Firstly, we want to thank each and every one of you for the incredible support you have shown us throughout these challenging times during the COVID-19 pandemic. These moments of adversity have brought all the members of our Regis Family closer together in so many ways. Albeit virtually, we also feel more connected to you, our salon guests, readers and followers. We hope that you feel as proud as we do, to be part of such a supportive salon community.
COVID-19 and the start of lockdown
Following government instructions in response to the novel coronavirus global pandemic, we closed our salons on Monday 23rd March. Jackie Lang, our Managing Director told us:
“There’s nothing you can really do to prepare yourself for the moment when you have to tell your salon teams that we’re closing. It was unprecedented and something I never foresaw having to do, but the incredible response we received from everyone was phenomenal. Even with the uncertainty and worry they were all feeling they pulled together and just got on with it. We knew it was paramount that we kept our salon community safe and the positivity from our teams during lockdown has once again reiterated to me our stylists and therapists are just the best! We’ve supported one another, kept in touch on a regular basis and I feel we have grown closer together. It has been amazing to be a part of, especially during such a difficult and challenging time.”
Things may not be the same immediately after COVID-19
Now that we are working towards a reopening date of 4th July, it gives us hope. But, it would be remiss of us to say things will go back to normal straight away. At least not for the foreseeable future. We want to assure you that we are conscious this is the first phase of the ‘new normal’ following COVID-19. This means continuing with social distancing rules and putting additional safety measures in place to protect you and our teams. We are 100% committed to keeping our salons safe.
Adapting to virtual lockdown haircare
COVID-19 altered the way we live, both in our personal and professional lives. It’s also changed the way we connect with our salon guests. As salons closed, we shifted our focus online, and continued our duty of care to salon guests, virtually. Your messages of support, positivity and frequent haircare questions spurred us on even more to help you care for hair at home. We organised a live Twitter Q&A with our Creative Director, provided hairstyle tutorials and recommended haircare products. By working together, we tried our very best to keep hair looking beautiful at home.
Stylist Tanya told us:
“It took a few days to get used to the fact that we were no longer in salon. And I quickly learnt exactly how much my day to day happiness depends on seeing all of our lovely salon guests! I couldn’t just sit at home and not use social media to help my guests address their many hair concerns. We’re so lucky to have the technology to communicate in this way outside of the salon environment, and something I think I’m going to continue to do even post-lockdown.”
Staying well at home
It also became increasingly important to support well-being and mental health throughout the COVID-19 lockdown. We offered practical Marie Kondo inspired advice on our blog as a healthy way to declutter space and mind. Our team also pulled together a list of 20 self-care habits for mind, body and soul to support wellness. Needless to say, the well-being of our team members and salon community was (and still very much is) incredibly important. By regularly keeping in touch and supporting each other we felt motivated and strong. And despite not being in salon, the Regis Family has grown even closer together – and closer to the salon community too.
Manager Jenny told us
“As a salon manager you always feel that sense of duty of care not only for your team, but for every guest that walks through those salon doors. If anything, this quarantine has heightened my sense of care for others. I really wanted to know that my team were safe and doing well at home. Many of my team members got involved on social media and rose to the challenge of sharing haircare tips during lockdown. I know social media sometimes gets a bad rep but after this, I really can see the potential it has for spreading positivity. I’m incredibly proud of all the work our head office teams have been doing too, like sharing well-being and haircare tips for our guests at home – long may it continue!”
The lockdown hair colour debate
It wasn’t just DIY fringe cuts and men shaving their heads that occupied our #lockdown feeds. Many of us were also faced with the challenge of maintaining hair colour at home. We’ve always held the position that resorting to DIY hair colouring at home is risky. And that’s not just because of hair health but because box dyes simply don’t compare to the quality finish achieved in salon. That’s just our expert opinion. *But* we also understand that these are not normal times. We were inundated with questions from guests about how they can maintain hair colour at home and how much a box dye was *really* going to damage their hair.
Hair and beauty often get touted as frivolous industries concerned with vanity alone. As much as we agree that taking care of yourself makes you look good externally, we can’t deny the inner feeling of self-confidence it gives us too. We believe that looking good can make you feel good on the inside too. Unsurprisingly then, the COVID-19 lockdown helped shine a light on the hairdressing industry. Many of us depend on hairdressing experts to look and feel good. And we feel fortunate to be a part of this experience for our guests.
Our temporary solution to lockdown hair colouring
As a temporary solution, for those who were desperate for a colour touch up at home, we added Wella’s Color Fresh hair colour to our online shop. We feel it’s really helped people who rely on video conference calls for work or just generally wanting to feel good about themselves during the lockdown.
Creative Director Kieron Fowles explained:
“I’m so proud Regis was able to offer a temporary, at home hair colour solution. Wella’s Color Fresh was the perfect choice as it’s used in our salons too. So if you’re a Regis salon guest you’re guaranteed to find a shade that’ll blend nicely with your existing colour. I’m happy that so many guests were able to see their colour through lockdown, safely! It’s important to point out though that this most definitely doesn’t replace a salon visit – the colour choice, coverage and application you’ll receive in salon is just incomparable. So we’re looking forward to seeing you again soon!”
We have spotlighted everything about this semi-permanent (professional colour) in our article about how to ‘Enhance you hair colour at home’.
New safety measures in salon to protect against COVID-19
With the anticipation of our salon doors opening once again, we’ve put in place additional safety measures. This is to help protect you and our teams from the spread of COVID-19. To find out more, visit our commitment to keeping you safe.
The main points to note: you will be provided with a disposable fit-tested face mask and access to hand sanitiser. All team members will also be wearing the appropriate PPE at all times and will observe new sanitisation measures. These include things like disinfecting workstations between appointments and regularly cleaning face visors worn at the wash basin. As well as wiping down tills, keyboards and the telephone. We will even have instructions in our restrooms for increased sanitation… (we’re committed!).
Some salons will have installed safety screens between each chair whilst others will use every other styling station. There will also be floor tape to mark a 2-metre distance from the reception desk. Our teams will kindly ask all salon visitors to observe these social-distancing protocols.
We also highly recommend that you carefully read through our new safety provisions prior to your salon visit. It is important that you are fully aware of the changes and new protocols, for the safety of all.
To help cover the cost of additional safety measures there will be a £3.60 safety levy applied to all services. We assure you absolutely no profit is being made from this levy. The surcharge covers (nearly) all of the additional safety measures, PPE, apparatus and sanitation products. This is to help protect our team, you and the community.
Looking to the future
It is important to keep the momentum going when it comes to staying safe and protecting each other. We’ve worked too hard to stop the spread of COVID-19 during lockdown only to undo it all now. The Coronavirus has affected every part of our lives. With that said, we simply cannot say thank you enough to our everyday healthcare and key worker heroes. It warms our heart to know that some of our stylists volunteered to provide haircuts for doctors and nurses, as well as seeing so many of our salon communities come together to support each other.
Lastly, we want to say thank you to the people working hard to continue to keep us all safe. It is because of this hard work, that we will be able to reopen our salons and get back to what we do best. And that is of course to provide hair and beauty treatments to make us all look and feel beautiful. 
