Spalding and Donington beauty therapists share frustration at not being able to reopen

Beauty therapists have a while to wait until they can reopen their doors - despite the Government announcing they are able to return to work.

In the minutes following Culture Secretary’s announcement on Thursday, beauty therapists were inundated with messages from excited clients desperate for an eyebrow wax and lash tint.

However, guidelines released later that evening dashed hopes for all involved as any facial treatments were banned.

Ruby Pahal, of Ruby’s Brow Studio in Spalding, was left distraught on hearing the news. She said: “I was so disappointed, and so were my customers.

“We still don’t have a date for reopening and it’s just so unfair because we are ready.

“We’ve even learnt a new way to thread brows without using our mouths so that we can make it safe, we have PPE and screens are in place. We just need the go-ahead from the Government.

“We are only a small business, we need to get back open not only as we have bills to pay, but also so that we can do the job we love.”

Beth Barkway, of Queen Bee Beauty Enhancement in Donington, says that there seems to be an element of sexism in the new guidelines, which state that male beard trimming is allowed but women’s facial treatments, such as eyebrow threading or eyelash extensions, are high risk.

She said: “I feel very disheartened. A lot of people in the beauty industry had been waving the sexism flag previously and I had been disregarding it but looking at the new guidelines, I can’t deny it.

“Men can have their beards trimmed but women can’t have anything done to their eyelashes. There’s such a huge contradiction - how is it different?

“We have actually been put in the same category as strip clubs in terms of risk.

“I don’t understand that at all - we do two very different jobs!”