David Raleigh
March 15 2021 12:30 PM
A Limerick hairdresser has vowed to provide free “essential” haircuts in his salon, despite Level 5 restrictions on non-essential businesses remaining in place.
“Report me, or jail me, or stop me, or whatever you want to do but there are in some instances hairdressing services which we deem essential and they need to take place now,” said Niall Colgan, owner of Niall Colgan Hairdressing, O’Callaghan Strand, Limerick.
“I am returning to the salon this week to do a few haircuts on clients that I am deeming essential.
“I have got clients that are post-chemotherapy, their hair is completely out of control and, for their mental health, after everything they have been through – with illness, lockdown, and not being able to see people and so on – they really, really want to have their hair cut. They know how safe an environment it is going to be.”
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“I’ve got a client who suffers from trichotillomania and if I don’t cut her hair she is going to pull it out, and that is going to add to her mental health and anxiety issues,” Mr Colgan said in a video posted on his social media.
Mr Colgan said he would not be charging clients.
“I won’t charge as I’m not looking to profit from my decision… unlike all of the hairdressers working in the shadow economy.”
He added: “I’ve been thinking a lot this week about certain things and this is lockdown number three, and while we have stuck religiously to every single guideline that has been given to us from March 2020 until today, I firmly believe we are in a situation now that somebody has to take a stand.”
He said that hair was very important to people and the majority of people can hold off on getting their hair done.
“And then there are other clients, and they have the shadow-economy hairdressers at their fingertips, and they are making the choice to go to those shadow-economy hairdressers to get their hair done and that is their own thing,” he said.
“We’ve been harping on about this in the hairdressing industry for so long now that we are sick to our teeth of it and there’s nothing that can be done about it, it’s just happening, and the suppliers are supplying them with product and the suppliers are open and they can get their product and nobody is saying anything.”
Mr Colgan said his “message for Leo Varadkar and Micheál Martin and Simon Harris and Stephen Donnelly and anybody else that can listen” was “we are going to be masked up, we are going to have everything we had in place after the last two lockdowns”.
He said some of the clients he will be meeting in his salon this week “really, really need to have their hair cut and they do not want to go and avail of hairdressers in the shadow economy, and they want me to cut their hair and I am going to do it this week”.
Mr Colgan said anyone visiting the salon this week will be asked “to come with their hair shampooed, so we don't have to shampoo it”.
“I will simply cut their hair and I will not blow dry it in the salon, so all of the precautions will be taken,” he said.
“I will be returning to the salon this week to cut essential haircuts. I’m sorry if I’m offending you and I’m sorry if that’s too controversial, but for my clients’ mental health this needs to be done.”
Today Mr Colgan’s hair salon appeared to be closed.
