Salon owners who were once on board with previous closures now say enough is enough.

“We don’t know what to do. The debt is building up and I have already lost $ 100,000 in rent that I owe my landlord,” Shai Amiel said.

Amiel owns the Capella salon in Studio City. From physical distancing to sanitation to temperature controls, they have met all health and safety requirements.

“If they say masks work and they say all these regulations for styling in a salon are safe, why aren’t they anymore? asked Amiel.

He wonders why big box stores stay open when small businesses barely survive with little to no backup.

“Benefits have run out, which was a joke anyway, and now we’re forced to stay home and take out more loans to pay for our lives? It doesn’t make sense,” Amiel said.

At Hermosa Beach at the London Lounge, owner Anthony Morrison has a similar message.

“Please, please, for God’s sake, let’s all get back to work,” Morrison said. “The living rooms are safe. We are all safe there.”

He was fortunate enough to move his operation outside for much of the pandemic, but even now that is not allowed.

“What – you want to bankrupt us all Gov. Newsom? Really? Seriously?” Morrison said.

Morrison says the payroll protection program did nothing for most hair salons, and if you got the money, it wasn’t even enough to cover a single payroll.

“I was a Gov. Newsom fan before. I’m not really a fan anymore, but if we get the money I could be a fan again,” Morrison said.

Until then, he understands why many companies choose to stay open.

“Nobody cares about us so you have to do what you have to do and whatever it is,” Morrison said.

Eyewitness News learns that many salons choose to remain quietly open. Some stylists even choose to work from home just to earn money to survive.