Wantagh and Seaford salons & barber shops react to forced closures

Governor Cuomo issued a directive via Twitter Friday morning ordering all barber shops, nail and hair salons, and tattoo parlors to close, effective March 21 at 8 p.m. 

The governor tweeted the directive at 8:48 a.m., stating, "These temporary closures are not going to be easy, but they are necessary to protect the public health."

Wantagh and Seaford beauty salons and barber shops had mixed responses to the breaking news on Friday afternoon.

"It's sad, becuase our industry only makes money if we work.," said Tina Scarpantonio, owner of Salon Scarpello in Wantagh. "We don’t get paid if we don’t work, leaving us in a very bad situation."

She added that she is the only one working at the salon, and she will be going "down with the ship" when they close tomorrow. "Until further notice is all I know," Scarpantonio said.

Stephanie Schwartz, owner of Studio Seven Hair Salon in Wantagh, said her reaction was different.

"I am actually relieved to be honest,” she said "I think that we are in very close contact with people and we take a huge risk. It was a big decision to close or not and I'm a bit relieved he made that decision."

 Schwartz added that the pandemic forced her to worry about the personal health of her family, customers and herself.

Man to Man Barber Shop in Seaford is closing on Friday, a day before the directive takes effect, "just to be safer" according to it's owner, who refused to be named. He did add, however, that he was "not happy" about being forced to close.

"What we do next will have a massive impact on the trajectory of this virus in New York," the governor had tweeted earlier in the week. "We can only maintain public health by staying apart. The decision each of us makes now will impact us all tomorrow. Stay home."