COVID-19: IS A BEARD TRIM WORTH THE RISK?

Far too long

Life is about taking risks.  Back on 13 August, we took a look at attitudes to risk, from those who deliberately look for high-adrenaline experiences to those who are happy to stay at home rather than risk catching COVID-19.

With knowledge of the rather nasty 6 risks of COVID-19, which make it far worse than flu, I'm taking a medium attitude to activities.  Outdoors but not indoors, unless it is to buy food or for a very short time.

The big issue was my ever-longer hair and beard.  Would I break that rule?  Not yet.

Hairdressers have been allowed to do close work such as trim beards since 15 August, subject to two main requirements and a variety of others:

• Wearing a proper Type 2 surgical mask, primarily to protect customers from the hairdresser in case they are infectious
• Wearing a visor, primarily to protect themselves if the customer is infectious and coughs, sneezes or otherwise breathes on them

The government made it clear to the hairdressing industry that permission to operate would be withdrawn en masse if hairdressers ignored the guidelines.  It was also made clear that individual "businesses are at risk of receiving formal action from local authorities if they are not following their risk assessments. Failure to comply with an enforcement notice from a local authority officer can lead to prosecution in the criminal courts and penalties including fines or up to two years’ imprisonment."

So the The NHBF (National Hair & Beauty Federation) set up a campaign called #DoingItRight to inform their members of the business risks and what they have to do.

One might hope that the majority of hairdressers would have got the message by now.  But seemingly not.  At the weekend, a tour of nine barbers, ladies hairdressers and unisex salons, mostly with only one chair in operation, gave these basic results:

• 7 with staff wearing masks, but 1 with his mask hanging down from one ear, and one with just a visor half up and useless
• Of the 7, only 2 wearing a visor.  One ladies, one gents barber

Had I found my man?  I had a chat and found that he was using proper 70% alcohol sanitiser to clean the chair between customers, who needed to sanitise their hands on arrival.  He seemed 'switched on' about being 'COVID-secure'.

I agreed what to do with my hair and beard with family and friends, all of whom suggested the 'Paul Hollywood' look, despite my misgivings.  Thoroughly fed up with my hair blowing about in the wind, I set off this afternoon to get my ears lowered and my beard trimmed.

I mentioned that there are various other requirements that barbers should follow.  One is that applies to all shops, which is that customers should wear a mask in the shop.  In any case, it is simply sensible that nobody should be breathing into the still air of a shop, in case they are infectious.

However there was a customer queuing without a mask.  He'd been sitting there some time.  I would be walking into a potentially infectious atmosphere.  I made my excuses and didn't go in.

Should I return?  Was it worth the risk? Not when I could return tomorrow.  Or I could leave it for days or weeks longer?  Why take an unnecessary risk?

Let's see how I feel tomorrow and then what happens.