Mercy Place Shepparton residents have maintained their perms and painted nails during lockdown thanks to the home's in-house beautician.
Diversional therapist Amanda Shelley has taken on a new role at Mercy Place during the lockdown to ensure residents can still have their regular salon visits.
While the home's regular hairdresser has been unable to visit due to COVID-19 restrictions, Ms Shelley said she stepped up in a bid to improve the morale of the residents.
“We were talking about how they miss having their hair done; one of the residents was a hairdresser previously and she said `what if I taught you how to perm hair’," she said.
“I went on YouTube and learnt how to do it and then I did one of the ladies’ hair and it seemed really easy to do and she was really happy with it.
“One of the residents sat with me and guided me through it, and next minute I had them all approaching me saying `can you do my hair?'.”
Ms Shelley has now perfected the art of hair perming, nail manicures and hand massages which she said had become a real hit among residents.
For the past four months she has been taking bookings on Wednesdays to ensure the residents can maintain their regular appointments.
While beauty therapy is not normally part of Ms Shelley's role, she said she was happy to take it on to see the positive improvement in the residents’ outlook.
“It has lifted up the mood a little bit. They were all a bit down and depressed because they haven’t been able to get out,” she said.
“It is nice to see them with a smile on their face and then you see them put their hairspray in and they're walking around all happy — it's great to see.”
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