The head of the Irish Hairdressers Federation says salons should provide disposable masks for customers.
The federation has published full guidelines for re-opening the sector.
Danielle Kennedy told Pat Kenny if the two metre social distancing rule got reduced to one metre "that eliminates a lot of the problem that we might have with productivity."
"So we would be very, very happy to see that.
"But if not, we are recommending that if the two metre stays in place that if clients cannot maintain the two metre distance that they implement screens".
On the close proximity of the work: "We will be recommending that stylists wear masks and that salons will provide disposable masks for clients upon entry to the salon.
"They are just recommendations...they're not enforceable, but we would recommend them".
"We will be recommending to our members that they do implement a mask policy".
But she said in her own salon: "If a client won't wear a mask... a stylist may chose not to do that client's service, which I think is very fair".
She added that they are anxious to re-open their businesses.
"There is obviously an element of black market activity going on, which is why we're very, very eager to get the salons open.
"Salons they're a very sanitary environment, they're a very controlled environment.
"But we're a vital part of the community and the economy - and we're very, very anxious to get the 25,000 people employed in the economy back to work".
"We can control numbers in our buildings, because we mainly work on an appointment basis.
"And we're already set up for contact tracing, which is a big bonus for the Department of Health".
Other parts of the guidelines include that sanitation stations are available at every entry and exit point.
And that high touch surfaces - such as door handles, stair railings, light switches - are to be constantly disinfected.
Hairdressers are set to re-open under phase four of the Government's roadmap on July 20th.
