Keep Stylists Safe!

This is a direct response to the petition created by "Beauty Solutions, LLC" who claims to represent all salon professionals of California, but who are actually a collection of mostly business owners who do not seem to have our best interests in mind. We do not agree with the petition demanding to reopen salons right now. In fact, we find it reckless and irresponsible.

Our demands:
1. Continue to keep CA salons closed, as it is still unsafe to work 
2. Support our safety: Resume full benefits of PUA/EDD for all California employees who can not safely work while practicing social distance precautions

We strongly request that PUA be extended by the State of California for all residents, since the Federal Government has failed us. As the fifth largest economy in the world, CA residents need that money to keep the economy strong and stave off eviction, hunger, and further economic downturn. California is equipped to handle that request and should set an example for the rest of the states.

Now is not the time to return to practicing salon services while we are in the middle of a worsening pandemic. 

While we do have basic sanitation training in cosmetology school, we are not essential healthcare workers and are not fully equipped to fight a potentially deadly airborne virus. It is not fair to ask us to take these risks for a non-essential service.

What we need is more financial support from our government leaders so that we can stay home until it is safe to work. We recognize that the people who own our salons need support from the government as well. Unfortunately, as of July 31, 2020, the unemployment benefits we have relied upon to survive have been slashed right when we need them the most.

This situation leaves us with two options. We can either go to work illegally under unsafe conditions and risk our health, or stay home and risk losing our housing because unemployment will either get cut or doesn't pay a fair living wage. We do not want to choose between two things that have continued to greatly affect our mental health as well as risking our physical health.

Please show that you value the lives of beauty and barber professionals and our clients by keeping salons closed and allowing us to stay safe at home with a decent living wage until there is a vaccine, or at least until numbers of new covid cases are extremely low.