#Front-line workers get the royal treatment they deserve: See their makeovers

Following months of DIY haircuts and at-home beauty hacks, The Post teamed up with the newly reopened Pierre Michel Salon on the Upper East Side to give five essential workers — from a bus driver to a hospital employee — well-deserved makeovers.

“I was honored to have the opportunity to give something back to the front-line workers who have been working tirelessly and so hard for months,” Pierre Michel head stylist Jerome Lordet told The Post, adding that the luxe beauty treatments were “the least I could do.”

Here, the five newly refreshed ladies reveal about how they love their new color and freshly lacquered digits.

Maria Santos, 39, Lower Manhattan

Job: Physician’s assistant working in internal medicine with COVID-19 patients at Montefiore Hospital

Life on the front lines: “I’ve been working with COVID patients since the start [of the pandemic in New York City]. It’s been difficult not only dealing at the hospital, but also just getting to work has been really rough,” said Santos, who works 24-hour shifts.

“I live in downtown Manhattan, so it has become difficult to continue to take the subway to work at all hours. I’ve even had to call the police,” she said, when a thug descended on her at her station, in addition to dodging the dicey activities. “I saw people smoking crack. I’ve never seen the subway like that — it was really bad.”

At the height of the crisis, she said, she would cry on her way home from work after seeing patients in so much pain.

“We were really hit hard at the hospital,” said Santos, who, like many in her unit, contracted the virus herself back in March, but went right back to work after about 10 days. “You help people any way you can.”

Makeover musings: “I definitely neglected my self-care. I haven’t been to a salon since February,” said Santos, who lives on her own. “You let things go. I had 4-inch roots!”

But with her blond locks refreshed, the health-care hero is back in business.

“I definitely feel more like my old self. I’m so happy now,” she said. “I look at myself in the mirror, and said, ‘I don’t look so  bad anymore!’”

Syndia Cruz, 45, Westchester County

Job: MTA bus operator

Life on the front lines: “We had a wave of co-workers passing because of the virus,” said Cruz, a 12-year MTA veteran, who was putting in 12- to 16-hour shifts until a month ago, because many co-workers were in quarantine or sick.

“We had less staff — we were spread so thin,” she said. “It’s been so stressful. I’ve aged about 10 years in the last couple of months.”

Although the MTA pledged to disinfect buses and subways every 24 hours, Cruz said not knowing who had been on the bus still adds to the anxiety. She’s unsure of the procedure and doesn’t take any chances.

“You don’t know if the operator before you was sick,” said Cruz, who lives with her boyfriend. Her work backpack “looks like a small ER — with gloves, masks, extra cleaning supplies.”

Still, there has been one bright side to the crisis.

“We’ve become better co-workers,” she said. “We check in on each other. We’re in this together.”

Makeover musings: “I don’t get a whole lot of time, between working long hours and a two-hour commute each way. Keeping up with my looks and getting prettied up lately wasn’t a priority,” said Cruz, whose hair was dyed and trimmed. “I love my makeover! I felt like a princess. I’m feeling very confident with my new color — I don’t have the grays anymore. I feel young. This is not an easy job, and the pandemic added another layer of stress.”

Angelique Paveras, 37, Queens

Job: NYPD sergeant

Life on the front lines: “When you start this job, people say that when everyone’s running away from something, you run towards it,” said Paveras, a 14-year NYPD veteran.

Between the pandemic and the protests, Paveras said, “Work and home life have changed a lot. You gotta worry about your safety, and keeping your whole family safe. It can feel like psychological warfare.”

While she and her firefighter husband, who sometimes works 24-hour shifts, are on duty their 3-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter are cared for by her elderly mother, who, as a cancer survivor, is in a higher-risk group for COVID-19.

Her routine after coming home is to “decon” [decontaminate] and strip down in a laundry area, take a shower, then clean and disinfect common surfaces.

“In the beginning, it was very hard with my 3-year-old son, who ran to hug me,” Paveras said. “But now, unfortunately, it’s become a norm. He knows ‘Mommy has to clean first.’”

Makeover musings: “There is no personal time. The last time I did something for myself was maybe six months ago, before the pandemic,” she said. Getting a scalp treatment and a mani-pedi “was so relaxing.”

“The best part is when they massage your head,” she said. “It was the first time in a long time I actually felt pampered.”

Lesly Morales, 18, Flatbush

Job: Grocery store clerk

Life on the front lines: “I wasn’t scared of the pandemic, but it was definitely stressful,” said Morales, who has worked long shifts over the past few months to wipe down registers and carts, organize curbside pickup orders for the elderly and calm down demanding customers.

“They were all freaking out about toilet paper,” she said. Yeast and flour shortages followed the toilet paper one, according to Morales, and lately, “People keep buying bananas, cereal, canned goods and ice cream,” she says.

The teen works six shifts per week at FoodTown in Prospect Heights and said she’s developed a new self-care routine over the past few months: “Sometimes I take a walk around the neighborhood after work to decompress.”

She also hasn’t been afraid to take beauty matters into her own hands: cutting her hair, experimenting with red and green dyes, and using an acne-fighting face wash and lotion to combat the dreaded “maskne.” “I’m trying to take better care of my skin, since the mask makes me break out,” she said.

Makeover musings: At the salon, Morales went with a short bob to compliment her blunt bangs and a return to her natural dark brown color. “I wanted to start the summer fresh,” said the cashier, who lives with her parents.

She said her new look is perfect for long days at work: “I just put a hair clip in to keep my bangs out of my face and I’m out the door.”

Shaneen Spivey, 45, Jersey City

Job: Cleaner for the MTA

Life on front lines: Single mom Shaneen Spivey can’t work from home. “Trains still need to be fixed up,” said Spivey, who works as a cleaner in a train yard in Coney Island, where the subways are serviced.

Along with juggling cooking, laundry and spending time with her 11-year-old daughter, Spivey made time to watch YouTube tutorials and teach herself how to braid her own hair and her daughter’s.

“She has a head full of hair, it’s like another job,” she said. “It takes me about two days to finish braiding my natural hair.”

Makeover musings: “At the salon, I got a root touch-up, a blowout and a cut, which I wouldn’t be able to do myself,” said Spivey, who says her hair was damaged from the braiding. She went with chocolate brown to “bring out my eyes.”

“I love how my hair bounces when it moves now,” said Spivey.