SINGAPORE — After going without a haircut for two months, GrabFood delivery rider Richard Loy braved an hour-long queue outside Hair Club Salon at Punggol’s Waterway Point mall on Tuesday (May 12) to get his ponytail snipped off.

The 27-year-old stood behind 15 people at the salon eagerly awaiting their turn.

“I was so close to shaving it all off (at home). I cannot stand having long hair in this weather,” he said. 

Long queues also formed outside hairdressing shops in other estates islandwide — including Hougang, Serangoon, Tampines and Jalan Besar — as they reopened on Tuesday after a three-week closure. 

They were ordered shut from April 22 as the Government tightened circuit breaker measures to limit business activities and curb the spread of Covid-19. 

Also allowed to resume operations on Tuesday were shops selling cakes and confectionery, retail laundry services, pet-supply shops, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) halls selling retail products, and several other businesses.

At the hairdressing shops, some customers showed up even before they opened on Tuesday. 

Outside New Nada, a barbershop at Century Square mall in Tampines, customers joined a queue as early as 9.30am, half an hour before it began operations, its floor manager Safari Jamahat said. When TODAY arrived at 10.30am, more than 20 people were in the line.

At Hougang Central, 10 people were seen waiting outside a Snip Avenue salon at noon. And at Nex mall in Serangoon, there were seven people in the queue outside QB House, another salon, at 12.30pm.

Despite the easing of rules, safe distancing measures were a must — patrons were seated 1m apart and had on their face masks while getting their haircut.

Student Nurul Musliha, 21, whom TODAY met outside Snip Avenue in Hougang Central, said that her haircut was a “weird” experience because she could not remove her mask.

“Some of it (the hair) fell onto my mask… and I felt uncomfortable. Maybe I am just not used to this arrangement,” she said.

Places with high human traffic, including hairdressing shops, must now use the SafeEntry digital check-in system, which logs employees' and visitors' entry to enable contact tracing. 

Customers were seen scanning either a QR (quick response) code with their mobile phones or their identification cards before entering the shops. 

STRICTER HYGIENE STANDARDS 

Some hairdressers have raised hygiene standards to fight the coronavirus. 

Mr Art Mirzi and Mr Nabil Danil, owners of Gosmack barbershop in Jalan Besar, said that they have been disinfecting all equipment, including combs and clipper guards, and wiping down chairs after every haircut.

They also disinfect high-contact surfaces, such as tabletops and doorknobs, every two or three hours, and wash all capes daily.

“It comes down to social responsibility,” Mr Nabil said. “We want to protect our clients, our business and ourselves.” 

Ms Siti Rafidah, owner of Limpeh Barbershop in Bedok North, said that she allows only customers who had made appointments to enter the premises. 

“It is easier to control the crowd… and we can track the people who enter and exit the shop,” she added.

Queues were also seen outside cake and dessert stores, TCM retailers and pet-supply shops.

Mr Wei Chan, managing director of Pine Garden’s Cake bakery in Ang Mo Kio, said that five or six customers were already waiting in line since 8.30am, an hour before opening. 

He monitors customer traffic at his store via a closed-circuit television camera. 

“When a crowd gathered, I personally managed the traffic and apologised to the customers,” he said. 

At Hougang Central, there were four people waiting to enter TCM hall Tong Keow Healthcare when TODAY arrived around noon.

While business has gathered pace, owner Jane Lok said that her biggest challenge was helping her older customers use the SafeEntry system.

“Some of our customers do not carry a mobile phone, and (for those who do), some of them do not know how to use it. They kept asking us how to scan the QR code.

“So we ended up taking the things they needed (to them outside the shop), so that they did not have to enter,” she said. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RAJ NADARAJAN AND ILI NADHIRAH MANSOR