Beauty and the cuts
Photo by Barbara L. HansonThe other day I had lunch with the wife of a styling salon owner, envying her well-trimmed golden locks while munching a BLT and pondering my own dark roots.“Must be nice,” I thought. But as the conversation delved deeper it turns out that the beauty business isn’t quite as recession-proof as some pundits made it out to be last year.
Upon further investigating I found that trends my friend mentioned were undercutting beauty and barber shops from trendy San Francisco to my little town. It’s not so much that people are quitting their stylists altogether, but that they are stretching out time between visits so far that the stylists are losing one or two cycles, per customer, per year.
In September, my current salon owner pressed referral cards and a discount offer into my hands, while one I’d abandoned called out of the blue a few weeks ago (talk about awkward!) to try to return me to his fold.
Hair cutting and styling is a grass-roots industry that just about every reader can relate to in one way or another; sketching the recession’s effect on your local barber and beauty scene is a picturesque and accessible way to illustrate economic trends at the Main Street level.
Angles include:
Practitioners and schools. Are these groups growing or dwindling? Like Realtors, whose ranks are thinning, are beauty operators dropping out of the business? Check with your state’s licensing division for the latest stats on applications and renewals; they also can give you a list of accredited training centers so you can check on enrollment trends.
When you write a story like this, be sure to get to the nitty-gritty details of compensation, pay (or chair-rental) practices in the industry and other eye-opening financial info. Check the Census Bureau wage tables for the average pay of those in the grooming trades and determine how your local scene compares. The Bureau of Labor Statistics offers an upbeat occupational outlook for what it calls “personal appearance workers.”
While you’re on the phone with the state regulators, ask about any disciplinary actions or disputes. By the nature of the work, cosmetology complaints can be quite blood-curdling and will make an excellent sidebar for your piece.
The National Cosmetology Association links to this list of state regulators, complete with contact information. Other resources include the Professional Beauty Association and the American Association of Cosmetology Schools.
Salon operations. Overlaps slightly with the topics above, but focus more on how salons relate to consumers via add-on services, promotions and discounts, advertising and location. You can also take a survey of recently-closed or vacated shops to find out what broke them.
A tip: Stop in to some local beauty supply wholesale or retail outlets, especially independently owned ones. The proprietors of these stores know many salon owners and stylists and have the lowdown on local moves, changes and struggles.
Check also the chain franchises like Fantastic Sam’s and GreatClips; talk with their headquarters about biz in your area but also check specialty classifieds to run down for-sale locations and talk with sellers about why they are exiting the niche.
Miscellaneous. There was an amusing story last year about salons getting a boost from doing salvage jobs on patrons who’d tried the DIY method and failed. Check with drug stores, mass merchants and supply shops about sales of boxed dyes, highlighting kits and appliances. Talk with real consumers about their beauty budget and how it’s evolved.
Natural add-ons for this story include photos, DIY dos and don’ts, links to state regulatory offices and other consumer-friendly tools.
