Owner Of Coronavirus-Closed Salon Helps With 'Quarantine Hair'

PALOS HEIGHTS, IL — It’s been three weeks since Gov. J.B. Pritzker ordered nonessential businesses closed including nail salons, spas, massage parlors and tattoo shops. Salon owner Cathy O’Hara has been besieged by clients desperate to do something about their graying roots and quarantine hair.

“I’ve had clients ask me if I can cut them on the side or do a color,” O’Hara said. “I tell them no way. I’ve seen different stylists mixing color and selling it out of their stores. I’ve been getting after people. Side workers can lose their license for two years and fined up to $10,000.”

Like many local businesses, O’Hara, owner of O'Hara and Friends Salon, 7008 W. 127th St., Palos Heights, is feeling the punch of lost income as the coronavirus shutdown wears on. She goes to her salon every day to check the shop and cancel appointments that have been on the books for months. O’Hara always ends up chatting with the sheltered people who answer the phone.

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“Everyone wants to talk to me and get reassurance,” O’Hara laughs. “It can take a whole day.”

She’s also busied herself with podcasts for Southland TV and has sold $700 worth of gift certificates. For clients with fading color, she’s dropped off product at their homes.

“Paul Mitchell makes a dry shampoo for brunettes and blonds,” O’Hara said. “I take their credit cards and do contactless delivery. Our loyal customers have been very supportive."

She’s applied for the various government grants and loans to give her staff of 14 stylists, colorists and estheticians some money to tide them over during the shutdown. When salons and barber shops are given the all-clear sign to reopen, O’Hara plans to be open seven days a week, instead of her usual six, for all the clients who’ll want to get their quarantine hair done.

“I’m not sitting back and say, ‘Fend for yourself,’” O’Hara said. “When you treat people right, they’ll want to come back and work harder. It boosts morale.”

O'Hara worked 20 years at the former Abracadabra salon in Oak Lawn, which was demolished in 2013 to make room for the Stony Creek Promenade development at 111th Street and Cicero Avenue. Although a door closed, another soon opened, and O'Hara opened her salon in Alsip before relocating two years ago to Palos Heights. She dubbed her new enterprise O'Hara and Friends.

"It's not about me — it's about my staff and clients," O'Hara said. "'May all that enter as guests, leave as friends.' That's our motto."

A natural-born marketer, O’Hara is eager to get back to her theme nights cross-promoting other local businesses, where local chefs may come in and pass out appetizers. She also supports several local charities.

O’Hara wasn’t happy to see Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot break social distancing rules by getting her haircut when her own business has been shut down. The Chicago mayor argued that she’s in the public eye and said her stylist has was wearing a mask and gloves when cutting the mayor’s hair.

“My friend sent me the picture of Lori Lightfoot and her hairdresser that was posted on Facebook,” O’Hara said. “That’s like sticking it in other hairdressers’ ear.”

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