble considers all of this extremely unfortunate.

The CDU politician complained in the "Augsburger Allgemeine" newspaper that a number of countries had failed to abide by the relaxations for those who had been vaccinated.

Schäuble worries that inconsistent solutions could trigger new irritations among citizens and destroy trust shortly after the decision on a uniform “federal emergency brake” was adopted.

“That has a bad effect on public perception. How should the citizens, who are gradually getting tired due to Corona and flooded with new information, still understand that? "