LYNNWOOD — The start of Phase 2 marked the end of bad hair days for many people.

After three months unarmed, hair stylists are allowed to wield scissors again.

And things are harried.

“We can’t get to our voicemail, the calls are coming in so fast,” said Lindsay Gibson, owner of Salon Zuberenz in Lynnwood. “We are slammed.”

It’s not like the old days, back in March.

At Salon Zuberenz, clients wait in their cars until called and are greeted at the door by their stylist. They are screened with a health questionnaire and temperature check, then wash their hands before going to the chair.

“We’ve had to make a ton of changes,” Gibson said.

Chairs are wrapped in vinyl. Glass partitions separate individual shampoo and treatment stations. Strict cleaning is required after each use.

For clients, it means no more sipping coffee, tea or wine while getting pretty. No magazines.

Many salons are backed up with appointments. Bipedal mammals who took getting coiffured for granted now realize the important role hair-care workers have in society. No matter where the hair grows.

Waxology in downtown Everett expanded its open days to accommodate demand.

“Brows and Brazilians” are the sought-after treatments now, as was the case before the shutdown, said Waxology co-owner Athena Walker.

The beauty boutique specializes in removing body hair from eyebrow to ankle. A little of it, or all it. Even in-between the cheeks, for those getting a Brazilian bikini wax.

Hair removal is serious stuff.

During quarantine, people trimmed or shaved or let it grow, Walker said. “It was hard on some people’s mental health.”

The salon already had cleanliness and sterilizing measures in place pre-COVID. Now the guidelines mean “taking it up another level,” she said.

“For brows it generally takes 15 minutes, but we’re scheduling 30 out to make sure there is extra time within the service time to clean.”

Cathy Pickett of Edmonds celebrated Phase 2 with a gin and tonic at home. The next day, she went to her hairstylist of 15 years at Gene Juarez Salon at the Alderwood mall.

“I feel happy,” Pickett said as she emerged with a newly clipped ’do.

“Hair was the most difficult part of staying at home,” she said. “It was in my face, it drove me crazy.”

Unlike many scissor-happy hairy people, Pickett didn’t do any DIY adjustments.

“The comment when I came in was, ‘You were good enough not to try to cut your own hair,’” she said.

Phase 3 offers the next perk.

“Now I’m waiting for the gym to open,” she said.

Andrea Brown: abrown@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3443. Twitter @reporterbrown.