House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) got a special treatment to get her hair done at a San Francisco salon and is seen walking around without a face covering on Monday — despite local city rules keeping salons closed since March amid the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the security footage obtained by Fox News, the Speaker is seen moving through the salon with wet hair wearing a salon black robe, but not wearing a facial mask to cover her mouth or nose. The hair salon was identified as eSalon.
Security footage obtained by the outlet shows the California Democrat strolling through eSalon in the city’s Pacific Heights neighborhood at around 3:10 p.m. on Monday.
Since March, hair salons and barber shops in San Francisco have been shuttered, and city officials on Monday gave the approval for salons to operate for outdoor service only starting Tuesday. Plans to open indoor operations are set to begin in October.
Salon owner Erica Kious called the congresswoman’s visit “a slap in the face,” given that local rules have kept her salon and others closed for six months.
“It was a slap in the face that she went in, you know, that she feels that she can just go and get her stuff done while no one else can go in, and I can’t work,” Kious told Fox, “We have been shut down for so long, not just me, but most of the small businesses and I just can’t – it’s a feeling – a feeling of being deflated, helpless and honestly beaten down.”
When asked what kind of hair treatment Pelosi received, the salon owned told Fox the House Speaker requested for a wash and a blow-dry, a violation of the coronavirus safety precaution guidelines as stylists are “not supposed to blow dry hair.” Local guidelines also mandates that one wears a mask at all times during the duration of the salon visit
Kious told Fox News that she had prepared her salon in accordance with local guidelines, by installing plexiglass partitions between sinks and seating areas, and ensured that all salon chairs were six feet apart, along with proper air circulation from open windows.
“There were rules and regulations to go by to safely reopen, which I did, but I was still not allowed to open my business. They never let us open,” she said, adding that she is unable to reopen outside this week because her salon specializes in hair color, and using chemicals outside is prohibited.
One of the independent stylists Kious hired reached out to her on Sunday night and requested to rent a chair in the salon for an appointment.
“I’ll be there at 2:45 tomorrow. Pelosi assistant just messaged me to do her hair,” the stylist wrote in a text message to Kious.
Kious replied: “Pelosi?”
“I was like, are you kidding me right now?, Do I let this happen? What do I do?” Kious told Fox News, noting that she “can’t control” what the independent stylists do if they rent chairs from her, as “they’re not paying” at this time.
“We’re supposed to look up to this woman, right?” Kious said. “It is just disturbing.”
Pelosi’s spokesman Drew Hammill said in a statement, “The speaker always wears a mask and complies with local COVID requirements. This business offered for the speaker to come in on Monday and told her they were allowed by the city to have one customer at a time in the business. The speaker complied with the rules as presented to her by this establishment.”
The House Speaker has been an outspoken advocate of mask-wearing and implemented that masks be worn on the House side of the Capitol and in House office buildings at all times.
CongressCoronavirusDemocratsErica KiouseSalonFace MaskHair SalonsHouseSan FranciscoSpeaker Nancy Pelosi
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