By Mitchell Clarke
Pakenham beauty therapists were thrilled with the announcement they could be able to reopen a month earlier than expected.
Premier Daniel Andrews announced over the weekend that Melbourne’s beauty services can now open when the city enters its third step in recovery — which could be from 26 October, if case targets are met.
“Beauty and personal services, where a mask can be worn for the entire time the person is getting of the services that they are accessing, will be able to proceed in the third step, alongside hairdressers,” Mr Andrews said.
The beauty industry was previously told they couldn’t reopen until 23 November, which fuelled fury among those prominent in the industry.
Local sole traders Tylar-Ann Pearl, from Unreal Artistry, and Codie Edwards, from Be Miss Beauty, both launched petitions pleading for the dates to be reassessed.
Ms Pearl welcomed the Premier’s announcement, stating it was a relief to finally get “the fairness that we deserve”.
“It definitely is a bit of a relief that all our hard work and effort that we put in to getting our message out there was actually heard,” she said.
“We’ve just been given the fairness that we deserve. My whole career has been classed as hair and beauty, so it’s just nice that the Premier has opened his eyes and recognised us.”
Ms Pearl said she was lucky that her service wouldn’t be affected by mandatory masks, however some beauty therapists – particularly those specialising in facials – won’t be able to operate.
“I can have customers wear their masks while I’m doing their lashes,” she explained.
“I’m just excited to see my clients and find out what they’ve been up to, not that they’ve been up to much, but I think it’s going to be a massive stress and mental relief for both my clients and myself.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to truly explain the feeling that a woman gets after a treatment … You just feel really well groomed and cleaned.”
It’s still unknown if Ms Pearl is eligible for any form of sole trader grants, but her main focus is getting back to work.
“It’ll be nice to have my own financial stability again. Everyone’s just so excited to start again and get back to doing what we love,” she said.
“It’ll be interesting to see if they can offer anything for sole traders who don’t have a shop front. I feel like they’ve got so many grants for people in the CBD, it’s almost like they’ve forgotten about us on the outskirts.
“We may not be paying rent on a shop, but we’re still paying rent at home and we’re going to need help to purchase our products again.”
Ms Pearl has decided to not take bookings until a concrete reopening date has been announced, but she can be contacted via Instagram at unreal.artistry or www.unrealartistry.com.au.
