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Master hairdresser Marco Trapani (in his salon in Dortmund): "The whole of March is fully booked"
Photo: LEON KUEGELER / REUTERS
It is impossible to say for whom the redemption seems greater on Monday shortly after midnight: For the customers who did not want to wait a minute longer for a haircut after months without a hairdresser.
Or for the Dortmund hairdresser Marco Trapani, who can finally go back to work.
Like his colleagues in other federal states, he had to close his salon in mid-December, for the second time this Corona year.
“In the middle of the Christmas business.
That was quite a blow in the stomach, ”recalls the 52-year-old.
But on this first day in March, which only began a few minutes ago, he is beaming with his customers.
It is two women and four men who have managed to get one of the earliest possible appointments: at 0.01 a.m., Trapani lets the confetti cannons pop and life returns to the salon.
Now he is already applying fresh highlights to the first regular customer.
"It is high time," says Sonia Leesberg.
She runs a fashion shop in the Sauerland - and in lockdown she stirs the drum for her goods with photos on social media.
"Of course you want to look good," she says.
Visiting the hairdresser for a birthday
"Finally shape is coming back in," sighs Markus Prandzioch with relief when Trapani turns to his matchstick-length hair a little later.
For Prandzioch, the fresh cut is literally a gift on this day: It's been his birthday - and therefore "probably the most pushed to be one of the first customers," as he says.
Although his wife had trimmed the mat in the meantime, he was relieved that a professional was taking care of it again.
Trapani scuffles, applies the scissors, scuffles, examines it: "Let's put it this way: Your wife hasn't ruined so much that it couldn't be saved."
Everyone wears a mask according to the regulations - and the other standards of hygiene concepts from hand disinfection to keeping your distance to other customers are also known from the time of the first lockdown.
In the meantime, a sticker on the door of Trapani's salon advertises increased safety through an air filter system.
Receptionist Mirko Konisch reports that since it was clear that the hairdressers would be allowed to start again from March 1, the phone has hardly stood still.
“The whole of March is booked out”.
Something similar can be heard nationwide from the industry.
In order to cope with the rush of customers, many companies want to open longer every day and also on Mondays, the trade associations said in advance.
Some like Trapani celebrated the reopening with a night shift.
However, such customer loyalty campaigns cannot make up for the losses of the past few months, says the Dortmund salon operator.
Nobody can also know whether another lockdown will follow and how the customers will behave.
Majority for further easing
The decision to open hairdressers nationwide was taken at the last federal-state meeting on February 10th.
On Wednesday, Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the Prime Ministers of the federal states will meet again - also to talk about a further opening perspective in the lockdown.
The pressure before the consultations is great, as on the one hand the desire for more freedom is growing, but at the same time experts see the beginning of a third wave of pandemics.
Central corona key figures are rising again, the reason is likely to be the spread of mutated corona viruses, which are considered more contagious.
According to a survey by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of the German Press Agency, only a third are in favor of maintaining (26 percent) or tightening (9 percent) the current restrictions.
On the other hand, 43 percent believe that the lockdown should be loosened further.
17 percent are even in favor of a complete return to normalcy.
5 percent did not provide any information.
For the first time since the tough lockdown began in mid-December, there is a majority in favor of easing the YouGov polls, which are carried out every two to four weeks.
In any case, the next customers are served from nine o'clock in the morning.
That's why the night's shift ends after a good two hours.
Sonia Leesberg, with her fresh blonde highlights and hair twisted into waves, has also finished styling.
The fact that she smiles up to her ears when she looks at the result in the mirror can be seen despite the FFP2 mask.
“I feel wonderful.
I could go out without a hitch, ”she says, shrugging her shoulders.
She'll have to wait.
The hairdressers have priority over restaurants and bars.
Icon: The mirror
mik / dpa
