The rise in black-market hairdressing should force a quicker reopening of the industry, according to leading salon owner, Patrick Gildea.

Under the Government’s current reopening plan, personal services like hairdressers could return on a staggered basis from May 4th – if the public health situation allows.

Meanwhile, there are reports in recent days that the initial reopening will be for vaccinated people only – with the rest of the country forced to wait a little bit longer for that summer spruce.

On The Pat Kenny Show this morning, Patrick Gildea from the award-winning Patrick Gildea Hairdressing salon in Letterkenny said there is a huge black market for hairdressers while the salons remain shut.

“We are being told to follow guidelines but yet here we have a situation where we have representatives who are obviously looking as if they’ve had professional haircuts,” he said.

“We have a massive amount of haircutting going on in society.”

A mural on the side of a hair salon in Dublin, 11-06-2020. Image: Brian Lawless/PA Archive/PA Images

He said there are “two sides to the coin” to consider when you are talking about the shadow economy for hairdressers.

“We are dealing with a lot of young kids here in the industry,” he said. “A lot of them have mortgages.”

“I know a girl, she is one of the most professional hairdressers in Ireland, she is a single mother; she has got two kids and she has told me that she is doing a couple of hairs at home for people because she needs to feed her children.

“So that is the other end of the coin as well.

“Do I agree with it in a professional capacity? No, I don’t. Do I have to accept that there is a human side to it as well? We have to look at that.”

A hairdresser in Frankfurt Germany, 04-05-2020. Image: Arne Dedert/dpa

He said the problem should be taken as a “signal and a sign maybe for the people who are making the decisions for the industry to open up.”

“If there is that much going on in the shadow economy, then maybe we have to look at – if there are no figures coming from that – maybe we have to look at opening up the salons a wee bit sooner than anticipated,” he said.

Mr Gildea also backed plans for the salons to open up to vaccinated people before fully reopening to the public.

“Obviously, we are going to take guidelines from the health authorities but it is something that has been bounced around over the last number of weeks,” he said.

“Where it is coming from is, if there is going to be a large proportion of society that are going to be vaccinated and they are more senior people, within the hairdressing industry, in order to support and transition these people back into society, we feel we have a part to play in supporting them and maybe getting the salons back open a little bit earlier to get these back into society; having their hair done and getting them back out again.

“So, it is about us playing our part and making them feel well as well.”

Vaccine Green Cards

He said the system would have to be run “with an element of trust” as there is no system that allows customers to prove their vaccine status.

“What the green card – which is the name that seems to be attached to it – does is it just opens up the door a little bit more for people,” he said.

“I think it is important personally. I know some people may disagree with it but if I can play my part in the senior people in society getting back to normal, I think it is important.

“I think it needs to be looked at and analysed to see if it could work.”