Hairdresser begs Morrison for 'non-essential' status

EDITOR'S NOTE: The restrictions limiting hairdressers to a 30 minute consult were eased on Thursday morning, so Union Jacks Hair will now stay open and continue to operate under social distancing provisions.

On Wednesday, Julia Crawford's busy hair salon, Union Jacks Hair, in Frenchs Forest was a hive of activity. On Thursday, she is shutting its doors.

While hairdressers are exempt from tougher new restrictions announced by the Morrison government on Tuesday night that ban similar businesses such as beauticians, the 30-minute time limit on each customer means that Ms Crawford has made the decision that she will not be able to operate her business.

Joanne Sultana works on Sonia Korthout at Union Jacks Hair salon in Frenchs Forest on Wednesday.Credit: James Brickwood

"Thirty-minute haircuts, they really don't exist unless you're a barber," she said from behind her mask inside the upmarket north shore salon as she worked.

"Men are the only ones who can possibly get a haircut in half an hour.

"We have to either operate as normal and bear in mind the rules of distancing, or shut completely."

Ms Crawford said she had started seeing a drop-off in customers over the past few weeks at the Frenchs Forest business and another salon she opened in Mona Vale in January this year because of the global coronavirus pandemic.

"My clients at Mona Vale tend to be a bit older, and they have been choosing to stay home and not come in because of their health. So I've lost some clients there already, which is not good timing because I just opened that salon two months ago," she said.

Forcing hairdressers - which she noted was "not an essential service, not at all" - to close was a much better solution, she said.

"Then the doors are officially shut, and everyone I employ can go and get the [government] assistance they need and so can I."

Keeping the business open to do a meagre trade not in keeping with its practices was unlikely to be worthwhile, she said.

"Please shut us down."

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