Jennifer Lowery runs Rose Aesthetics Yorkshire, where she offers treatments including fillers, permanent makeup, scar reduction and stretch mark reduction.
Due to the technical nature of her job, she says her salon was using industry-standard personal protective equipment and cleaning solutions long before the coronavirus pandemic.
Under current government rules, hairdressers, barbers, restaurants and pubs will be allowed to open from this weekend, provided they adhere to social distancing guidelines.
But beauty salons like Jennifer’s must remain closed, and no reopening date has yet been confirmed.
She said: “My premises actually carry a license issued by Wakefield Council to say the risk of infection and cross-contamination is as low as possible.
“It’s probably one of the safest, cleanest and most sterile environments you can walk in. It has a devastating impact on people’s businesses, families and finances.
“I think it’s due to a misunderstanding of what our procedures really are. They don’t realize that we are highly skilled and need to be licensed.
“We have a physical inspection by Environmental Health. PPE is my standard practice. I use medical grade disinfectant, the same used in hospitals.
“We seem to have been completely forgotten.”
Jennifer said she was delighted to see other businesses starting to reopen, but felt the importance of her work had been overlooked.
“I absolutely celebrate the return of other industries,” she said. “But it seems absolutely outrageous that pubs and hairdressers can open when we can’t.
“What people really lack is self-care. It undermines people’s confidence tremendously.
“Helping people look good and feel good about themselves. It massively changes their sense of self-confidence and self-worth.
“After every appointment, clients personally thank me for doing personal work. And that’s something no other industry gets.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: ‘We are taking a gradual and cautious approach to reopening our economy and we want to reopen closed businesses as soon as possible once we are satisfied that they are able to operate in a COVID secure medium.
“This is particularly important for close contact services such as beauty salons, which can often pose a higher risk of transmission due to prolonged periods of face-to-face contact.
“Businesses, including beauty salons, can continue to access our extensive financial support program to help them through this difficult time.”
