‘Very unsure of what’s to come’: Salon worker experiences of COVID-19 in Australia during 2020

During Australia’s first nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19 in 2020, hairdressers and barbers were allowed to remain operating while beauty salons and similar businesses were ordered to shut. This article offers some preliminary insights into the impact of the pandemic on salon workers during the period, in particular the additional emotional labour required. Drawing on a survey of salon workers based in Australia ( n = 92), this article considers the emotional labour involved in salon work in tandem with the impact of COVID-19 disruptions on this workforce. Results of the survey reveal the variety of emotional disclosures that salon workers generally encounter from clients and how these disclosures continued during the period, as well as the emotions experienced by workers themselves. Survey results suggest that many salon workers, who were themselves experiencing heightened levels of physical, emotional and financial vulnerability, were expected to continue their emotional roles for clients during a period of high anxiety and stress. This work suggests that future decision making ought to consider the impact on, and how best to support, all workforces who remain in operation during lockdowns, particularly emotional labourers, and not just those typically imagined as ‘essential’.