Hair salons impacted by coronavirus

“I’ve been a hair stylist for over 35 years. My mother was a hair stylist, so I grew up in the salons. When I started, we worked together for a long period of time. Then I decided to move on and do my own thing. I opened my first salon back in 1996. Now I have two.

“Through the years, we’ve seen our share of ups and downs with the economy. We’ve always had slowdowns, but not a complete stop like this. I’ve been working one job or another since I was 12 years old. I’m 52 now, and this is the first time in all those years that I’m not working. Some of me says, you know what, this is pretty great. If I could do this and still make money, it would be pretty nice. But that’s not realistic right now. It’s scary. I don’t know what the future’s going to hold.

“A lot of hair stylists are in the same boat. Lots of people in the service industry are getting hit hard. Some people in corporate America are still able to work from home and continue to collect a paycheck. But if this goes on for a couple more months, fewer companies are going to be able to continue supporting their employees.

“I try to look on the bright side, though. When all this is over, which I’m hoping will be fairly soon, I think our industry will do well. People will want to come back in the salons. They’ll want to get their hair cut, their color done, their highlights, and feel good about themselves again.

“I was watching a friend try to buzz his head with a pair of clippers, and I was like, oh my gosh. Seriously, people are really going to appreciate us when this thing is over. For many years, some people dogged the beauty industry. They were like, oh, you’re just a bunch of flunky hairdressers. But without hair stylists, makeup artists and nail technicians, could you imagine what you would look like today?

“We’re a vital part of society. We help make people look good and feel good. And we can’t wait to get back to doing that again.”

— Anthony Skoog

Anthony owns the Green Apple Salons in Baytown and Montrose. During this time of social distancing, he says, “I’m just letting my hair grow.”