The Idaho State Journal is featuring local businesses to highlight how they’re coping with the coronavirus threat. If you know of a local business that you’d like to see featured in the newspaper, contact Journal Editor Ian H. Fennell at 208-239-3121 or editor@journalnet.com.

Haley Dilley accomplished her dream of starting a hair studio early this month, but her industry coincidentally began living out a nightmare shortly after as the COVID-19 outbreak ballooned.

First, local hair stylists — including her — faced dwindling clientele as social distancing was recommended. Then, the floor sunk in when Idaho implemented a 21-day shelter-in-place order on March 25, closing down cosmetology businesses during that period.

“It’s been kind of terrifying,” said Dilley, who is six-months pregnant. “I planned on saving money to pay off what I had invested in to open my studio and then having a little bit of a buffer before I went on maternity leave. So it’s definitely emotional not having the stability of income.”

The seven-year hair stylist started her Apothecary Hair Studio in Pocatello on March 2, and it was about two weeks before the effect of the coronavirus sunk in.

She said opening her business “felt really great, then plummeted.” But she will continue on, when given the go-ahead by the state.

“I really like the idea of when I do eventually have the baby to have a place that I could bring it with me without disturbing other people,” Dilley said, “and pick and choose who that would be with and control the chemicals in that environment.”

Dilley saw herself in an advantageous situation as far as keeping the place sterile because she is the only person cutting hair at her business. She said she cleaned the workstation after each client.

But like other local hair places, cancellations piled up. She planned on having 15 to 20 clients. She ended up having two on the books.

When the shelter-in-place was announced, Dilley approved of it, like other locals in the industry.

“I was grateful to have that decision made for me,” Dilley said. “I’d rather be safe being that I’m pregnant, and even the little amount of people I am seeing, you can’t keep that distance when you’re doing hair.”

Dilley said she has plenty of savings, so she will be able to bear the brunt of a 21-day ban.

Others share that view, including local cosmetologist Mandy Rhoads, who rents space at Callidora Day Spa in Pocatello.

Rhoads is another hair stylist who understood the reasoning behind the state’s shelter-in-place order.

“I wasn’t surprised. I knew it was going to happen and I support that decision to close down if this is what we can do to stop the virus from spreading,” Rhoads said. “I know it’s going to be hard for a lot of people’s incomes and different situations, but I support the closure if we can get through this situation faster.”

Before the order, Rhoads had already felt the impact of the coronavirus. When children were no longer allowed in her facility, she said that meant grandparents wouldn’t be able to come if they’re babysitting, for example.

Rhoads has been cutting hair for 17 years. It was an interest that blossomed when she was in middle school before going on to Idaho State University’s cosmetology program in adulthood.

“I have a mom who enjoys this type of stuff and my sister does also,” Rhoads said. “They don’t do hair, but just raised in an environment where trying to look our best is important.”

For local hair stylist J.D. Hansen, it was in adulthood when he came to the conclusion that the hair styling was right for him.

“I was going into the nursing field and my mom ended up passing away and I decided I rather do a job that made people feel good about themselves and happy,” Hansen said.

Hansen has been a hair stylist for 12 years and started J & Company five years ago. He rents space to 12 other stylists.

On top of the stress of the shelter-in-place order, he has to deal with the fact that his partner is in a career directly dealing with coronavirus as a nurse at Portneuf Medical Center.

They sleep in different bedrooms as a precautionary measure.

“He’s staying away from all of us,” Hansen said. “He’s taking all the precautions, making sure he doesn’t bring anything home.”

While Hansen waits for the 21-day shelter-in-place to end, he said he will be occupied with something other than his passion like yard work and perhaps home improvement projects like painting.

After the ban ends, he anticipates he will have a lot of work at his business that he welcomes.

“If we open again essentially after the 21 days, it’s just going to be a madhouse because everybody’s going to be scrambling to get in,” Hansen said. “I’m super excited for it.”

Becky Sherwood sees things going the same way at her Pocatello salon, hair.comb.

“I’m just going to have a tsunami of clients trying to get in,” Sherwood said. “I’m preparing myself that I’m going to have to be working six days a week, 12-, 14-hour days to try to accommodate everybody and get them in and get them taken care of when this is lifted.”

Sherwood asks people to not try to cut their hair in their kitchens or dye their hair. There was a 19.4 percent increase in sales for hair coloring on the week of March 15 compared to the same time last year, according to Nielsen’s numbers reported by NPR.

The 27-year hair stylist would rather have people wait it out and come to her salon. She opened hair.comb in late 2018 and she rents space to three other hair stylists.

Sherwood noted the additional stress of the shelter-in-place, but said she is not panicking.

She said one of her main focuses is continuing to pay her monthly building lease, which she is not requiring her renters to contribute to for April.

“They said, ‘That’s not fair to you’ and I said, ‘I know it’s not fair to me, but I’m hoping that will help you be able to stay afloat,’” Sherwood said. “I’m worried about if my coworkers are going to be financially stable during this down time and if they’ll be able to stay afloat because if they don’t come back after this is lifted, then the rest of the lease is all on me.”

Sherwood got into the cosmetology industry because she said she liked to “play with hair” and enjoyed connecting with others.

Contrary to what she says people think, she is not fulfilling a surface-level need.

“When they’re finished and they look at themselves in the mirror, they always say I feel so much better. They don’t look at themselves and say I look so much better,” Sherwood said. “You can spend $100 going out for a nice meal, but in six or eight hours you need to eat again. What I have to offer is longevity.”