Last week, Ippodaro Natural Salon reopened its doors to the public after Gov. Greg Abbott cleared all cosmetology businesses to reopen. The quarantine hit a lot of local businesses hard, but the persevering and charismatic staff at Ippodaro kept the spirit alive over the two-month-long duress. Once Terri received the green light, she immediately began preparing to introduce new sanitary and social distancing measures into the salon’s structure. The team spent Monday May 11^th briefing on all the new changes being made to intake procedures, new sanitary protocols, and Wednesday May 13^th was the Golden Day back. To them, it was a jovial experience. Seeing familiar faces and speaking to each other, although mundane, was something many guests and team members felt excited to do. These new procedures took a day of adjustment, but the team had each other’s backs through this “New Normal”.

Guests and staff are required to wear face masks, at all times in the salon, and remain six feet apart. Walking into the salon you are met with a team member who will sanitize your hands, ask you to sign in and answer a few questions, as well as take your temperature. Guests with a temperature of over 100˚F will kindly be asked to leave but can reschedule as soon as they are feeling better. Once done, guests remain in the main waiting area or in the back room until their stylist is through sanitizing their station. Red tape throughout the salon designates the appropriate distances each guest should remain between each other and only one person is allowed per stylist.

While Ippodaro promotes a warm and friendly environment, sometimes the guests and staff members have to stop themselves from giving each other the usual hug or casual high-five because of the engraved “no contact” rule on their minds. Ippodaro still has an “open bar” with an array of drinks and snacks free of charge to their guests, but guests are no longer allowed to serve themselves or approach the station without a team member. Products are also hands-off for guests walking in for their appointment, but they are welcome to ask any member of the team about the products or to purchase them in-store.

Guests may occasionally bump into a team member while they are mopping the floors or cleaning the handles more frequently but always feel free to say “Hi” or ask questions – the staff is there to help!

Ippodaro is deeply grateful for the support they have received over the quarantine, and now they are ready for this next phase of the year – hair we go!