We’re honestly heartbroken on behalf of the many, many beauty therapists and those offering ‘close’ services who were informed by our Prime Minister with less than 24 hours’ notice that they would not, after all, be able to restart work on 1st August.

We are heartbroken for the many clients who had been due to visit them – the friends with so much tension in their jaw, post-lockdown, that they’ve been grinding their teeth at night. The mother of a chum who was in tears because she’s become so self-conscious about her moustache and the hairs sprouting on her chin… And so it goes on. We remain baffled as to why it’s OK to open pubs – but not places where the strictest hygiene is always practised, as a matter of course.

We believe this attitude is unbelievably misogynistic, and completely ignores the fact that the beauty industry is worth £28 billion to the UK economy annually.

If you are as outraged as us, please voice your support by signing the Beauty Backed petition, here – pulled together by Millie Kendall of the British Beauty Council, Caroline Hirons and Lesley Blair, Chair of BABTAC and CIBTAC.

And do consider adding a donation, however small, via gofundme.com to the Hair and Beauty charity, which will donate to eligible businesses and individuals who apply for help, while these restrictions are still in place.

Let’s turn the despair into something positive… While we continue to wait for sanity to prevail and for our friends and colleagues who are make-up artists, aestheticians, facialists and other clinicians can return to their confidence-boosting duties.

As Beauty Backed put it, on behalf of beauty pros: ‘The health and safety of our clients has always been taken very seriously. It’s time our industry is.’

Prize Draws