Beauty industry once again impacted by coronavirus restrictions
“I have no other choice but to defy those orders and stay open if they shut us down,” says Cassandra Minton, owner of Bleu Salon.
She’s been operating her small, family-owned beauty salon for the last 15 years in Sylmar but it may not survive another year if it’s ordered to shut down once again.
She says, “I don’t know what they expect us to do by constantly having us back and forth, back and forth. They’re yanking us in one direction and then in another. I don’t see how it’s more safe to go to Home Depot and be around a bunch of people or Target or Walmart.”
Barber Jose Valdez complains that from the very beginning, California unfairly targeted the beauty industry.
He says, “They say our names, they deliberately say barbershops, nail salons, there are so many businesses out there, why us?”
RELATED: California Governor Gavin Newsom announces new stay-at-home order
Owners of Nail Salons express the same frustration. At You Got Nail’d salon in Encino, owner Kim Nguyen says, “We were shut down for seven months, and we did all the precautions like putting up the Plexiglas and getting all the sanitation and everything was up to date and they shut us down again.”
Customers we spoke with are also fed up with all the restrictions and the ramifications. Donna Vitton said, “I think I should be able to make the choice whether I want to go into a salon or not.”
Another customer, Melissa Delgadillo says, “I honestly think it's going to close down a lot of businesses and it’s going to affect a lot of families.”
Families like Cassandra Minton’s, which is why this time around if there is a shutdown in the next couple of days, she plans on taking a risk by defying the Governor’s orders.
She says, “It’s time that we look out for ourselves, it may sound a little selfish but if we don’t do it, who else will?”
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