Hair Stylist Finds New Outlook on Life Despite Shutdown
Joel Silva, a hair stylist for the last 25 years, faced closure due to COVID-19 but found a silver lining in how he managed his work and free time.
Joel Silva is a hair stylist from California who has been cutting, styling and dying hair for 25 years. He and his wife opened Salon Six Degrees in Manhattan Beach, California, 17 years ago.
Thanks to his training, Silva has an excellent handle on sanitation practices — something that’s required when getting a cosmetology license. When the initial COVID-19 scares began, he was confident he would be able to continue to style hair.
However, as rumors of certain types of businesses — like salons and barber shops — being called to shut down, Silva grew nervous.
And, eventually, Salon Six Degrees was shut down with little communication on how long it would take until he could get his business back up and running.
Silva and the other stylists in the salon had no place to practice their craft.
As the quarantine culture continued with no end in sight, people started to put pressure on Silva to, in his words, “do haircuts on the dark market.” He said this in a joking manner but said that he did complete a few haircuts and styling while his business was shut down.
At this point, his business has now been back open for two weeks, but his salon is taking extra safety and sanitation precautions. These precautions include taking everyone’s temperature before they enter the salon, requiring both the stylists and the customers to wear masks, and keeping an empty seat between each active hair styling station. Silva is also booking fewer appointments.
Silva had not had significant time off in 10 years. However, through all of the hard times, Silva has found a silver lining.
He said he found a new outlook on life.
“My new outlook is basically, work less, spend less and live more,” he said.
