Why can't Barbers open now?

this is a cummings free fred

your only one mentioning billy liar

Social distancing is not possible unless you have one with very long hands or dressed as an astronaut.

Edward Scissorhands

wear gloves and mask, job done. Doing it in other European countries already.

I’m with you Darren. With a little effort I don’t see why they can’t open. We have over reacted through this whole episode and even now We are preventing people from being able to earn money.

I'm glad someone agrees dodgepot, because it is a nonsense

supermarkets still open after lockdown since March 26th, local one's also been open since then, narrow aisles, impossible to be less than  a metre apart, and most not wearing masks, yet barber shops can't reopen, even football can restart in 3 weeks, entertainment industry, yet you can't get a haircut.

The government won't let them. They got them by the short and curlies.   Also they have to all meet up with fellow barbers to get their own hair cut ? As most are posers. Shirt open. Highlights. It might take months.

Impossible I sense you are a very cautious person.

I'm more cautious as the lockdown eases. After all the sacrifices at the outset I do not want any slip-up because of others.

My barber is an old boy emigrated here from Spain in the early 70's. I hope he's ok; he cut mine 3 weeks before x'mas. Similarly, my mechanic. He's retired but he can do small work like an oil and plug change. He did have a garage in his younger days.

You can easily put precautions in place, it's really not a problem, they're just shut for being shuts sake.

I just gave mine a #1 all over  ...but agreed it's not for everyone .


walk past my hairdresser  on  the way to the shops and she is just laid on on her sun chair every afternoon ...so no £50 punters for her lining up ...not for a hair cut anyway

Shouldn’t we be allowed to decide if we wish to take the risk of having a haircut, why should others fear be imposed on me?

BBC did an entrapment piece yesterday, phoned round local barbers until they found one who agreed to give a haircut, went round with trading standards, told him he was putting lives at risk, obviously if people are phoning the guy they don’t consider it a risk at all, the scared s***less aren’t being forced to attend.

Want a haircut NOW....Just bought some clippers yesterday sure to make a right **** of it.

I haven't seen any newsreaders etc with hair looking any different to normal.  How have they managed?

In her speech, the Queen had her hair coifferred in the the same way she had since she was 20.

Must be in the genes - the ability to grow one's hair, or not, at will.

Oh, and make sure you clip AGAINST the direction of growth at all times. That is, from bottom to top at the back and sides. With me I clipped from the back to the front for the top of the head, but I'm half-Slav, so my hair naturally falls from front to back. It might be different for others.

Hairdressers say they are ready to open in June

A group representing hairdressers in the UK says politicians are taking too long to give salons permission to open.

The Hair and Barber Council, which represents 11,000 salons, estimates most of its members would be ready by mid-June.

The Department for Business has told Radio 1 Newsbeat that 4 July remains the earliest date they can open.

Salons have been closed since the lockdown began on 24 March.

Keith Conniford, the CEO of the Hair and Barber Council, says many salon owners want to open on June 15, alongside other non-food retail outlets.

He says "I have spoken to a number of practitioners I know within barbering and hairdressing and resoundingly they said yes".

The July date applies only in England - Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are setting their own strategy for opening up businesses.

But Keith says if any national government in any part of the UK gives them two weeks notice then they will be ready to open.

He's also concerned about any additional measures salons will be expected to carry out, because they need to break social-distancing rules to cut hair.

"It's manageable but [any new] guidelines that come out of government have to be workable."

Businesses are being asked to be "Covid ready" before opening.

The UK government told Newsbeat they are currently working with the industry to provide more specific advice, but have set out some initial guidance for situations where people cannot work 2m apart. These include:

Keep the activity time involved as short as possible
Use screens or barriers to separate each other
Use back-to-back or side-to-side working
Stagger arrival and departure times
Introduce teams in store to reduce contact
The Hair and Barber Council lobby MPs to promote industry-wide standards but the group is concerned any additional rules will stop hairdressers being able to do their job.

A Department for Business spokesperson told us: "The Government has set up taskforces to work with industry representatives to develop safe ways for businesses such as hairdressers to open at the earliest point at which it is safe to do so."

There is pressure from many businesses to get the economy moving with tens of thousands of people having their wages paid for by the government.


Media captionFabHair London is one of the salons that say it could open safely before 4 July
Baz Rifat's Salon in North London has spent thousands of pounds getting Covid ready.

They've created booths and knocked down walls and introduced a text system with customers to confirm they have had no symptoms.

"We've been spacing it out so we've got social distancing."

Baz tells us customers will be asked to wear face coverings, while she will wear a shield.

There will be no waiting area and staff will work in teams so if someone gets ill one team will isolate while the other keeps the salon open.

Fewer staff will make contact with people's hair when they come in.

"Normally we have assistants washing our clients hair but I will be doing everything".

Booked my van in for a service.

I have to leave the windows ajar. Then after 20 minutes someone will clean the cab making it ‘safe’.

After a further 20 minutes the mechanic can begin.

Darren, unless you have hair permed like a girl, how difficult is it to trim your own hair?