Sheffield hairstylist who ‘spent her savings’ on salon still hopeful despite Covid-19

But 37-year-old Emma Scott of Woodhouse said her dream was short lived when Covid-19 pandemic hit, resulting in the first lockdown in March.

And being in the hair and beauty industry affected her business badly, as the job requires close physical contact with clients.

The mother-of-one said: "I started being self-employed at the age of 19 and worked hard everyday to build my business.

"I opened my own salon in 2015 in a small upstairs salon. In November 2019, I finally got the keys to the shop downstairs.

"We finally opened our doors the last week in January and the business was slowly growing. Just six short weeks later, the first lockdown hit."

Emma, who opened the salon in Swallownest, said that was when she realised it would be a lot longer than expected.

"The worry started to set in. How am I going to pay my staff, bills, rent? I've spent all my savings making the salon beautiful and didn't know if we'd have a business to come back to.

The first lockdown had also resulted in her suffering from anxiety, and even thought about giving up the salon.

"(But) I managed to pull myself together and threw myself back into the salon by doing lots of online courses (and) making the salon safe.

"Then the second lockdown hit but it was needed. The worry of not knowing if we were going to come into contact with someone who tested positive and close the salon with no help was getting the better of me once again and becoming quite stressful," she said.

She said her salon has an average of 250 clients a month, and she was grateful not one staff member has come down with Covid-19.

"I’m hoping that we are able to return in December but in the meantime I am relying on government funding to help us get by."Fingers crossed for all small businesses in the future and I hope that with many people losing jobs that salons can keep going and the public keep on visiting."