Today, Monday 22nd June, barbershops and salons across both New York City and New Jersey are finally able to reopen their doors as they reach the much-anticipated second reopening phase.

One of the last areas in the US to reopen, this news will be warmly welcomed by both barbers and clients, with nail salons, spas, tanning salons and tattoo parlors also given the go-ahead to reopen.

New safety standards including increased hygiene practices will be in place to keep clients and staff safe, with many shops opening initially with a reduced capacity in order to adhere to social distancing.

BarberEVO welcomes this news and wishes New York and New Jersey well on their return to work.

First Minister Mark Drakeford has announced today the latest changes to the easing of the lockdown in Wales. The hairdressing, barbering and beauty sector are being urged to use the next three weeks to prepare their businessees for reopening by appointment only.

A follow up announcement is expected on the 9th July to confirm whether it is safe for businesses to reopen their doors from the 13th July.

At the moment, no specific guidance for the hair and beauty sector has been released. The NHBF has written to Ken Skates, the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales in the Welsh Government, urging for these guidelines to be released without delay so that shop and salon owners can prepare.

Andis Company and Central Standard Craft Distillery have come together to offer FREE Sanitizer and Maintenance kits for barbers to help them get back to work.

Andis Company is contributing their trust CoolCare Plus Spray and Clipper Oil along with a bonus 6-pack of Andis x Uppercut Deluxe Pomade.

Central Standard has started producing hand sanitizer instead of spirits and will be contributing three bottles of sanitizer to the kits.

To help barbers get back to work, Andis and Central Standard are providing free Sanitizer & Maintenance kits to the first 600 barbers to register using the form here.

Barbers and hairdressers will be able to reopen in Northern Ireland on 6 July.

It is among a series of measures agreed by Stormont ministers in an attempt to further ease the lockdown. Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill said those businesses should now ensure they have the appropriate safety measures in place.

Justice Minister Naomi Long said the indicative dates came with a ‘health warning’ and that if the rate of the virus increased, the dates would need to be pushed back.

We will continue to post updates as and when we receive them. This date does not apply to barbershops in Scotland, England or Wales, who are awaiting government guidelines on when they can reopen and under what restrictions.

NHBF has today published an open letter sent today to the Rt. Hon Alok Sharma MP Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, stressing the urgent need for the Government to publish formal guidance regarding close proximity services, which includes hair and beauty salons and barbershops.

The letter can be read in full below:

Dear Alok

I am writing to stress the urgent need for the Government to publish formal guidance regarding close proximity services.

As you will know from our previous meetings and ongoing discussions with your department, the National Hair & Beauty Federation has been proactive in communicating the Government’s latest advice and information to our members and the wider industry.

We have also been a significant contributor to the draft guidelines on ‘Working Safely Guidance – Close Contact Services including Hair and Beauty’. As well as attending a round table meeting with you on 22 May, we have provided continued technical advice to BEIS officials. We put forward a representative selection of salons, barbershops, beauty salons and freelancers to comment on the first draft of the guidelines which were published late on Friday 5 June. With a deadline of 5pm on Monday 8 June, many people from across the industry willingly gave up time to meet the government’s timetable and support these important developments understanding the urgent need to publish guidance. Despite a real sense of progress, we have heard nothing since.

There is growing frustration at the continued delay in publishing these guidelines, preventing hair salons, beauty salons and barbershops from being able to fully prepare their businesses, staff and clients for reopening.

We have written to you previously about urgent need for guidance on PPE in particular. Salons and barbershops have been unable to trade for months, so if they are to make a financial investment in PPE, they need to be confident that they are buying the right materials and they need sufficient time to source supplies.

We understand the latest advice is that these services will not re-open until 4 July at the earliest but businesses need adequate time – ideally two weeks – to redesign their premises, train staff, ensure they have suitable PPE, communicate with clients regarding operational changes, implement adequate hygiene standards, and come to terms with the changes necessary to ensure the safety of themselves and their clients.

We therefore urge you to publish the guidance without any further delay. We are available to provide any support necessary in order to ensure this outcome.

Yours sincerely

Hilary Hall
Chief Executive

National Hair & Beauty Federation

Partnering with the NHS and South West Mental Health Clinical Network, BarberTalk are offering a new virtual training session to barbers and hairdressers for free.

The bespoke online training course, called BarberTalk Online, is designed to assist hair professionals before they return to work, giving them the skills to help their clients when in need.

