Barbershops are among a raft of businesses impacted by COVID-19, and in order to understand their plight, The Macau Post Daily recently interviewed one of the owners and founders of a local barbershop in Rua Central, 2 Legit Ltd., Luis Lourenço (aka Rocklee), to talk about the pandemic’s effects on barbering and barbershops through his personal experience.
Entertainment and recreation venues, including barbershops, have been closed since June 23 due to the government’s special COVID-19 control measures, with a mandatory suspension for most businesses, not just entertainment and recreation venues, this week.
A professional barber’s perspective
Starting from cutting hair as a hobby, Lourenço founded 2 Legit in 2013 and has been cutting professionally for eight years. He pointed out that he built his business from “zero or even negative” and risked everything to start a modern barbershop in the city, a concept still new to Macau. The recent local COVID-19 outbreak meant that this is the third time that his business has had to close temporarily due to the pandemic, adding: “We’ve been fighting it [the virus] since 2020”.
Aside from mental and emotional impacts, he noted: “It affects us immensely because even during the time that we are open, the business is already not at its best. I’ve been running the business for eight years and it’s at its worst”. Currently, both the barbershop and their clients are affected as even when haircuts are needed, they are not able to provide them with the service due to the outbreak. He had had hopes that the pandemic would get better after two years but the situation keeps getting worse. “But that’s the price you pay to be an entrepreneur”, adding: “I just have to keep fighting” and “If I lose, eight years of hard work is over”.
Elaborating further, he said: “Logically, everybody knows if you’re not allowed to run your business, basically you are on unpaid leave” and, as the owner, he needs to continue paying rent, despite all the circumstances. His business is still able to get by, but he was quick to point out: “I’ve got barbers to take care of too. We want to keep striving, we don’t want to be uncertain”.
Meanwhile, changes also come in the lack of social events and grooming needs, with everyone having to stay home and maintain distancing. “That’s not a good nature for a grooming business. It’s actually against the grain”, saying that he’s empathising with grooming businesses such as spas and beauty salons that have also been deeply affected.
Community and connections
Lourenço also remarked that distancing could also affect Macau’s “small circle of barbering enthusiasts” as it will be difficult for all barbers to perform their jobs and services, affecting further plans such as barber meetings and barber training. “It’s adding up [to] the scarcity of actually gathering”.
This would also affect the potential to build a barbering community due to distancing as “cutting hair is a close contact job”, adding: “As far as for our job and community, we can’t even get in touch with each other”. Moreover, barbering’s history has also always had relied on human contact and making connections. “With COVID, that connection is slowly going.”
The pandemic may further affect businesses that require close contact with their clients, with some people perhaps even becoming scared to get a haircut. “It’s going to affect us because this is a business with human contact. You can’t order a haircut from mFood!”, he jokingly added.
A place for more than just a haircut
Meanwhile, Lourenço has placed special emphasis on a barbershop being a place for more than just a haircut. Going over his love for cutting hair and having conversations with his clients, he also pointed out that “everybody needs some space to vent”, adding that it is a place for a man’s time for himself as well as a place to feel taken care of. Being an important place for some, “there’s more [of a] mental aspect to it, especially men’s mental health”, he added.
“The whole thing, at the end of the day, is about taking care of your customers”, with people leaving a barber shop with a feeling that money can’t buy and barbers also feeling good and accomplished when they “give somebody confidence”.
Moreover, though wishing that the government would be more transparent and firmer with implementing anti-COVID-19 measures and hoping for visitors to come back, he said that he has still high hopes for his business and that the situation won’t last too long.
This undated photo provided by Luis Lourenço shows him providing a haircut to a client in his shop in Rua Central.
This undated photo provided by Lourenço shows the 2 Legit barbershop.
