Pandemic’s ugly impact on city beauty industry

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The 10pm curfew has hit The Powder Room (Credit: Leanne Harry)

Liverpool hair and beauty businesses are struggling to make up for lost time since coming out of lockdown.

Hairdressers and beauticians were hit hard when the UK went into lockdown from March to mid-June. Despite opening their doors again, the 10pm curfew imposed on bars, pubs and nightclubs on September 24 has led to a further drop in trade with less people requiring makeovers to go out.

Leanne Harry, from The Powder Room in Wavetree, told JMU Journalism her business has “suffered massively” since the curfew was introduced.

She said: “I’m guessing that people are weighing up whether or not it’s worth paying to get hair and make-up done when they are only going out for such a short time.”

Many businesses have struggled to make up a shortfall in revenue due to lockdown but Harry believes beauticians in particular have been treated unfairly.

She said: “A lot of other businesses such as restaurants aren’t essential but they have been given a boost by the government.

“Although beauty isn’t an essential facility in these times, the people who work in this industry still have mortgages to pay and families to provide for.”

Liverpudlian beautician and mobile make-up artist Sarah Fuller has also felt the impact of covid enforced restrictions that she says have impacted her personal life.

She said: “The 10pm curfew and local lockdown has devastated what bookings I did have, and now I’m living off tax credits and need help paying my rent.

“I think at this point the unemployment, loss of business, destruction of mental health, and neglect of other illnesses is more devastating than the virus.”

The UK government has pledged at least £210bn to fight the pandemic with the recent expansion of the job support scheme promising to support eligible businesses by paying two thirds of each employees salary up to a maximum £2100 per month.

About Brendan Thomas, JMU Journalism