The sites have been authorized to open since Monday after six weeks of closure, as Germany begins to emerge from its economic paralysis.
But hairdressing salons are subject to strict restrictions: the cuts are by appointment only and the demands of social estrangement have forced them to operate well below capacity.
“Most customers show two centimeters of roots,” celebrity hairdresser Udo Walz told CNN. “Some of them tried to cut their hair on their own or cover the color, but it usually went wrong.”
Walz, who designed the hair for Marlene Dietrich, Nancy Reagan and Gwyneth Paltrow, said she gave telephone advice to customers. “Everyone wears masks, clients, hairdressers,” Walz added of the scene in his salon Monday.
Like other hairdressers in Germany, he is required to leave all other chairs empty. Hairdressers should only cut dry hair and regularly disinfect surfaces.
In Berlin, customers are asked to fill out forms with personal information before they can secure a place in the hairdresser’s chair. The document asks for the name, address, signature of a customer and the time they entered and left the salon.
Anne Bruemmer, owner of Salon Heidi, a smaller hairdresser from Hamburg, Germany, told CNN that she was “invaded”.
Bruemmer said that although customers have to book appointments and the salon has meticulously planned the reopening, they are now booked two weeks in advance.
The relaxation of restrictions is part of the first phase of Germany’s temporary reopening of the company. Violating security measures puts hairdressers at risk of a € 500 ($ 547) fine, said Bruemmer.
Some schoolchildren will begin returning to class this week, but Chancellor Angela Merkel will hold talks with regional leaders on Wednesday about more activities and services that will open nationwide.
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