GETTING BACK TO NORMAL!
We have been getting a lot of emails and messages asking when we are opening. I know we are at that 2 month mark, where we’re all craving to get back to some sense of normalcy and routine in our lives. But unfortunately, the actual opening of salons will be a bit of a slow process in NYC, Maryland and Washington, DC. That being said, we want you to feel like yourself again, so we have been working on ways to help you navigate your hair removal journey while you are at home. Keep reading for more details about some of these options and also a bit of exciting news about Shobha Rockville Pike.
SHOBHA ROCKVILLE PIKE (LASER APPOINTMENTS ONLY) –
Shobha Rockville Pike had a soft opening this past Friday, May 22nd, for laser hair removal appointments only. For safety, services will be provided for areas below the neck by appointment only. We are contacting clients that had appointments on the schedule before we closed at either our DC or Rockville Pike locations. After we reach out to those clients, we will then be contacting clients that are on our waiting list. If you would like to be added to our waiting list and want to be contacted, please email us at thoughts@myshobha.com with your name and the laser hair removal service(s) you want to get. If you have emailed us already, there is no need to reach out again – we have you on our list! Currently, we are NOT offering any other way to make appointments, but I promise we will reach out to all of you when we open up online and phone booking options.
SHOBHA DC –
This location will most likely be opening second, but it is still looking like June/July at this point. Mayor Bowser has extended the stay-at-home restrictions to June 8th. We will continue to keep track of this and update you as soon as we know more.
SHOBHA NYC LOCATIONS –
With Governor Cuomo’s multi-phase plan, salons will most likely be in phase 3 along with restaurants. Given that the numbers are still not declining in NYC, I don’t realistically see us opening before July/August.
VIRTUAL CONSULTATIONS –
Ok, enough is enough and you want to do something about your eyebrows? Or you want to do your own underarm sugaring or waxing? Or maybe you’re done with hair removal altogether and you are doing laser hair removal the minute you can? Some folks have emailed us about doing virtual consultations and we just did our first few sessions this past week. If you are interested in booking a session, we are going to open it up on our online booking in a few days, but for now continue to email us at thoughts@myshobha.com and we will set you up with our Master Educator and Specialist, Michelle Thomas. There may be a charge associated with the virtual visit depending on what it’s for.
RAISING THE CLEANLINESS BAR!
For those of you who don’t know the origination story of Shobha, one of the main reasons that I wanted to open a place like ours was because I am a germaphobe and the cleanliness standards in existing salons weren’t cutting it for me. I am proud to have raised the bar for standards in hair removal services when we were the first to introduce no double dipping in our waxing and sugaring services and have our Specialists wear gloves. I know, it’s crazy to think that such basic hygiene was a luxury when we started!
If there was ever a time to raise the cleanliness bar again, it is now. We are taking it to the next level and, while it’s still a work-in-progress, here are some of the initial changes we’ll be executing. There will be a detailed email going out in the future about the actual protocols.
For our clients:
- Contactless check-in and payments – We are looking at options where you won’t have to touch anything other than your own phone when checking in or out.
- Staggering appointments – We will be spacing out appointments so there will be fewer people in the salon at one time.
- Mask requirements – All clients will be required to wear their own mask while in the salon.
- Temperature checks – All clients will be checked for fever.
- Pre-screening clients about possible COVID-19 exposure.
- Appointments will take a bit longer than usual because of the extra cleaning needed between clients.
- Online forms – You can fill out any forms needed from the comfort of your home.
For our salons:
- Sneeze guards – We will be installing partitions and sneeze guards where we can to make sure that contact between people is minimized.
- Sanitizing surface areas more often.
For our teams:
- Pre-screening all team members about possible COVID-19 exposure.
- Masks will be worn by all team members at all times; face shields will be worn on top of face masks by specialists when performing services.
FREE AND SPEEDY SHIPPING ON OUR WEBSITE –
We had another large surge of orders in the last few weeks for our Sugaring Kits and various other products. We’re now all caught-up with any backorders and are back to shipping within 1-2 days. Remember, you’re not paying extra to shop at www.myshobha.com vs. in-salon – we have free shipping and most of the product lines we carry in our salons are also on our website. (If you want something that’s not on there, just let us know and we’ll see what we can do!)
THANK YOU!
At this point with the number of times I have said thank you, it might sound disingenuous, but I can’t get over the support we’re receiving from all of you, our clients, our team alumni, our vendors, our friends. So many of you have continued to send in messages of hope, “tipped” your specialists, bought gift cards for when we open again or bought products on our website! I’ve hesitated to include a link for tipping your specialists because I didn’t want anyone to feel obligated, but with the number of emails we’ve received asking for this, I decided to add it here again.
Here’s a link to our previous emails if you have questions about missing laser sessions, doing your own sugaring at home or what should you do about hair removal, in general, while you wait for us to open back up.
Stay safe, healthy and sane! We miss you all!
Take care,
Shobha