As California shut
the pandemic” Lori responded “The government shut the down, Lori Moon went into state of california down and isolation, anxious of what the there was no financial stability outside world was becoming. at all. Because you couldn’t do She thought to herself that clients in the salon, because if she went back and worked they were shut down.”Her illegally as a hairstylist, she eyebrows started to arch and would get sick and die of this her lips pursed “So, I had no new, no-vaccine/cure virus, or income, zero income.” On even get someone else killed. June 1st, the government had But this wasn’t the only thing opened up salons for 25% bolted and chained down in capacity and or indoors with her mind. She sat there anxsome modifications/safety ious about what to do about protocols. “Which is nothing” money and paying her essenLori said about the 25%, addtials. There she sorted it out: ing on to her working were rent needed to be paid, the her clients and her co-workers’ rent of the salon needed to be clients’ safety too. After openpaid, living essentials needed ing up California Covid cases After a whole year and to be paid, etc. She came to the more, the pandemic has been rose once again and close the conclusion that one of those state, only for salons to open a big obstacle for everyone. was unnecessary and absurd up again in July and close. With 20-30 years of experito her. Quickly, and after sev- ence in Hairstyling, Lori hasn’t This had even lead some/ eral email conversations, Lori faced what the pandemic has hundreds of salons to protest dialed her boss and then… against Gov. Gavin Newsom brought to us in 2020, but She quit. and reopen on Aug 17. she now has to face the harsh After 19 years of self As the Center of Disrealities of what include being employed work at a hair salon, a close contact worker and self ease and Control stated that Lori Moon quit her job. employed on top of that. Hav- “people in their 60s or 70s After ending the phone call are, in general, at higher risk ing to deal with her older cliwith her boss, she was still ents just adds onto her fear of for severe illness than people very scared. Her boss was getting sick and killing some- in their 50s.” continuing with known for reacting badly people above 70 too. Having one, though she still wants to when things didn’t go his way help them get their haircut, “It always been close to her cliand something else wasn’t ents who she’s had for 20-30 makes them feel good. That’s solved. How was she going to what I hear anyway”. plus years, Lori had practicalget paid? “Being a self-employed ly grown up with them. And hairdresser in the beginning of now she couldn’t see or attend
see or attend to them, which only made quarantine weirder/harder having it be her only income. But with this limitation came an adaptation later on, she started to do hair on the road.
“I had no place to work and then I decided I was going to do hair on the road. Go to people’s homes and do their hair at home.” Lori continued “And that was really exhausting because it’s hard to do work in somebody’s backyard in the 8-90 degree weather, in the sun, on their patio or something because you had to be really safe.” Covid was still a thing and so was quarantine, so she went about things in very safe ways, making sure her clients and her were both comfortable. Just like keeping the 25%
in a different way. But it started to become a hassle as she mentioned. Having to drive to clients houses and do hair in the yard was not for her. So she started her own salon in her garage but also kept some clients at their houses. Never in her life would she have thought to bring her clients to her house. Since the beginning, Lori had always been interested in talking to people and styling hair, and it all had really just been offered to her. “So I had a girl friend” Lori starts “she was a year older than I was and she was a new friend that I had made in high school.” She carries on “And I had met her because she was talking about dropping out of beauty school. It just made me so curious. I was like ‘(gasp)” Lori held her hand to her chest in awe, “You’re going to Beauty school? How does somebody do that?” She then went on and applied to beauty school through her school, Los Altos
High School. Lori continued explaining, “Did that five days a week and worked all day Saturday as a beauty school student.” After graduating from high school and beauty school, a year later, Lori learned what she has been doing for 30 years. But it’s a little different from her and other people’s expectations. “It’s an interesting scenario I’ve heard my whole career of doing hair.” Lori tilts her head as she begins to talk “People say ‘Ugh, it’s so great, you get to make your own schedule.’ It’s true, you do get to make your own schedule but you also have to have the clients that want to come in at those times.” But now, Lori has quite an open schedule, with clients now wanting to social distance. Many of Lori’s clients have started to push out their appointments or not even have them at all partly because they’re scared or they don’t need them. “But I had a client, a male client, he got his
haircut about every 6 weeks” Lori begins to describe him as a retired fun man who loves to ski, and with that came his typical 6 week short messy haircut. “I hadn’t seen him probably for, I don’t know, 5 months? So, his typically kinda short messy haircut, turned into- he had long hair! It was much longer than I had ever seen it.” Lori said surprised and chuchlink because both her and him had agreed to let her do her own thing. “And I decided to give him a mullet, a temporary mullet.” Lori hated mullets, ever since they were a trend when she was growing up and had refused to cut one until now. “I gave him the fastest mullet ever and for about 5 minutes he loved it, and then we said ‘Okay we’re going to cut it’”. From having to work normally in a salon then leave the salon to come to the decision of doing hair on the road, Lori has come a long way. She found ways to solve her problem of no income including unemployment payments that didn’t last too long because of how California was handling the CARES Act and “The amount of benefits paid out will vary by state and are calculated based on the weekly
benefit amounts (WBA) provided under a state’s unemployment insurance laws.” the Department of Labor states. Aside from unemployment she had a garage business/salon, which Lori concludes that it will definitely be temporary. “You know, it’s like personal space. My boundaries are infringed on but the people who do come here, they’re wonderful clients. I’ve had them for 30 years and I really appreciate them.” Lori continues “It will be temporary, it’s a temporary fix until the pandemic can somehow calm down a little bit and get us back out into the real world again.”
Although the pandemic had been such a trying time, Lori still had found positive things in it. She had gotten to build her own salon by herself, gotten a big break from haircuts, and had been able to cut
a temporary mullet.
“But that was fun.” Lori shivered at the thought of it but smiled “I would have never been able to do that had the pandemic not happened because he is a regular haircut, about every 6 weeks, and he always kinda kept short and messy. So, that was fun and I took pictures of it and he sent it to his 29 year old daughter, who got a big kick out of it.”
About
the
Author
Tori Florian is a Junior at Los Altos High School who is currently attending Freestyle Academy as a Film Student. She has always loved exploring her creativity and reaching beyond her limits. Tori dreams to continue expanding her knowledge of different mediums.