Hair raiser: No hair wash at parlours

Beauty salons ask customers to shampoo at home as BMC's water cut continues; some are forced to use mineral water

Beauty salons ask customers to shampoo at home as BMC's water cut continues; some are forced to use mineral water

The smart haircut no longer comes with a complimentary hair wash.

With the BMC's 15 per cent water cut still in place, beauty parlours and hair salons are requesting customers to wash their hair at home before coming to them for rebonding, colouring and other treatments.

Special Treatment: Some parlours order water tankers while a few use mineral water bottles to retain customer loyalty.

Theresa Malkaney, who manages Yasmin Of Nalini & Yasmin Beauty Salon at Andheri, says they've been facing a severe water problem.
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"There are times when we have to either cancel or postpone the appointment due to water shortage," she said.

The salon regularly orders water tankers. Malkaney said they'd observed a 20 per cent loss in business since June, when BMC declared the 30 per cent water cut in the city.

Mineral water
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Some parlours have even used mineral water bottles to provide proper service to clients.

"We cannot afford to order a water tanker every day, so sometimes we are forced to use mineral water.

But most of the time, we are compelled to ask clients to wash their hair at home before coming in for hair styling," said Sonia Nayak, manager of the Lakme Beauty Salon at Borivli. She added that business had
definitely gone down due to water shortage.
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But customers like Natasha Khanna believe beauty salons are making excuses for not providing shampooing services, especially when the cost of the service remains the same.
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She was told to have a hair bath at home before going to the parlour for her haircut. "We go to their salon to get the best service, but giving an excuse of water shortage is not right," she said.

Dirty pets

Pet parlours too have been facing similar problems. "Water scarcity has become a headache for us. There are times when we've had to ask customers to bring their dogs in the next day.

Though the situation is not as bad as it was last month, we are still feeling the pinch," said Gauri Keskar, co-owner of TailWaggers Pet Salon at Bandra.

Water Use

Rebonding: 4 buckets
Hair wash: 2 buckets
Henna: 12 bucket
Oil massage and hair wash: u00a022 buckets
Pedicure and manicure: 1 bucket
Grooming dogs: 2 buckets