Industry is calling on the Government to allow a phased opening of the beauty industry to provide a much needed morale boost to the Victorian community.
"People are wanting to be plucked, waxed, lasered, threaded and coiffured. It's a rite of passage for some and would make them feel so much better about themselves," Tim Piper the Victorian Head of the national employer association Ai Group said today.
"There are additional measures that hairdressers and beauty therapists can take to safeguard themselves and their clients. Mask and hand hygiene, temperature checks and having complete client records are all actions that hairdressers and therapists have adopted previously.
"The value to boosting community morale should not be discounted. Melburnians pride themselves on their fashion sense and the thousands of beauty shops in Melbourne prove the need and desire for these services and how welcome a phased opening would be.
"Reports of people looking like 'cave men' or their hair looking like 'birds nests' are people reacting to their body image and attitude about themselves. Opening these small businesses would also help to re-energize the economy and get things moving again," Mr Piper said.
