Lockdown woes: Need haircut? Do it yourself or wait

A self haircut would have been beyond the skillset of most people but no longer is it so under the COVID-19 lockdown. Making a virtue out of necessity is coming true with many experimenting hairdressing on their own as saloons are out of bounds for nearly a month now in view of the shutdown to check spread of coronavirus.

Saloons in Telangana like elsewhere are closed since the third week of last month in view of the lockdown, which has now been extended by the state government till April 30 and by the Centre till May 3 keeping in view the grim situation. "My 10-year old son was in urgent need of hair cut. I decided to cut his long hair myself at home. It may not be a perfect job, but I was able to handle it to acceptable level, said Mahendar Noogooria, a journalist with a vernavular daily here.

Several netizens also shared pictures and videos of their skills with a pair of scissors. Fareed Ahmed, a 35-year-old IT Professional and wildlife photographer, said he tried to cut his hair by himself and ended up leaving it in a mess. "Finally, my father came to my rescue, took a trimmer and reshaped it," he said.

Prabhakar Kumar, a self-employed from Anand Nagar, took upon the job of haircut for himself and also for his two-year-old son. "In view of summer it was getting irritating for my son whose hair had grown and covered his ears. I took out my trimmer and did hair cut not only for my son but also for myself. My son liked it and gave a smile after the "perfect" haircut," Kumar said.

But, not all want to take the scissor themselves and there have been instances of people sacrificing their French beard like Sravan Kumar, a 35-year old musician. I used to get it trimmed every week. Some days ago I tried to do it myself, but couldnt. So I completely removed it. I will trim it once the lockdown is over, Kumar said smearing his smooth cheeks.

On the other side, the barber community has been hit hard though they admit they cannot afford to work considering their own safety and that of their customers. Working President of Telangana Nayee Brahmin Aikya Vedika, the apex body of barbers in the state, Hari Prasad said the association members were following the government orders as compliance was necessary to contain spread of the coronavirus.

It will be dangerous for all of us as we will have to handle people from all walks of life. Hair cutting or shaving is done with close proximity of the customer. We will be servicing several customers a day. So it is not advisable to open shops at this juncture and do our job," he told PTI. According to him, if salons are kept open there is a chance that people with travel history might also come.

"Thats why we asked our community members to follow the lockdown procedure, he added. Association president Maddikunta Lingam Nayee said about 15 lakh members of the community in the haircutting profession need government support as they are losing livelihood for nearly 40 days. He also requested the government to waive power bills for salons besides extending financial support to them to overcome the present situation.

Admitting that there were cases of violations by some barbers who keep open their shops, he appealed to the police not to file cases against such people and create awareness among them. The situation is same with chain of saloons run by famous hair stylist Jawed Habib in the city with the franchisees shut in view of the lockdown. When contacted, an executive in the call centre of the group said they were not taking any appointments till the lockdown is over.