new delhi sitting in a high chair with black leather bracing for a spray of cold water and the snipsnap sound of deftly moving scissors behind the ears have recently become things of the past as hair cutting salons and beauty parlours across the country fell silent due to the nationwide lockdownas the country stumbled back to a semblance of normalcy in lockdown 40 most salons and parlours remained shut leaving the beauty industry dry and desperate for business and their owners hoping to survive the financial pandemicit has been over two months that 40yearold arif last opened his salon he left without any income when he decided to go back to his village in bijnor uttar pradesh because there he has something to eat at least advt hum chote logon ke bare mein kaun sochta hai shehar me in the city there is nobody to look after us the poor people said the father of four over a phone callmy shop is rented so is my house in ghaziabad how will i pay that rent here in the village we have our own house and a small farm we have grown some wheat and thats all we have as of now arif addedarif is not the only one feeling the sting of the nationwide lockdown the beauty industry which includes hair cutting salons spas and beauty parlours has faced the worst effects of the coronavirus pandemicwhile most states including telangana gujarat and rajasthan allowed salons and parlours to open as per the ministry of home affairs guidelines for lockdown 40 states including delhi assam and maharashtra among others decided to keep the shops shuttered till may 31the uttar pradesh government had allowed salons to open but not beauty parlours which caused more confusion than clarity to shop ownerssome of my clients told me that a few shops have opened others said it is not allowed i dont want to come back and open the store until there is a clear guideline arif saidsandhya roy of sparsh beauty clinic in ghaziabad has also refrained from opening her shop till theres some claritythe business is badly hit but i cant really do anything about it i may have to cut our staff too but i dont want to risk breaking any rule the owner of the 22yearold parlour said advt unpaid salaries of the staff mounting rent and uncertainty of the future have the shop owners concerned while preparing to reopen the business after may 31pooja gupta owner of silky and shine beauty parlour in laxmi nagar is worried for the future not only because of her shuttered shop but for her husbands property business as wellalthough its a small parlour the lockdown has affected us badly my husbands property business is also in a downturn i have let go of my helpers but we still have to pay the rent and electricity bill for the parlour she ruedshe believes the government should help the sector survive this businessthere has been