BATON ROUGE, La. (LOCAL 33/FOX 44) – Barber shop and salon owners are struggling to stay afloat during the stay at home order.

“I was planning on opening on the first,” said Athan Jefferson, Owner, Unkontained Kuts.

Those plans got cut after Governor John Bel Edwards extended the state’s stay at home order.
That forced barbershops like Jefferson’s to stay closed

“A lot of uncertainty going on as to how everything is gonna open up,” Jefferson added.

“We’re completely shut down,” said Ellen Pino, Owner, Avant Tous Beauty Bar and Spa.

Pino wrote a letter to Louisiana lawmakers so she could reopen.

Pino questioned, “How much sense does is make for you to go to Lowe’s where there’s 300 people? There’s no limits there. There’s no anything, but yet we can’t function in an incredibly sanitary environment.”

Attorney General Jeff Landry is hoping to get them some grooming guidance. He sent Governor Edwards a letter that reads in part:

“allowing for reopening does not require these businesses to reopen or require customers to avail themselves of the service; rather, it gives our State’s people the opportunity to make their own decisions.”

Jefferson hopes people continue social distancing so he can get back to business.

“This is a new normal so you can’t go back to what we were doing before. We all have to change the way we do things,” explained Jefferson.

Jefferson said he’s hearing when barbershops and salons do re-open, staff will have to wear PPE’s. He said they will still have the same strict sanitation guidelines set by the louisiana board of cosmetology.

To read Attorney General Jeff Landry’s letter, click here.