Here’s when eyebrow threading, lash extensions and other facial treatments could resume

Your eyebrows and eyelashes may have felt a little neglected during the lockdown period if you regularly get treatments to spruce them up (Photo: Shutterstock)Your eyebrows and eyelashes may have felt a little neglected during the lockdown period if you regularly get treatments to spruce them up (Photo: Shutterstock)
Your eyebrows and eyelashes may have felt a little neglected during the lockdown period if you regularly get treatments to spruce them up (Photo: Shutterstock)

Your eyebrows and eyelashes may have felt a little neglected during the lockdown period if you regularly get treatments to spruce them up.

With beauty salons now open for business again, does this mean you can book in for an appointment?

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Unfortunately, for those eager to have their brows and lashes tended to, the answer is still ‘no’.

Although beauty salons have now reopened, allowing customers to get waxes, nail treatments and tans, any treatment on the face is still currently off-limits.

Why can’t I get my eyebrows and eyelashes done?

Although you may have been looking forward to getting your eyebrows evenly shaped again, or adding extensions to your eyelashes, any treatment on your face - considered a ‘high-risk zone’ - is still not allowed in England.

When beauty salons reopened in England on 13 July, any treatments on the face were deemed out of bounds, due to the risk of spreading coronavirus.

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It was later announced that treatments on the face would be allowed from 1 August, but when infections began to rise again, this was pushed back, alongside the reopening of casinos, bowling alleys and other establishments that were due to resume on the same day.

When announcing that this was to be the case, Boris Johnson said, “You will remember at every point I have said our plan to reopen society and the economy is conditional, that it relies on continued progress against the virus, and we would not hesitate to put the brakes on if required.

“With those numbers creeping up our assessment is that we should now squeeze that brake pedal to keep the virus under control.”

On hearing the announcement, the National Hair & Beauty Federation said, "We are extremely disappointed that this last-minute decision has been made. It will impact beauty businesses and professionals in England who were due to resume treatments to the face from tomorrow (August 1)... We will continue to push for financial support following this further setback."

What is the ‘high-risk zone’?

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Treatments in the ‘high-risk zone’ are those carried out directly in front of the client’s face, which put people at higher risk of spreading Covid-19.

These include face waxing and threading, facials, eyelash and eyebrow treatments, and microblading.

When will I be able to get my eyebrows and eyelashes done?

For those eager to get their eyebrows or lashes tended to, a date for when these services can resume has not yet been announced.

However, beauty salons are expected to be told if they can resume facial treatments on Friday 14 August.

What safety measures are in place in salons?

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The government has worked with a range of stakeholders in the beauty industry to develop the measures close contact services, including beauty salons, need to consider to become Covid-19 secure.

This includes:

  • Using screens or barriers to separate clients from each other, and to separate practitioners from clients, such as in nail salons
  • Operating an appointment-only booking system to minimise the number of people on the premises at any one time
  • Keeping the activity time involved to a minimum
  • Increasing the frequency of hand washing and surface cleaning, as well as regularly cleaning equipment or using disposable equipment where possible
  • Avoiding skin to skin contact and wearing gloves where it is not crucial to the service, such as in nail bars and tanning salons
  • Maintaining sufficient spacing between customer chairs
  • Not allowing food or drink, other than water, to be consumed in the salon by customers
  • Making sure a limited and fixed number of workers work together, if they have to be in close proximity to do their jobs