Keep your hair on! 1,000 customers queue for a trim on waiting lists at Britain’s top hair salons – as owners say they want to open in mid-June alongside other non-food retailers
- Richard Ward, who styled the Duchess of Cambridge’s hair on her wedding day, plans to open 12 hours a day, seven days a week
- He has 1,200 clients on the waiting list at his Chelsea salon and it’s growing by 100 more a day
- Toni & Guy has 1,000 clients on the waiting list at its branch in Sloane Square, Chelsea
If you’re hoping for a haircut as soon as salons are allowed to open, prepare for disappointment – as waiting lists at some of Britain’s top establishments have topped 1,000 customers.
Richard Ward, who styled the Duchess of Cambridge’s hair on her wedding day, said he has 1,200 clients on the waiting list at his Chelsea salon – enough to keep his team of 100 busy for a month.
And with the list growing by 100 more hopeful customers every day, he plans to open 12 hours a day, seven days a week to try to tackle the backlog, just as soon as he is allowed to – which is currently expected to be July 4 at the earliest.
Meanwhile, Toni & Guy has 1,000 clients on the waiting list at its branch in Sloane Square, Chelsea; 800 at Wimbledon; and even 300 at East Grinstead (file photo)
Meanwhile, Toni & Guy has 1,000 clients on the waiting list at its branch in Sloane Square, Chelsea; 800 at Wimbledon; and even 300 at East Grinstead.
Mr Ward, whose other clients include Queen Rania of Jordan and Donald Trump’s ex-wife Ivana, said: ‘If we were opening this week, people could swallow that. But there’s another five weeks to wait and people are getting desperate.’
He said has been deluged with requests for illicit private appointments in customers’ gardens, but has turned them all down
‘We’re a high-profile salon and we have to be whiter than white,’ he said. ‘We have told all our staff that it is a disciplinary offence to do any customers during lockdown. No salon should be doing haircuts.’
However, he said two rival London salons have been bending the rules and ‘sneakily offering appointments on the quiet’.
His wife Hellen, who runs the business with him, called those who broke guidelines ‘despicable’, adding: ‘We have been begged and begged to do people’s hair, but it’s not a good look when the Government has been so fantastic by providing furlough support.’
She also warned people not to colour their hair at home, as it will take too long to fix later. ‘We cannot give you a four-hour appointment to sort your hair out,’ she said.
Only half the 45 styling chairs will be used, and staff and clients will wear PPE such as masks and gloves (file photo)
Hellen said that safely reopening the 5,000 sq ft salon, where haircuts cost up to £325, would be a ‘logistical nightmare’.
Only half the 45 styling chairs will be used, and staff and clients will wear PPE such as masks and gloves.
Toni & Guy also plans to reopen its 172 salons with extended opening times, while hairdressers will hold consultations either by phone or online before appointment to speed up the process.
During lockdown, the company has been inundated with people asking for styling tips to look good on webcams.
The Hair and Barber Council, which represents 11,000 of the UK’s 40,000 hairdressers, says many salon owners want to open on June 15, alongside other non-food retailers.