Dear Governor Gavin Newsom,

California licensed professional hairstylists and barbers are committed to the safety of our clients and ourselves. As always, we follow the sanitation rules we trained on. After investing considerable dollars on new gear and PPE, we now also follow the new Covid-19 California salon guidelines faithfully. We distance, we sanitize, and everyone wears a mask at all times. Our shops are some of the cleanest safest places you can find.

We know of zero cases of salon transmission reported in California indicating that Covid-19 is not being spread through salons and barbershops.

We ask that you PLEASE remove salons and barbers from the businesses that you require to close when a county is on your watchlist. Clients are missing our contributions to their mental wellness and most salons and clients cannot actually use the new outdoor allowances.

Hairstylists and barbers want and need to be practicing our profession, taking care of our many clients indoors in our controlled professional settings.

We don't want to burden the state on unemployment insurance. We don't want to lose our businesses. We want to be working and contributing, and we are a model of how small businesses can operate COVID-safely!