Firstly we want to thank everyone that has signed, shared or spoke up about the #beautyindustrybailout petition. We will have an update soon regarding a way we can all continue to mobilize action for our industry and continue to create awareness of our issues and empowerment amongst our workers and speak with unity. Looking forward to sharing that next update.

I wanted to touch on a couple items in today's update. Primarily, what would we like to see from a #beautyindustrybailout, why it is for everyone in our industry and why we are especially in need of it. 

We understand our industry is mostly governed at a State level by State Boards and each state is opening entirely differently so there could be a general fund at a Federal level that is distributed to each state as they need. Some states would need to help cover loss of income from lost productivity or extra overhead incurred by PPE purchasing, maybe through some sort of supplemental funds based off of a previous years tax returns? Or PPE funding grants? Also states should look at unemployment protection for beauty workers and other hands-on professionals that don't feel safe or are at a high risk and can't return to work even once their state reopens. We personally advocate for our safety first and understand not everyone feels that way, but we shouldn't be forced back to work against CDC recommendations and want protections against that. And of course in states such as New York & California where our businesses are to remain closed for "months, not weeks", we need rent/mortgage/utilities relief grants. Our margins might not be high enough to pay back loans in a timely fashion so incurring interest could be detrimental. We need grants or relief. And that's why regardless of each of our own beliefs on when to reopen, we all should unite for protections to our financial and physical well-being. We are not policy makers, we just wanted to share ideas that could work for our industries needs to give this concept more structure.

One reason our industry especially needs assistance is because we are largely comprised of under represented classes already. The majority of us are women, there is also a large number of LGBTQ+ people as well as a lot of immigrants. All of these people, regardless if they are just operators or business owners are trying to make the American Dream happen and have found an industry that facilitates that dream. That is something worth propping up. We aren't looking for handouts, we are drowning, we need to be bailed out. And we have contributed and will continue to contribute to the economy, regardless of a bailout. But we will be able to do it a lot safer and healthier with support.

So thank you for your support so far. This is just the beginning, we are all in this together. - The Beauty Coalition