蜜桃导航

Barbers like Ryan Hardwick of Black Cat Barbershop in Cleveland were some of the first workers affected by last year鈥檚 COVID-19 shutdowns.

In 2020, he talked with ideastream about how he was faring in the early days of the pandemic.

鈥淎t some point, with the barbershop shut down, my money will dry up,鈥� he said at the time. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know man, it鈥檚 stressful, it really is.鈥�

This year, Black Cat is back open and Hardwick is cutting hair again, looking forward to the day he and his hardcore punk band can play shows for an audience again.

Picking Up The Scissors Again

Truthfully, it was kind of nice to be off with nothing to do for a little bit. But it did kind of run its course. I think everybody was just bored, and I missed the crew.

I remember just getting used to being on my feet all day again and just relearning the whole process. I鈥檝e been cutting hair for eight years, so it鈥檚 like riding a bike, you never forget. But just like the movement of it all.

That being said, we opened up longer, so we were doing 10-hour days because of all the cleaning involved. And especially early, like the science wasn鈥檛 really out yet with the surface exposure and all of that, so we were really on it.

Reopening The Cash Register

I鈥檇 be lying if I said that we didn鈥檛 take advantage of all the government grants and loans that we could.

Financially, as like business walking in the doors, I mean geez man, just this past month, we鈥檝e seen it kind of turn the other way. It鈥檚 kind of, we鈥檙e on the incline now. People are feeling better about traveling, people are getting vaccinated.

Taking The Stage

I just want to do things again. I want to play shows and go see bands.

I play hardcore punk rock, so it鈥檚 such a give-and-take, audience participation sort of thing that I don鈥檛 that I鈥檓 ready to have like 20 random strangers screaming in my face.

The band like kept me sane all 2020, we were still 鈥� they were like the only people in my COVID bubble, besides the people in my house, my wife and son, where I would see them once a week. And we鈥檇 practice in a big basement, so we were able to kind of distance and we wrote tons of music.

That鈥檚 something that has been like the light at the end of the tunnel鈥�Knowing that I鈥檓 going to be playing shows soon and stuff, it鈥檚 that glimmer of hope of like, OK, we鈥檙e going to get through it. And that鈥檚 going to be such a cherry on top of all of this year.