THERE was a collective cry of 'You beauty!' from Ballarat businesses when Step 3 restrictions were announced as lifting as of Wednesday night.
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But none more so than the beauty industry which has been one of the hardest hit by lockdown measures.
As soon as Premier Daniel Andrews announced that regional Victoria was heading to step three restrictions it opened the door to allow the beauty industry to operate and the phones started ringing off the hook for many of Ballarat's long-suffering businesses.
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Johannie Birt from Pranah Body and Beauty in Bakery Hill described the announcement of "fabulous".
"I'm so happy, it's great for our industry, it's great for our clients and their morale. People have been missing just the human element and contact," she said.
"The phone has been ringing off the hook, in fact I received a phone call from a client who had heard about the changes before I had, so that's how I found out. I had to quickly do some homework to see what we could do.
"We've got our COVID-safe plans in place, everyone will have to wear a mask, and everything has to be sanitised but to see people again will be wonderful."
Nicole van Berkel from Touche' Hair, Skin & Body said in the brief period beauty could open after the first lockdown, business had been booming, which had made the second closure so hard on everyone.
"This has been a great surprise to us," Ms van Berkel said.
"We've gone from last Sunday being told there was potential for November 23, to a week later being able to open is wonderful," she said.
"It has been very difficult, what needs to be understood is that we're all mothers, so we've been home schooling as well.
"We've got a dedicated beauty therapist who can return to work from Thursday. It's been difficult to not have staff at work
"We can't do facials as a client has to wear a mask, so there will be lots of waxing, lots of brows, every brow in town will looking amazing! We can also do massage if there is a mask. We can't provide all services, but some are better than none."
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