Covid-19 beauty backlog: Tauranga beauticians warn of 'long wait' for appointments

Owner of Blinking Beauty Kiara Knollys said she was "overwhelmed" with the number of people desperate to book and get back into her studio. Photo / Supplied

Bay of Plenty beauty salons have already lost thousands of dollars in cancelled appointments and accrued wait lists of up to a month long as demand for their services ramps up during the Covid-19 lockdown.

This week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern laid out what level 3 restrictions meant when it eventually comes into effect, potentially next week. While some businesses will be able to reopen, beauty salons will not.

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website

Central Tauranga hairdresser Ariane Nicholson said clients could be easily be waiting close to a month to lock down an appointment after salons were able to reopen.

She said many had priority clients who had faced cancellations, so getting a new appointment was not going to be easy.

Nicholson said she was planning for six-day weeks and working as many hours as she "physically could", once she could pick up the scissors again.

She had been flooded with messages and said as lockdown boredom set in, people decided they needed their hair done.

"Getting your hair done is such a good way pick up your spirits... I'm super excited to get back into it.

"It could be a long wait for some though."

Owner of Blinking Beauty Kiara Knollys said she had needed to form a lengthy waitlist for her services as demand had been huge.

Knollys had been "overwhelmed" with the number of people desperate to book.

Owner of Bay Brows Kayla Jas had to cancel thousands of dollars worth of appointments that she won't be able to get back. Photo / Supplied

She had originally felt anxious about reopening as she knew there had been sweeping job cuts and people would be budgeting.

She had just begun renovating her Pāpāmoa salon and finding an employee when lockdown came into effect.

"It has been frustrating at times to feel like everything is at a standstill, however, I trust that this is for the best interests for us all."

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Owner of Bay Brows Kayla Jans has had to cancel over $10,000 worth of appointments and as she was 26-weeks pregnant, she would not be able to pick them back up.

Clients had been booked in to get their eyebrows cosmetically tattooed with Jans since last year and it was "heartbreaking" for her to have to pull the plug.

She said her inbox had filled up with people seeing if she could squeeze them in, but her main focus was the priority clients who needed additional treatments.

"I don't even want to think about the money losses... I'm most concerned about those who I won't be able to fit in,

"This was definitely not how I foresaw my next chapter before motherhood."

Bay of Plenty Beauty Association representative and studio owner Olivia Blakeney Williams said she hoped that there were long wait lists and beauticians were "saturated" with business for the sake of their livelihoods.

She said she believed the "lipstick effect" would come in and people would be rushing to get their beauty needs satisfied.

Bay of Plenty Beauty Association representative Olivia Blakeney Williams said she hoped that there were long waitlists. Photo / Supplied

Winter commonly saw a major downturn in business for the industry, but Blakeney Williams hoped the reopening may mitigate this.

"I am worried that smaller businesses may not survive this."

She said it will be a double-hitter for the industry as a whole.