After a relatively smooth reopening on May 19, salons like Roche Beauty Company are excited to expand to services on Monday. (Josh Ryan/battlefordsNOW)

By Josh Ryan

Smooth Transition

Personal care businesses excited to add services in phase three

Jun 4, 2020 | 1:43 PM

The third phase of Saskatchewan’s Re-Open plan begins Monday, which signals another wave of businesses that can finally welcome back customers. In addition, several other businesses that have already opened in the previous two phases can add certain practices and services that were suspended until now.

Battleford Mayor Ames Leslie is encouraged by how smoothly the transition has gone thus far.

“[I had] a little bit of apprehension as to whether or not it was the right time,” he said. “But I guess the powers that he knew a little bit better than the rest of us.”

Salons had partial openings on May 19, but can now open spa and tanning services on Monday. Wendy Roche, owner of Roche Beauty Company was also pleasantly surprised with how smooth reopening has gone, which bodes well as they bring back additional features for customers.

“Our clients have been very cooperative, not hesitant at all,” Roche said. “They’re signing a form when they come in, just to understand social distancing and that [customers and staff] have to wear masks.”

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Roche Beauty Company will bring back tanning and spa services on June 8. (Josh Ryan/battlefordsNOW)

There’s still an increasing demand of residents looking for personalized services after the initial buzz during phase two. That’s made the extra work to adhere to safety regulations worth it for business owners.

“Our next availability is in July and walk-ins can’t happen,” Roche said. “But people are quite excited and they’re booking, so that’s the main thing.”

Salons are cut back on the amount of people they service in a day, because of required sanitizing and cleaning. That means longer wait times, to both guarantee safety and provide respite for staff, but Roche said it hasn’t caused any problems outside of some fatigue.

“We have an extra 15 minutes between every client, but everybody has been understanding and appreciative of that,” Roche said. “It’s extra work for us, so we’re putting in extra hours, but I have a good staff and they’re all very willing to do so.”

Nikki Forester, owner of Jabulani Kosmetic Laser Spa, has also seen an increased output for less clients for massage work, due to COVID-19 precautions. However, after being forced to close for more than a month, any progress is encouraging.

“Doing more massages than I normally do, but you’re gonna work when you can work,” she said.

Working from home, Forester has already gone to great lengths to ensure the chances of transmission are as low as possible. This includes extensive cleaning, vetting customers and adjusting the home setting itself.

“I still need to keep everything safe for my family right,” she said. “So I’ve put up plastic barriers up around the main parts of the home.”

And thanks to her resources for how to handle massage therapy patients moving forward, she can apply those practices with laser cosmetics.

“The Massage Therapy Association of Saskatchewan put out the document and spent so much time and effort building that every other massage therapy association across the country is using it,” Forester said. “Along with some chiropractic and physiotherapy services.”

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josh.ryan@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JoshRyanSports