Tattoo artists, body piercers, and shop owners are suffering due to these shutdowns. While some have financial help due to the COVID-19 relief bill, it’s still not enough to keep these businesses running and plenty are already going out of business due to these shutdowns. Families are in deep financial hardship, and $1200 is not enough for these shop owners to keep their business going as well as for their homes to be paid. Small business loans are available; however with the increase in these loans many are not getting the help they need, and paying back those loans will only make it worse for these businesses to thrive.

There are a lot of petitions going around asking you to let hair stylists, barbers, nail technicians, aestheticians, massage therapists, etc. go back to work. Even though they are suggesting using sanitation and proper cdc guidelines, this is in no way possible. Please understand we are touching everyone that walks in the door. Even if we limit it to one client at a time per service provider we are still putting ourselves and everyone that walks in at risk. Are aesthetics essential enough? It’s a NO from me!

Ever since COVID-19 it has been affecting us in major ways and forcing people to make tough decisions for their families. We are going through financial hardship. We were promised bail outs through small business loans or grants yet the government has made the stipulations on these grants nearly impossible for our type of business to qualify for the loan to become a grant.not to mention there is no money left for these grants, and a large percentage of the grants went to large businesses and not small businesses. Most tattoo shops, if not all tattoo shops, have been/ will be denied . We have no help when we have been promised help. We are still waiting for an application for independent contractor unemployment. Most of us have gone without making any money for 4 weeks or more. And are looking at another 2 weeks for an unemployment application. Then another 2 to 4 weeks for payment of any kind. The Quarantine was implemented to flatten the curve of the spread of COVID-19 to assure that hospitals were not overwhelmed all the once in to help prevent such a rapid spread . The numbers of infected people is on the decline . We tattoo artists are trained and certified in blood-borne pathogen‘s and cross-contamination as well as many other medical safety and sterility procedures we are just as safe if not safer than most hospitals. tattoo shops are very clean and we take this very serious. This is our livelihood and if we do not return back to work by May 1st many Tattoo businesses will be lost as well as Barbershops, Beauty Salons ,and Groomers among many others. We will not be able to pay our bills, rents/mortgages, Insurances, we have the very potentially of losing everything. We still have to pay our mortgages/ rents and phone bills and gas and electric none of this has stopped for us . Yes, we can postpone them, but they’re not going away! "Some" of us can sustain for a while, but most can't. That doesn’t mean that we are doing OK Governor Wolfe. This is how we pay our bills. This is how we feed our families and we are not getting any help from anyone, nor are we asking for it. We just want to be allowed to return to work, and be able to sustain ourselves. Pennsylvania Tattoo Artist

The survival of the independent beauty professionals is at risk. We are facing a grave financial hardship. Also believe that our profession helps our clients improve mental wellness with feeling good about their appearance.

Because it falls under hygiene… Some jobs require specifications for lengths of haircuts such as military, delivery services in the food industry. Also pertains to medical nurses and doctors. One nurse quoted:”I want to feel & look good for my patients.” Hairstylists need to be able to go back to work and provide an essential hygienic service – mostly haircuts

Pets are part of the family and need regular care to maintain their coat, ears, nails and overall health. Some pets need regular medication baths to control skin issues or help with their owners allergies. Pets need their nails trimmed so they do not hurt their owners skins. These services need done by professionals to prevent injuries.

The survival of the independent tattoo professionals is at risk. We are facing a grave financial hardship.

There are several small business gym owners across the United States that may not survive if they do not have the chance to open back up with these restrictions and soon. The key word is in the name, small business means not alot of people at one time anyway. Most small business owners took the leap and used their own money to make that move. Now several will not survive. Please help small business gym owners open back up so we have a fighting chance of surviving and making sure that our communities have a gym to go back to. Alot of small communities rely on the small business gyms to survive.

Ever since COVID-19 it has been affecting us in major ways and forcing people to make tough decisions for their families. We are going through financial hardship. we were promised bail outs through small business loans or grants. Yet the government has made the stipulations on these grants nearly impossible for our type of business to qualify for the loan to become a grant. Most tattoo shops if not all tattoo shops have been/ will be denied . We have no help when we have been promised help. The Quarantine was implemented to flatten the curve of the spread of COVID-19 to assure that hospitals were not overwhelmed all the once in to help prevent such a rapid spread . The numbers of infected people is on the decline . We tattoo artists are trained and certified in blood-borne pathogen‘s and cross-contamination as well as many other medical safety and sterility procedures we are just as safe if not safer than most hospitals. tattoo shops are very clean we take this serious this is our livelihood if we do not return back to work by May 1st many small businesses will be lost . We will not be able to pay our bills, rents/mortgages, Insurances, we have the very potentially of losing everything. We still have to pay our mortgages/ rents and phone bills and gas and electric none of this has stopped for us . Yes, we can postpone them, but they’re not going away! Some of us can still sustain for a while, but that doesn’t mean that we are doing OK this is how we pay our bills this is how we feed our families and we are not getting any help from anyone, nor are we asking for it. We just want to be allowed to return to work in a safe manor

The need for spay/neuter is especially critical for cats. Every year thousands of kittens are born outside and many are rescued by humane societies and cats rescues. Many are not lucky enough to be rescued and become unfixed feral cats which can produce 3 or 4 litters per year with an average of 4 kittens per litter. We can stop this tsunami of kittens if we can get these clinics open and running by the end of this month. We need to reopen these clinics now.

Independent Beauty Professionals rely on the income from clients. They cannot perform a haircut online. While the “beauty industry is deemed “Non essential”, the ability to practice their craft is very ESSENTIAL to their livelihood. They are facing a grave financial hardship.

Our industry is mostly staffed by independent contractors who rely solely on clients to make money. We are facing a grave financial hardship and if this continues much longer will be forced to close barbershops and salons which would cause is to lose our livlihoods.