The floor of the San Carlos barbershop was covered in hair two inches deep — a sign of a successful reopening Thursday after three months of COVID-19-forced shutdown.

“I’ve been here for about four hours and I’ve taken about five or six people,” barber Kristoffer Garcia, 29, said at I’m Faded after taking a break to sweep up. “It’s been a few months without work. I have two kids, so it’s been hard. It’s good to finally be back at work. Every barber has to take 10 months of training and to see that hard work thrown down the drain, it was really difficult. We’re self-employed; we don’t get paid time off.”

Garcia said customers were excited to get back in the barber’s chair.

“I already feel great and I can’t wait to just feel rejuvenated. I feel like I’m alive again,” said 20-year-old customer Masie Mohammadi. “I’ve been cutting my own hair at the house but it’s not the same. Now I’m with a professional. He’s been my barber for five years, since I was a sophomore in high school. It’s cool to see him again.”

With the state’s blessing, San Mateo County on Thursday relaxed coronavirus restrictions enough to allow hair and nail salons, barbershops, gyms and restaurants to invite customers back inside. Many were eager to return to business; others are taking their time getting ready.

“I’m very, very excited,” said Mario Santacruz, owner of Lisa’s Mexican, a memorabilia-packed mainstay in Daly City where the steak ranchero and green-sauced burritos have been drawing customers for more than 50 years. “Small businesses have been really suffering.”

By 1 p.m., he had already served two diners — one a loyal long-timer and the other a newcomer.

“With the social distancing, we’re going to have to play musical chairs,” he said. “We’re hoping to get 15, 20 people at one time in the restaurant.”

Normally, Lisa’s seats about 45 customers. Santacruz said he’ll maintain limited hours, 12:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday for now, then reassess on July 1. “Two more parties walked in while we were talking!” he said excitedly.

Other businesses were still getting ready to reopen or have taken a wait-and-see approach.

Anne Le Ziblatt, a veteran chef-entrepreneur who launched her new Nam Vietnamese Brasserie in February, will offer indoor dining beginning July 7. The downtown Redwood City restaurant had been doing takeout and delivery for weeks and just recently added outdoor dining when the city approved a temporary parklet.

Nearby, at the Great Clips in the Sequoia Station shopping center in Redwood City, owners Randy and Flo Wakefield — who have been in the hair-cutting business for 25 years — were restocking shelves, vacuuming and getting the shop ready to open in a day or two.

They said a Thursday opening with so little notice would have been difficult, especially after receiving more than a dozen requests in person and over the phone to schedule haircuts.

“We have to get our staff in shape, get everything sanitized, vacuum, mop up,” Flo said as she placed an armful of shampoo bottles back up on the shelf after months of gathering dust in the back of the shop. A plastic shield is already up at both cash registers in the hair salon, and sanitation stations were being set up.

“They told me they’d try to open tomorrow,” said a disappointed Tim Caselli, 54, who lives in San Leandro but works on the Peninsula as a food broker for grocery stores and stopped by during a break. He added that although he’s happy to see a return to some semblance of normalcy, he is still very skeptical. “I have to work at grocery stores, so I’ve been very cautious about going to events or places with large gatherings.”

Flo said there’s a lot that’s going to be different about getting a haircut. Customers will have to wear a mask, most people won’t be allowed inside the lobby to wait unless they are elderly or have a disability, and there will only be one thing on the menu: haircuts. Concerned about spreading the virus, Flo said hairstylists will not be giving beard trims, bang trims or shampooing of any kind “until there’s a vaccine.”

She also said that sanitation, already frequent between haircuts, will now be deeper and longer than before. She said she’s not very concerned about getting back in the groove of things but is a bit worried about the sheer number of people who may line up outside their shop for haircuts.

“I’m very nervous,” Flo said. “Antsy as well. You never know what can happen. There’s going to be a lot of people and the staff are going to need to take breaks.

“Waits are going to be very long for a while.”