“I will be cutting hair this week” – Defiant Limerick salon owner reopening for “essential haircuts”

A Limerick salon owner has vowed to defy Level 5 restrictions this week in order to provide “essential haircuts” to some of his clients.

In a video posted on Instagram, Niall Colgan described how a number of his clients are recovering from chemotherapy and “their hair is completely out of control and, for their mental health, after everything they have been through – with illness, lockdown, and not being able to see people and so on – they really, really want to have their hair cut. They know how safe an environment it is going to be.”

Ensuring viewers that all public health and hygiene measures will be taken, Niall added that “I’ve got a client who suffers from trichotillomania and if I don’t cut her hair she is going to pull it out, and that is going to add to her mental health and anxiety issues.”

Niall’s video has been viewed nearly 5,000 times at the time of writing and is captioned: ‘I’m returning to the salon for essential services this week…please share if you agree.. ps. I won’t charge as I’m not looking to profit from my decision.. unlike ALL of the hairdressers working in the shadow economy. I am afraid I’m going to have to take a stand. I have a number of clients that require my services at this stage. I deem these to be essential. I will be cutting hair this week. I will ensure absolute safety for this very small number of clients. I am not anti lockdown. I am not anti vaccine . I just know when something is essential.’

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMaV9hxnqYU/

All hairdressers across Ireland have been closed since the country entered Level 5 Covid-19 restrictions in December and last week Leo Varadkar indicated that it could be the end of April or early May before they are allowed to reopen.

(header pic: @niallcolganhairdressing)

READ NEXT: Irish people have been welcoming the first ever walrus to arrive on our shores