By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


On this first day that salons and barber shops could open to the public, there were very few walk-in appointments available, especially at one local hair care establishment.

When Brighton Barbers opened up for the day, there were more than 20 people waiting in line to get haircuts following a three-month shutdown necessitated by COVID-19. Owner Shawn Kind says he had one man volunteer to take names and make sure people were socially distanced, and that they are wearing masks inside the shop.

Kind says he knew it would be a busy day and spent most of the last week preparing. "It was a lot of work, but it was welcome being off for three months, so just trying to set everything up and trying to get a plan and have it work. Of course, I knew there would be some bumps in the road but it was welcome work to get ready for this."

Kind says he also knew that he would have some tough challenges with people’s hair after being neglected for so long. "My plan, honestly, was to take some before and after pictures, but being kind of crazy this morning, I forgot. But I'm going to try and get into that and post some before and after pictures on the Brighton Barbers Facebook page. It will be fun to do that I think."

Kind says the wait time was more than an hour and he expects his chairs will be full for most of the week. He also said that he’ll have quite a full garbage bag of hair by the end of the day.