Minnesota salon professionals are being crushed by the COVID-19 crisis.  We are independent contractors, hourly employees and small businesses. We do not have the voice that the construction unions have that has allowed them to continue to work with no sanitation precautions at all. Today you talked about allowing those that can reasonably operate, to do so. We are asking you to tell us what requirements we need to meet to be allowed to operate and tell us when it will be appropriate to do so.

A conversation needs to start about how we can safely interact with our clients when we are able to open again. The communication with our industry is lacking and needs to improve.  More than half of us are self employed, we do not qualify for the programs out there and unemployment is not coming soon enough for us to feed our families and pay our mortgages.

We are trained in sanitation and understand the spread of pathogens and disease. We are required by the board of Cosmetology to do training four hours each year. We understand how to prevent the spread of other diseases, help us to understand what needs to be done for COVID-19. 

We believe that one of your greatest challenges through this crisis is managing people's mental health, in this, salon professionals are absolutely essential! We change people's appearance for sure, but we are also their councilors and confidants, we remind them that everything is going to be okay. Salon professionals are essential to how people feel about themselves. We agree that the health and wellness of our communities has to be our top priority. We need you to engage with us to ensure that this continues when we are able to go back to work.