Boston barbers & beauticians shown appreciation for pandemic work

BOSTON, Mass.--Barbers and beauticians in Boston received special recognition for the service they provide to their communities after feeling forgotten during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Boston 25 News reporter Brea Douglas was at Franklin Park Golf Clubhouse as Barber Time Media Network showed them appreciation.

Good music and good food are how the organization Barber Time showed appreciation to a room full of barbers and beauticians who were once deemed non-essential workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It was traumatic. It was definitely a life changing experience because we couldn’t operate you know everything got shut down,” says Nicole Alleyne, owner of Judah Hair Salon.

“We were out of work for a couple of months,” says Ursula Vaughn, owner of Lawson’s Barber Shop.

Once the world finally reopened, barber shops became more than a place to style hair, cosmetologists were trained on how to provide mental health services during an uncertain time.

“That helps me also to be able to deal with a lot of clients and people in my community that are suffering from mental health,” says Alleyne.

The training happened thanks to the Barber Time Media Network-an organization specifically providing resources to barber shops and hair salons in Boston. Founder, Euan Davis is glad to see his industry slowly getting back to the way it was.

“I am a hugger so when I couldn’t hug for the longest time with my clients it wasn’t good for me, but now that I can get back to hugging people, I am happy,” says Davis.

Three years after the pandemic, some stylists say fewer people come through their doors.

“A lot of people are doing their own hair and they are not coming back to the salons, they rather do it at their house,” says Carolyn McGee, owner of Carolyn’s Hair Salon.

Despite the changes in the hair business, stylists say they will always know their value in society.

“The barber shops, hair salons, are still a cornerstone in the community,” says a Boston hair salon owner.

Barber Time Media Network will launch its 2nd Annual Charity Golf Tournament on August 7th at the Franklin Park Golf Course at 10am.

For more information, visit the link here.

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