This in-depth session builds on the four pillars of training to equip you with the skills to help your clients to better mental wellbeing.

BarberTalk Online training will:

• Give you the tools to RECOGNISE mental health issues in your clients
• Equip you to be able to ASK direct questions about the emotional wellbeing of your clients
• Refine your LISTENING skills to be present at a critical moment for your client
• Provide you with the resources to HELP your client find support

This is a four hour course where you will learn directly from Tom Chapman and his team of ambassadors, dive into the topics of mental health, share how it impacts you and your job, and learn how you can support your clients.

The course is FREE for a limited time only, with classes running from the 22nd June to the 2nd July.

To sign up to a class, click here.

Schedulicity continues to support the hair and beauty industries with its #SchedulicityCares grants after updating the way the program works in order to support as many people as possible during this global pandemic.

After launching on April 1, the team have been giving away a $500 grant every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with any Schedulicity business can apply.

This week’s winners included JuKenya and Kela from RSOG Salon, who blessed her client, who is an essential worker and is on the front lines. The next recipient was About Face Skin Care, who gave back by making meals for families with children that live in local motels. The third and final recipient was Ashley of Holy Hands Massage. Even though she was closed, she was sharing self-massage tips to help you sooth your body as well as stretch.

Keen to continue to share advice and information with their customers, Schedulicity will be holding another Town Hall on Thursday June 18 at 9pm EST/6pm PST, with Lee Resnick leading a panel made up of some of the biggest names in barbering including Marcus Harvey, Mari de Monte, Alan Lipman, Brittany Fitapelli and more. Sign up to join the town hall here.

To find out more about #SchedulicityCares or to apply for the grant yourself, click here.

After a long meeting with the State of Connecticut, CT Barber Expo founder Jay Majors has made the decision to push the date of the 2020 show to October 10-12.

The floorplan is behind updated for vendors to allow social distancing, there will be sanitation stations spread throughout the facility and have made the decision to use two rooms rather than one in order to space out the entire event, as well as minimizing the amount of competitors on the stage – giving those that compete an even better opportunity to possibly win a trophy or a Rolex.

On Saturday, October 10th, the annual Barber Grammy Awards will take place at the Ballroom of the Connecticut Convention Center, then across Sunday 11th and Monday 12th, there will be range of education seminars as well as the Barber Battle & Expo.

For more information, visit www.ctbarberexpo.com

BarberEVO is thrilled to report that Adam Sloan will be Chairing the Hairdressing Industry Advisory Board as well as the Barbering from June 2020.

Adam has been in the Hair Industry for 42 years now, specialising in Hairdressing and Barbering, and based on the passion he has shown during his recent appearances on #EVOLive, we know his love for the industry remains constant.

As well as founding the Men’s Hairdressing Federation, Adam works closely with City and Guilds on many lovels and states that “education is the past, present and future of our industry.” Adam added that he is “deeply honored to be asked to Chair City and Guilds Hairdressing Industry Advisory Board as well as the City & Guilds Barbering Industry Advisory Board.”

We have no doubt that he will do great things in his new role and wish him the very best of luck and a massive congratulations.

The NHBF has teamped up with organisations representing the hospitality, leisure and retail industry to put pressure on the Government to raise the threshold for support for businesses facing hardship due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

The #raisethebar campaign is pushing for the £25,000 Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant to be made available to all businesses with a business rates value of up to £150,000. This would help many salons and barbershops in cities with higher business rates to deal with cash flow challenges, such as rents, that wage subsidies do not address. Currently, the £25,000 grant is only open to salons and barbershops with a rateable value of up to £51,000.

Ian Egerton, President of the National Hair & Beauty Federation and owner of The Stress Exchange in London and said, “By ignoring businesses such as mine with business rates just over the £51,000 threshold, the Government is storing up trouble to come. Not only am I not entitled to any financial grants, I also have no income at all, yet quarterly rents are still expected to be paid at the end of this month. This is not sustainable. A VAT delay does not help as ultimately the money still has to be paid back. I do not expect the government to fund failing businesses, however with no means of income and outgoings still expected, they urgently need a common sense approach to fairness.”

Hilary Hall, Chief Executive of NHBF added, “The government support has been focussed on small and micro businesses which has benefited many of our Members. But this campaign work is essential for our larger Members who have received little or no government support and rightly feel that they’ve fallen through the cracks. We hope that working together with other organisations as part of the #raisethebar campaign will increase our voice and help get these businesses the support they need to ensure their longer term survival.”