Hairstylist in the time of the pandemic of coronavirus | Silvija Belas

Waking up and running across the street to her hair salon, drinking the first coffee in the day with her clients while talking about family and all the gossip in the neighborhood was part of the morning routine for Silvija Belas. For as long as she can remember, she was surrounded by hair dryers, combs, hair sprays, etc. First in her mother’s hair salon, and then her own.

“It was never a question for me, what kind of high school I will go to,” said Silvija, remembering her beginnings. Her mother was a very successful hairdresser in the city of Bjelovar, and it was normal for her younger daughter to follow in her footsteps. But instead of staying in her hometown, Silvija moved to the capital. She admits how it wasn’t all perfect in the beginning. She recalled, “I missed having my mom near me, especially when my daughters were babies,” but soon after her granddaughters were born, Silvija’s mom moved permanently to Zagreb. Before the pandemic of the coronavirus, she was frequently in her daughter’s salon, helping her and chatting with her clients.

“Talking all day is also something I pick up from her. I can’t imagine my life without so much talking throughout the day. My husband is very lucky I talk with clients, so he doesn’t have to listen to everything when he comes home,” laughed Silvija.

But the job she has been doing for the past 21 years with such love and passion has changed drastically after the outbreak of the coronavirus. The hair salons were among the first objects to close in mid-March with the first wave. Silvija, who has poured everything into her business, nearly had to close the salon. “It was the most scared I felt in my life. Everything I worked for so long could have been destroyed in a matter of weeks,” said Silvija who herself had the virus, but didn’t experience any symptoms.

After the hair salons were opened again during the summer, everything changed. “It’s just not the same thing when you can’t see people’s faces and hear their laughter. Everyone is afraid, and I feel like I am surrounded by strangers, and not some of my closest friends,” remarked Silvija.

Aside from that, there is a big decline in the number of clients coming. Due to the pandemic, fewer people are going out and more of them are working from home, so they feel like they don’t need to visit their hairstylist often.

Another terrifying aspect of the virus has been that Silvija and her assisttant have to constantly think about who are they seeing when they are not working because of the fear of self-isolation. “At the beginning of October, my employee was the contact of someone that had the virus. We had to close the hair salon for two weeks, and I felt devastated again,” said Silvija.

But there is also a positive side to the whole pandemic. A lot of very funny clips of people trying to be their own hairstylists and failing miserably. Silvija also recalled that she had to confront some of her friends when they tried to cut their own bangs or shave their husband’s head. “In a way, a lot of them realized they can’t do it without the hairstylists, which is good for me in the long run,” said Silvija.

Writer bio:

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Paula Anić is an Erasmus exchange Journalism and Mass Communications student at the American University in Bulgaria. She is interested in the problems small businesses have as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, which is why she interviewed a hairstylist.