BEAUTY salons across the country can now breathe a huge sigh of relief over the announcement by the Federal Government a week ago that their operations were allowed effective March 5.
When the authorities announced that Malaysia would be phasing out from movement control order (MCO) effective March 5, the news also meant the easing of many sectors, including formal and informal social activities such as weddings, engagements, birthday parties, religious ceremonies and others.
This news also meant that beauty salons can finally open their doors after being shuttered for several months during the period of MCO.
For D’Janz Beauty and Bridal owner S. Savriamal, 45, who is best known as Janet Tharmendran among her customers, she said although beauty salons can operate now, there would not be a significant difference in terms of business profit as interstate travel ban is still in place.
“It would definitely take time for individuals operating under this category to recover because guests from other states are still prohibited to enter Penang.
“But it is definitely a good start to what may turn out to be an incredibly improving scenario in the future where the sector is concerned. With the lifting of the inter-district travel ban, people in each state can plan for their events on a small scale.
“I really hope to make a comeback and once again start to beautify and make my customers feel super special on their big days.
“My regular customers, who had their events postponed during the MCO spell, are now making moves to rearrange their dates. That is a good sign for me, and I am super excited to get things rolling again,” she told Buletin Mutiara during the interview session at her shop at Kompleks MBPP, Beach Street in George Town today.
Janet, who spent over 18 years as a freelance make-up artist, had only decided to officially set up the business in 2015. It was the same year when she opened the shop at Kompleks MBPP.
Mother of three kids, Janet added that apart from the struggles she had to cope with pertaining to the Covid-19 pandemic, the one that has affected her the most is the absence of her husband, who is working in Singapore.
“It has been over a year since I last met my husband, and it is probably the last thing a wife would ever need to go through during such a difficult period.
“Due to travel restrictions, he has not been able to return. But we both decided to stay strong to overcome this trying period together,” she added.
To sustain her livelihood and various commitments, Janet said that during MCO, she sold her beauty-related products online and to her fortune, the responses were encouraging.
Some of the services she covers include threading, bleaching, waxing, manicure, pedicure, ‘mehendi’, massage, sauna and many others.
The Federal Government had recently lifted the inter-district travel restrictions and switched states such as Penang, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Johor from movement control order (MCO) to conditional MCO.
Kedah, Kelantan, Negri Sembilan, Sarawak and Perak are also under the conditional MCO while Melaka, Pahang, Terengganu, Sabah, Putrajaya, Labuan and Perlis are under the recovery MCO.
This takes effect for 14 days from March 5 to 18.
For more information about her services, please visit https://www.facebook.com/Janzbridal or call Janet at 012-4434390.
Story by Kevin Vimal
Pix by Chan Kok Kuan