Home » Event » Will at home salon services become a reality now?

Will at home salon services become a reality now?

by Arun Shirishkar

Urban Company recommends “Home Delivery” as way forward for the beauty industry

The beauty industry provides livelihood to nearly 70 lakh people in India. Self-employed women beauticians form a large part of this workforce. Many of them are single breadwinners for their families and the ongoing COVID-19 crises has adversely impacted their livelihood. Depriving these individuals of incomes for an extended period of time has led to forced migration and disruption of families. It will also deprive the industry of trained workforce built with years of effort and investment. It is pivotal that the government keeps their interests in mind while formulating the next set of lockdown guidelines.

Due to this, Urban Company appeals to the government to allow at home beauty and barber services to resume in all zones after Lockdown 3.0 ends on 17th May. As of now, these services are only operational in orange and green zones, while red zones constitute the bulk of the industry.

Urban Company urges the following:

  1. Recommends allowing salons, barber shops and self-employed individuals to deliver services at home (Including through online aggregators like Urban Company), just like the restaurant industry has been allowed to deliver food at home.
  2. Suggests a range of hygiene and safety protocols which can ensure that beauty and barber services can be delivered at home in a safe manner

Further, Urban Company recommends a comprehensive set of protocols for beauticians and barbers while they urge permission to deliver services at home. “Further, to ensure safety & health of customers and professionals, we have suggested 8 key safety protocols which beauticians and barbers can follow,” said Varun Khaitan, Co-founder, Urban Company.

8 key safety protocols for beauticians and barbers to follow while delivering services at home:

  1. Masks, Gloves and Sanitisers: Barbers and beauticians should wear medical grade personal protective equipment (PPE), including medical masks, gloves and sanitizers, to keep themselves and customers protected
  2. Mandatory use of the Aarogya Setu app: Before starting a service, we suggest that beauticians and display their health status on the Aarogya Setu app to customer
  3. Daily temperature checks: All beauticians and barbers should perform a daily temperature check, and if their temperature is above 99 degrees Fahrenheit, or they have any symptoms like a cold, cough etc., they should self-quarantine
  4. Health and Safety Training: Urban Company has created a 7 day, online health and safety training program, as per WHO prescribed hygiene standards. The company will be making this program open source and sharing it with any beautician or barber who wishes to get trained, free of cost.
  5. Single-use disposables and sachet products: The company prescribes that all beauticians and barbers should only use disposables, and single use sachet products, to ensure no cross contamination across customers.
  6. Sanitization of tools and equipment: Beauticians and barbers should sanitise their equipment in front of the customers, before and after each service
  7. No services in containment zones: The Urban Company technology platform allows geo-fencing of containment zones or hotspots as they are announced by the Government of India, ensuring that no professionals deliver services in these zones, and no professionals living in these zones serve customers. Urban Company advises all beauticians and barbers to follow this strictly
  8. Cashless payments: Urban Company has fully migrated to cashless digital transactions, and advising beauticians and barbers to adopt the same.

You may also like