‘Yuma’s Best’ Hair Salon successfully re-opens after statewide salon closures

Appointments completely booked for the first day back in business since stay-at-home orders close all AZ salons

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Fridays at the beauty salon haven’t been the same since the coronavirus pandemic.

Chelsea Ogram is a hairstylist at Blush Hair and Beauty Bar in Yuma.

She cuts and colors the tresses of pageant queens to the everyday local.

“People tell you, you know, you have a skill, that you can do no matter what! You can go anywhere, you have this skillset. So never did I think I wouldn’t be working for over a month,” Ogram said.

Ogram was itching to get back behind her chair after the salon was shut down for nearly 5-weeks.

“We have a lot of people here who come to us every week so that was definitely an adjustment for them,” she said.

Adding, “We have the guys who like to get their hair cuts every couple weeks, so they had a hard time. We have color clients who have to color their grays."

April 4, hair salons were chopped from the list of businesses deemed essential in Arizona during COVID-19.

However, if you ask Blush owner, Kristina Hogan, she’d consider her work essential.

Hogan said, “We touch more than just hair. I had a client tell me that I’m cheaper than therapy. We’re here to make them look beautiful on the outside and feel beautiful on the inside too.”

On top of the emotional impact of closing her salon, as a business owner and self-employed worker, Hogan says this pandemic is nothing the beauty industry was prepared for.

“We don’t get benefits. We don’t get paid unless someone’s in our chair. So it's not like an hourly gig,” Hogan explained.

As soon as Governor Ducey loosened statewide stay-at-home orders Friday, reopening hair salons and barbershops, Blush's appointments booked up immediately.

But before clients are met with a brush to their neglected roots, they must wash their hands.

All stylists will be wearing masks, stations are sanitized before and after clients, and no additional guests are allowed in the waiting area.