Short Haircut around Boston during COVID

September 19, 2020 7:17 AM

The last salon I went to for a haircut, which I was happy with early in the pandemic, was not inspiring my confidence in their COVID compliance procedures on my last cut. Can you recommend a well-compliant place to get a haircut in the Boston area? Complication: short hair / male style cut on a female-identifying person.

My first haircut in the pandemic was not at my usual place, as I was (and still am, at least through the end of 2020) working from home. This new place gave me a satisfactory haircut the first time around and was super careful on that first visit, so I went there again for my next. On my 2nd visit I found they were getting rather lax, with a lot of crowding and a lack of consistent mask compliance from staff. I do not want to go back there.

I liked my usual place, close to my company's main office in the NW of Boston exurbs, because it is owned by a trans-woman, whose staff was super great with my gender-non-conforming hair preferences. They have a lot of space, so I could imagine they are probably doing good with compliance. Going back to my usual place is an option, but it would be an outing each time, and I would like to find something much closer to home (West Rox / Dedham / Newton / Needham / JP area). Online booking would be a plus.

Looking especially for places where people have first-hand experiences with recent COVID compliance.

posted by chiefthe to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (5 answers total)

I've gotten my hair cut twice on Sunday morning at the Fenway Supercuts, with Vera both times. I was the only customer there and everyone was wearing a mask. I believe you have to make an appointment. I am a woman with a bob, not a short haircut, but I've found Vera to be very chill and not full of the dreaded salon chitchat.
posted by 8603 at 12:42 PM on September 19, 2020

Best answer: I just got my very short haircut at Vinndio Salon in JP. It’s over by Bella Luna (rip) and Ula. My friend who works there cut my hair and is especially awesome about short hair, but they were also super COVID compliant. I usually go to a barber but his bandana fell down like 5x during my last haircut and that sucked and made me uncomfortable. Everyone was masked and distant at Vinndio and they took my temp on my way in and did no-contact payment.

Anyway her name is Sam and you can make your appt online which I also love (no phone calls).
posted by jdl at 2:10 PM on September 19, 2020 [1 favorite]

If that side of the river doesn't work out, I can recommend Clementine Hair in Somerville. Super folx, super haircuts.
posted by cocoagirl at 5:33 PM on September 19, 2020

Trans man here who spent most of his adult life getting masculine haircuts on an obviously AFAB body. I have had good experiences with Hair by Christina near Davis Sq. in Somerville. They’re thoughtful about Covid precautions as well.
posted by rip at 8:35 PM on September 19, 2020

Response by poster: Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I got my haircut at Vinndio this (Sunday) morning -- me and the stylist were the only people there. From chatting with her, it sounds like they may get a bit full at other times, but it is a space where there is room between the chairs, so I can see it still being reasonable at more crowded times, as @jdl reports.

I am also quite happy with the cut and overall experience! Thank you for the rec -- and Sam is great!
posted by chiefthe at 8:16 AM on September 27, 2020