Updated: Government confirm face treatments in England will resume on August 15
Update: Face treatments in England will resume tomorrow (Saturday, August 15). Read the Government's announcement about it here.
Story from July 31:
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced in a press briefing today (July 31) that all facial treatments in England can not take place on August 1 as planned.
The PM has postponed the Government's next round of restrictions being eased due to the rising R rate, and has stated that facial treatments in beauty salons, spas and mobile/home-based beauty businesses will be able to resume on Saturday, August 15, the earliest. Read the full story.
Where does the Government stand on clients wearing face masks in salons and spas?
The National Hair and Beauty Federation (NHBF) have had confirmation from Government officials that clients will need to wear a face mask in the beauty salon, spa or hairdressing environment in England as of Saturday, August 8.
On its Instagram page, the NHBF outlined the face mask rules for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland too.
The below was posted on August 1 and is no longer the official reopening date for facial treatments:
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has confirmed in his latest coronavirus briefing that all face treatments in beauty salons and spas can resume as of August 1.
New guidance has been published that states that from August 1, the Government will: "Enable all close contact services to resume, including any treatments on the face such as eyebrow threading or make-up application, working closely with the sector and public health experts to ensure this can be done as safely as possible and in line with COVID-19 Secure guidelines."
In the conference today (July 17), Johnson outlined the next stage of the country’s Covid-19 recovery plan, which included news on the further reopening of the beauty industry.
He said: “From August 1, we will be reopening most remaining leisure settings and we will enable close-contact services [such as] beauticians to resume.”
This is great news for the industry who have been hit hard by the pandemic, and which has been campaigning for greater clarity from the Government on when they can perform facial treatments as these close-contact services generate a huge amount of revenue for most beauty business owners.
Industry reactions
Millie Kendall, chief executive of The British Beauty Council, said: "For now, we look forward to getting back into even more of our workplaces and doing what we do best – and in line with the Government guidelines, we urge absolutely everyone, from business owners to practitioners to clients, to adhere to the Covid-19-safe guidelines to ensure that we can continue to stay safe and well.”
What do you make of the news? Comment below.