Pent up demand for hair and beauty services here after a two-week lockdown has meant major overtime for beauty professionals across Northern Ireland.
build-up in demand for festive haircuts, nail treatments and other cosmetic services has meant many beauty professionals here will have to put in extra hours to meet all appointments and try to recoup some of what has been lost from the forced closures over the past 10 months.
Garry Jackson, owner of 30-year-old Garry's Barber Shop in Holywood, described demand as "complete insanity" and invited "anyone from the NI Executive to come down and see what they're putting us through".
He said: "We've been closed 23 weeks out of 37 this year and we're having to fit so many people into the limited hours we have. There is a backlog and we will have to fit 12 to 15 weeks of customers into two weeks."
He said the team will work from 8am until 10.30pm and some days could see the hair professional work right up to midnight.
"We have to. We are conscious of the number of people we need to fit in and we have a real mixed bag of customers; from kids to senior citizens. It's non-stop and we've been living off coffee and Quality Street.
"It's a disgrace what the Executive is putting us through. We are having to squeeze so many clients into one week and now two weeks because, and I'd put my last fiver on it, we will be forced to close again after a spike around Christmas."
Lesley McGarrity, owner of Younique Aesthetics Clinic which has two units in Newry and Belfast said: "It's been crazy since we reopened. We're all putting in 12-hour shifts right up until Christmas to try and fit everyone in and with the limitations we won't be able to see them all."
She said both clinics will be operating the new extended opening hours and that demand for its services including its speciality Venus non evasive treatments and injectables was higher than ever.
"Usually at this time in December we're beginning to wind down," continued Lesley. "But this is 100% busier than any Christmas period before."
She said during lockdown she invested heavily in new treatments and machines to ensure the company was in a strong position to attract custom when it was allowed to reopen.
"We found that many salons battened down the hatches during lockdown but we took that period to invest in new treatments so we could come back all guns blazing."
Extended opening hours and longer shifts are set to be commonplace at salons around NI in the run up to Christmas, however those in the sector that are 'non maintenance' will not feel the rush.
Paddy McGurgan, makeup artist, and owner of the Makeup Pro Store in Belfast City Centre, said: "We are usually stalked for appointments that don't exist but it's a lot quieter and that's because of the nature of what we do, it's not maintenance. People are limited to where they can go to and I also think many are wary too of mixing and maybe getting Covid and it impacting on their whole Christmas so they're doing the bare minimum.
"If hospitality hours were extended, we would expect that to pick up."
Mr McGurgan's comments come as the Hair and Beauty Federation (NHBF) predicts significant job losses and a major mental health and wellbeing crisis across the hair and beauty sector if the Northern Ireland Executive does not step up with financial support.
It says the industry is made up of 1,500 businesses here and contributes £162m annually to the NI economy.
