Not all Hawke's Bay hairdressers will open on Thursday, despite expected deluge

Owner Kelly McKenzie, left, and Senior Stylist MJ van der Linden at Pure Hair in Napier are gearing up for the onslaught of clients under Level 2. Photo / Paul Taylor

Hawke's Bay hairdressers say they're almost ready for a barrage after weeks of bad hair days.

But the pressure of coming to grips with new guidelines only handed out on Tuesday could force some to stay shut for a bit.

Hair 2 Go managing director Tessa Corby said a day-and-a-half's notice was "poor notification" from the Government.

Corby said that apart from the stress of all the work getting back to business, she said that the support they have gotten from the industry has been incredible.

"The support us in the industry have been getting from each other has been great and everyone has been looking out for each other during this time."

She said they aimed to be open on Thursday but it would be a staggered process to get all of its four stores open.

"Some of our staff are parents and will be staying home with their kids till they can get back to school and others are elderly and fall under those vulnerable to Covid-19," she said.

"So we might just open two stores this week and work on opening the others in the coming weeks."

Pure Hair director Kelly McKenzie said the last few days had turned the "salon into an office", working hard to reorganise clients and work out a schedule.

"We had those that had appointments booked during lockdown as our main priority and even when it was announced we would be opening again we got even more people wanting to come in but most of them have been pushed back to fit everyone in."

She said when they reopen the experience is going to be very different times ahead with few people waiting inside and various hand wash and sanitising stations.

But even though they haven't been able to operate for close to six weeks she said that her and her team has been connecting with clients over social media.

"We would just put up videos giving people tips on how to treat and look after their hair over the last six weeks," she said.

"Some people were wanting to attempted a bit of a DIY do but we advised against it because we would have had a lot more clients looking to get their hair fixed once we opened."