Opening confusion: Dresden hairdressers full of hope

So far it has been said that hairdressers can reopen if the incidence value is below 100 if everyone in the salon is wearing a surgical mask or FFP2 mask. It is also open at the moment whether rapid tests, as they are currently required in Austria, also have to be done in Saxony before visiting the hairdresser.

Hairdresser appointment: booking system “running at full speed”

“We are in the middle of planning and our online booking system is already running at full speed,” says Christoph Steinigen, head of the Neustädter Salons Directors Cut.

You have to wait for the decisions, of course, but he hopes to be able to tackle the scissors again with his team on Monday. He reckons that there could be stricter hygiene rules. But that is not yet clear.

“Even before the second lockdown, we were working with medical masks in order to protect ourselves better,” says Steinigen. Like many other hairdressers, he emphasizes that the risk of infection in the salon is low.

“In 2020 we had twelve infections nationwide that were due to a visit to the hairdresser – with 700,000 appointments daily,” he quotes figures from the association.

We will keep you updated about the coronavirus in our news blog.

“Undeclared work is a problem in Dresden”

What worries Steinigen is the flourishing black market in hairdressing treatments during lockdown. “Undeclared work is a problem in Dresden,” said Steinigen.

Illegal bookings are in full swing on the internet, he observes. “I am absolutely against undeclared work, but it is also because a lot of hairdressers are at the end of their nerves,” he says.

The salons have been closed for two months and many still have not received any bridging aid. That drives many out of existential poverty towards illegal work in order to earn at least a few euros.

The central association had also criticized the fact that federal aid money is being paid out slowly, while fixed costs and rent continue to be paid. In addition, most salons are not entitled to December aid because they did not have to close until the middle of the month.

Steinigen doesn’t understand why government support is promised and then doesn’t come. Steinigen and many of his colleagues worry that the customers who are now migrating to hairdressers who keep their heads above water with undeclared work will not come back after the opening.

Little short-time allowance and no tip

The Dresden guild boss Beatrice Kade also observes that illegal work in Dresden is increasing in her branch. “That is a big problem. Customers first ask the boss, and if the boss says no, then they ask the employees,” says Kade about the practice of how customers come to a hairdresser appointment despite being banned from their profession.

For economic reasons, a few would then go into it. In the industry, in which lavish salaries are not paid anyway, the closure adds another financial aspect: “Especially with the employees who have only received short-time allowances for months, tips are missing,” says Kade.

At least that could come again from next Monday – even if not in the usual way. Because distance rules prevent all chairs in the salons from being occupied.

Nevertheless, the Dresden hairdressers are preparing to start their business. At the moment, however, no new appointments can be made in Madlen Wenerski’s salon on Ostra-Allee, the owner asks for patience.

On her answering machine, she informs her customers that only those who had an appointment in January and early February will be called when the opening is really certain. A new one would be agreed for them. It is then possible to assign further appointments.

On Sächsische.de we would like to share very different reports from people infected with corona in Dresden. If you have already got over the illness and would like to tell us about it, write to us [email protected]ächsische.de.