For our September-October technology issue, Ruby Feneley spoke with Melanie Grant about the importance of salon insurance in an increasingly high-tech services space and the need for beauty therapy education to catch up with Australia’s diverse population.
As a beauty journalist, it’s hard to conduct an interview in August 2021 without discussing the impacts of COVID-19. Beauty businesses worldwide are grappling with the ramifications of Delta, and the impact of rolling lockdowns.
As I speak with Melanie Grant, she has just finished a meeting with the American Board of Cosmetology as they prepare for a shutdown in LA. The Row, located below the Melanie Grant Studio in Melrose Place has just reported an entire team of staff members infected with Delta, and for the second year in a row Melanie is preparing to close shop. Like many in the beauty industry, Melanie feels frustrated by blanket policy decisions made around beauty businesses. “We’re the first to close and the last to open,” she says over the phone, “it is frustrating when you see restaurants and cafés with hundreds of people packed in opening before beauty salons, where we’re seeing clients one on one and already operating with strict hygiene protocols.”
