By Damien and Louis 

We are still in a very uneasy state, wondering exactly what the new normal will be and how it will affect us, day to day.  

Miano Viel Salon and Spa has been transformed into what looks more like a high tech hospital room than a beauty salon. Few items on stations, sterilization units throughout, and the constant fumes of disinfectant. Staff members walk around with masks and shields as if they were working in an infectious disease unit. Vinyl partitions separate everyone, to protect workers and clients. 

Keeping people apart is the hardest part about our “new order”. 

Clients are our family. We miss them between visits. We hug them when they return. We talk about anything and everything that has happened since we were last together. How was your last cut and color? How is your daughter? Did the renovation go well?  

While we talk, we move their hair, getting a feel of texture and movement. We look at them, really look. How do they want to see themselves? It’s partly a psychic inquiry.

The pandemic has changed the rules. 

The beauty business is one of the last businesses on the planet where it is socially acceptable to touch another human being. We rest our hands on our clients’ shoulders as we talk about what to do this time. Once that is decided, we talk. Sometimes we laugh about the silliest thing til we have to wipe away the tears. Sometimes they confide in us about their marital or family issues, and we give them an extra long hug, an assurance that everything will be all right. We scoop them up when they lose a spouse, a friend, a family member, to show them we share their pain. 

For now, contact therapy is over. COVID-19 has robbed us of one of the most beautiful parts of our business—connection through touch, and the healing that comes with it. 

We miss the way it was. We need human contact.

We will find a way out of this mess. As a nation, we are strong and resilient. Sooner or later the virus will lose its power over us. There will be a vaccine, or herd immunity, or something. As soon as that happens, we are going to pull our clients in again, and we won’t let go so easily. 

Damien Miano and Louis Viél are co-owners of Miano Viél Salon and Spa. They have had years of experience with fabulous clients.