Report by Paula Antolini, May 19, 2020, 2:59PM EDT
OPINION / LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
The recent closing, then scheduled opening, then re-closing again, of hair salons in Connecticut, has sent psychological coping into a tailspin for many women (and men too, but going grey for men is a whole other article) during the quarantine from the COVID-19 pandemic. Perhaps this needs to be explained. It is not just about the hair.
There are those women who choose to go grey “gracefully” and there is nothing wrong with that, there are even numerous Facebook groups praising this fact. But for most women, going to the salon is a luxury and a necessity at the same time, especially for the well-being of the mind.
It is a woman’s 1-2 hours of bliss and maintenance, on average every month or two, in their hectic day of child rearing, teaching, corporate jobs or philanthropic work, waitressing, etc. A few relative nanoseconds of peace where they can relax their body and mind and think only about themselves for those moments, and get rejuvenated. This places their thoughts in a magical world of self-love, unlike in the real world for the most part, where duty and laundry calls in distraction.
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Then add manicures, pedicures, waxing, massage, aromatherapy and more, and it completes the picture. It does more good than a glass of wine, a complimentary wolf-whistle by another person towards them, a “Miss Congeniality” award, an “Employee of the Year” honor, or even winning the lottery for that matter, in many minds.
It is as if a magic wand transforms a woman’s world. The *”Plunk your magic twanger Froggie” of our present life, a gremlin who, in the 1950’s children’s TV show, would disrupt the presentations of other guests, but now is welcome to interrupt our quarantine doldrums in the form of dying a woman’s roots.
This is obviously of no concern to those still with virgin color hair, as they are usually the individuals heard saying, “What’s the big deal?” The BIG DEAL is this. We watch middle-aged men or women in power direct us to stop self grooming for almost FOUR months now while they appear to be to be as untouched as the Virgin Mary regarding new pandemic rules and regulations, with their coiffed hairstyles and invisible roots. I suppose it’s lucky that many people can find products online to use on themselves these days! Especially those with curls, who can find some of the best curl cream. I don’t know what we would all do without this!
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Never in their wildest dreams did women ever imagine going without hair care for 4-6 months or more, yet people cannot go without their beer, according to officials’ decisions and regulations in determining importance.
Meanwhile, women are left to decide between, “Should I dye my hair myself and tempt impending disaster” or, “Should I wait and have my salon do it while I dare not appear in public.” Women also observe hair dye products, on store shelves and online, disappearing faster than Peter Pan’s Tinker Bell coming and going in a flash of light. They sure could use some of her magic pixie dust right about now, for a lot of things.
But now, but NOW, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont is becoming the male version of the Wicked Witch of the West in the minds of people who need their beautification from Glinda. He has taken these precious moments away, along with our right to vote in our own town, or allowing people to have any say in this whatsoever, including how private business owners operate their own businesses or how our own pockets are possibly illegally drained by taxes, in Bethel.
We watch as liquor cannot be taken from citizens, but our rights to basic services can. In Bethel we still are allowed to enter the Municipal building if masked, only to pay our taxes to office workers behind plastic partitions, but it is deemed “not safe” to wear those same masks with salon workers wearing plastic shields and masks, spacing customers 6 feet apart, to get our hair done … or to vote.
Sandwiches are handed out, by Bethel school officials, to hundreds of cars in Bethel, and people stand 6 feet apart waiting to enter big box stores, but officials could not line students up the same way for graduation, and we cannot vote by this same method, even via drive-up either, because we were told it’s “not safe.”
The dividing line of importance does have its measure, as when facing a choice of hair touch up or a vote, hopefully all women would chose the right to vote. But with that aside, most other things pale.
And now we are expected to wait in the car until we are texted by the salon to enter (and reschedule appointment if you are feeling any ill symptoms), bring no additional guests with us, put on a mask, use the sanitary station at the entrance to disinfect our hands, phone, keys and credit card (purses not allowed) for 20 seconds, have our temperature taken, answer a list of health questions, put on a “freshly laundered” cape, “minimize” our “verbal communication” and NOT get our hair blow dried (all taken from an actual salon rules list). All so we can RELAX.
To buy beer or liquor you walk in and purchase it.
The minimization of all aspects of our life, and being controlled by a few, playing God, judging what’s good for us, yet not imparting valid information, goes against our grain. It goes against the very standards our country was founded upon in the United States Constitution and on down. Large or small, it doesn’t matter what the issue is, it is our right to decide on our own well-being. They have made a mess of it.
Officials haven’t a clue about the everlasting negative outcome in many areas, nor do they seem to care. As long as their world stays relatively the same and they are reelected, they are good to go.
There was a second document that came out recently from the government, a “Reopen Connecticut” 9-page document, that said salons were allowed blow drying “only when necessary.” I’d say “necessary” is when hair is wet! But that is a moot point now that salons are closed again. This was all decided by a “committee” of experts that so far have recommended practices that contradict one another, and they cannot tell us where the virus originated, how it spread or its absolute path, or they cannot present us with a guaranteed diagnostic testing method, or drugs that all medical professionals and politicians agree work for a cure, and now the vaccine is controversial too.
We are following this as law of the land that guides us?
Yes, salons are about more than just hair.
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