‘We are not your hairdresser if you’ve had the vax’: Owner stands her ground

The owner of a Gold Coast salon is defending her controversial decision to ban customers who have received the COVID-19 vaccine despite experts saying it is “absurd, ridiculous and causing a public health risk”.

A defiant Gold Coast hairdresser is standing by her decision to ban COVID-vaccinated customers from her salon, despite being slammed by experts and social media critics.

Yazmina Adler, owner of the Khemia HI Vibe Frequency Salon at Palm Beach, unleashed a storm of controversy when she announced on Instagram this week that clients who had received the jab were not welcome in her shop because of the vaccine’s ‘unknown health effects’ and reputed ‘unusual signs and symptoms within the menstrual cycle’.

The decision was slammed as ‘ill-informed to the point of being dangerous and irresponsible’ by Dr Bruce Willett, Queensland chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.

While other health experts labelled it as “absurd, ridiculous and causing a public health risk”, and Dr Sonu Haikerwal, of the Upper Coomera Respiratory Clinic and Haan Health called it a “slap in the face to the health workers who’ve ensured the community remains free of COVID-19”.

The social media post by Khemia HI vibe Frequency Salon.

But Ms Adler, 30, who has been a hairdresser since before leaving school at 15, told The Courier-Mail on Thursday she was ‘standing by my convictions’.

She said that while she had copped plenty of abuse – forcing her to remove her business address online and screen calls – she had also received ‘thousands’ of messages of support.

“It’s intense, people (critics) are going hard, but it takes a lot of courage to stand up against the so-called norm,” she said.

“It (concern about the vaccine) is out there and all I’ve done is brought it to the surface. There are many people that I know of that feel the same way.

“This is a very controversial topic so it’s going to draw out a lot of haters, but the support is outweighing the criticism 100 per cent.”

Yazmina Adler owner of Khemia HI Vibe Frequency Salon at Palm Beach has come under fire over her stance against vaccinated people. Pics Adam Head

Ms Adler – who has previously featured on SBS show Medicine or Myth where she claimed she found a solution to period pain by spreading menstrual blood on her face during a ritual meditation – repeated her fears that people who had received the COVID-19 shot could spread side effects.

“That’s my concern from what I’m hearing directly from people who have been around people who’ve had this shot,” she said.

“They are having side effects that are really abnormal and really strange and the only thing they can pin it back to is being around people that have had this shot.

Asked about criticism that she was a hairdresser and not a scientist or doctor, Ms Adler said:

“I don’t need to be – it’s common sense,” she said.

“I don’t need to know the full ins and outs of it, I just need to talk to people and hear their stories and go ‘okay this isn’t making sense’.

“I know enough to make my decision and in that, I’m just trusting it’s the right decision.”

Khemia HI Vibe Frequency Salon at Palm Beach. Pics Adam Head

She believed she would ‘100 per cent gain customers’ as a result of her stance.

“But I didn’t do this to gain customers, I did it for the health and safety of myself, my staff and my clients,’ she said.

“I don’t trust what is happening right now and I’m going to put this boundary in place to keep us safe until we know more about it.

From what I’m understanding, this (the vaccine) is still an experimental trial until 2023. So I’m just going’ hey, let’s just question this first before we go and inject this substance into us that we actually don’t really know the effects of it will be’.

“It could be in 15 or 20 years down the track that we really know what it’s doing, like smoking, right?

“In saying that, I’m not against it – I think we just need to slow it down and actually question it, have some more tests done and see what’s happening.”