“We must protect the health of the population: allowing the reopening of hairdressing and beauty salons throughout the country would be a strategic decision to stop the spread ofabusive exercise and unregulated of these professions, a phenomenon that not only causes economic and occupational damage, but that fuels the spread of the contagion that the same rules would like to limit ”: the complaint comes from Renato Ancorotti, president of Cosmetica Italia.
Ancorotti adds: «They are crucial days in which the indications are being defined which will update the restrictions on commercial activities and businesses for the next few weeks with the Prime Minister’s Decree which will come into force on 7 April. A moment in which we believe it essential to draw attention to the hairdressing and beauty salons which, following the measures indicated in the Prime Minister’s Decree of 6 March, have been closed in the red areas ».
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Since last year, hairdressers and beauticians have shown maximum attention, investing and operating in compliance with safety through the implementation of the already strict sanitation standards normally applied with additional anti-Covid-19 protocols, explains the president: “Therefore sharing the objective of safeguarding public health with the institutions, Cosmetica Italia asks to grant the reopening of all hairdressing salons and beauty centers, also in red zone. An additional measure to further increase the level of protection could be to not allow, in these territories, the carrying out of those treatments that make it impossible for customers to wear a mask or other personal protective equipment. This would allow these activities to work with an additional degree of security ».
The cosmetic industry was hit hard by the pandemic. The latest surveys for 2020 conducted by the Cosmetica Italia Study Center report a 12.9% contraction in the global turnover of the sector compared to 2019. The domestic market (-9.9%) and exports (-16.7) were also negative. %). The activity of hairdressers and beauty centers generates a turnover that exceeds 6 billion euros and employs over 263,000 employees in a total of 130,000 salons. 90% of these 130,000 businesses are made up of units with 2 people employed on average. capable of generating turnover and margins that are barely sufficient to guarantee the daily management of the business.
The importance of the reopening has therefore significant economic and employment effects on these channels and on the entire supply chain related to them, according to the trade association. The economic data for 2020 indicate a decline of 28.5% for the hairdressing channel, with a value of cosmetics used in the salon that stops at 412 million euros, while that of beauty centers, by 30.5%, brings the value of the request to just over 165 million euros at the end of the year.