Hair Salons in Pasadena Slow to Reopen

The same order that allowed Pasadena restaurants to reopen their dining rooms also allowed hair salons to resume business. But it doesn’t appear the kings and queens of clippers and cuts have been able to just pick up where they left off ten weeks ago.

Of the 20 businesses Pasadena Now attempted to contact Monday afternoon, only four calls were answered by actual people.

“I’m scheduled to open on Wednesday,” said Nellie Rivas, owner of Salon 90 at 90 N. Los Robles Ave. “I had two girls that were working for me but unfortunately they were not able to stick it out. So it’s me by myself.”

Rivas said she sent an email blast to her clients and is already booked through June 12. One of the challenges is the Pasadena Health Department requirement that stylists serve only one client at a time.

“Before you could take a client in between … while another client was processing with color,” Rivas said.

Three other business owners and operators reached by phone did not want to go on the record with interviews but one men’s salon was planning to reopen with a fully booked schedule Tuesday, a barbershop was looking at Friday, and a hair salon was aiming for this weekend.

Adrienne Dam, owner of Associate Barbers at 114 E. Union St., said she was slammed on Saturday, the first day businesses like hers could take clients. She said she was unaffected by the requirement to serve one client at a time, since that’s how she normally operates.

PINOK STUDIO by Matsumoto at 271 Shoppers Lane also reopened Saturday.

“We will have to keep the number of people present in the salon to 25 percent of its maximum capacity at all time, including employees and clients,” according to a statement at www.pinokstudio.com, which said all staff and clients must wear face masks at all times. “Since we can only accommodate the limited number of clients, we had to increase our service pricing.”

One stylist from another salon reached by text said they couldn’t chat because they were checking out a new salon space since they wouldn’t be able to afford their current space operating at half capacity.