From threading and waxing to facials: What to expect from a visit to a Dubai salon

As restrictions ease in the emirate, spas and salons can now provide a wider range of services

Brow threading is back on offer at many Dubai salons. Unsplash

There have been numerous things many of us have discovered amid the coronavirus pandemic. The simple pleasures of a jigsaw puzzle, the joy of baking, creative ways to workout while staying home.

And some of us have also realised just how much we miss our beautician.

Whether your grown-out brows are looking a little wild or your skin looking a little lacklustre without that facial, there have been a number of services we've had to forgo due to restrictions rolled out to contain the spread of Covid-19.

While salons and barbershops began welcoming clients for hair and nail services again in late April, there have been certain treatments off the menu, including threading, waxing and facials.

However, with restrictions easing on office and mall capacity in Dubai, with the former already allowed to operate at full capacity, salons, too, have been able to widen their offerings.

What is now available at salons in Dubai?

As well as hair cuts, colour and nail services, a Dubai Municipality circular shared with The National, dated May 26, reveals that salons can offer waxing, tanning and threading treatments while running at a 50 per cent capacity.

Pastels, which has branches in Mercato Mall and Jumeirah, Kozma & Kozma salon in Umm Suqeim, and Tips & Toes, which has branches throughout the city, are among the salons that have reinstated these treatments.

What safety precautions are in place?

Salon staff must wear face shields while carrying out treatments, according to the directive, as well as face masks and overalls.

Customers and treatment stations must be placed at least two metres apart, with clients also required to wear face masks throughout their visit.

"Mask can be adjusted for very short time periods during certain procedures (e.g. trimming hair behind ears, beard shave) if absolutely necessary," the circular adds.

Scroll through the gallery below to see what a visit to a hair salon in Dubai now looks like:

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  An employee takes a temperature check with a thermo reader as you enter Pastels Salon in Mercato Mall in Dubai. All photos by Reem Mohammed / The National

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  Sanitary measures being taken at the salon.

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  Tools are meticulously cleaned throughout the day.

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  All employees must wear face masks.

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  The hair-cutting experience is now rather different.

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  Staff wear gloves during most of the experience, but take them off to cut hair.

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  Sanitary measures are wide-ranging and thorough.

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  Staff are on hand to spot clean throughout the day.

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  New signs at the entrance inform clients of the new guidelines.

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  A client gets her hair done at the salon.

Chairs, tools and work surfaces should be thoroughly cleaned between clients, and waiting areas must be removed. Instead, appointments have to be made for visits (no walk-ins allowed), and customers should have their temperature checked on arrival.

"We have trained staff on how to professionally sanitise the salon fixtures and fittings as well, as all their equipment, using only high-grade sanitisers as approved by Dubai Municipality," says Ruksher Malik, founder of Pastels salons.

"We have also instigated a flow within the salon – the main door is where clients come to enter, while the side door is the exit door. Once inside the salon, there is clear signage about the two-metre social distancing.

We have trained staff on how to professionally sanitise the salon fixtures and fittings as well, as all their equipment

"In the salons, we have removed alternate chairs from the hair stations and put out of use stickers on alternate backwash stations so that social distancing is easily maintained and there are stickers about this distancing procedure all over the salon."

Salons also need to encourage clients to use cash-free payment methods, such as cards or online transactions.

What's still not allowed?

Tanning and threading may be back on the menu, but spas, sauna, hammams and massage are still not allowed. Home services are also excluded, according to the circular.

Also, don't expect any newspapers or magazines on offer during a salon visit, so make sure you take a book or some form of entertainment with you if you need a little distraction.

Who can make appointments?

While adults over the age of 60 and children between the age of 3 and 12 are still not permitted to visit malls or supermarkets, they can make salon appointments.

However, only one child can accompany an adult to a salon, and that adult has to be below the age of 60.