US hairdressers and aestheticians report clients are opting for less expensive services and canceling appointments—worrying signs that US consumers are retrenching
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I’ve been an Esthetician for 20 years and I’ve always said we are the canary in coal mine. Our services are the first to get cut out of the budget at any sign of financial duress and I completely understand why. It’s very likely I’ll be closed within a few months.
I was a massage therapist, and it was a similar situation. I can’t blame anyone for making the choices they had to make, but I couldn’t afford to keep doing it. And I was a good MT!
Feel really bad about it. But thanks to DOGE, people like me have been rendered jobless overnight. So totally unable to afford spending money on anything but the basics. And now this madness. Hang in there.
I’m sad, but I’m mad too at this administration for causing so much indue pain. I am so very sorry you lost your job and I hope you can hang in there as well.
People forget that government employees spend their salaries at private businesses. There's a huge multiplier effect. They don't save as much as average Americans because they expect their pensions to be there.
It’s worse. I work for a non-profit that provided humanitarian assistance with grants from USAID. So no pensions for us. Not old enough to cash in my mutual funds or get social security either. And NGO salaries don’t leave room for a lot of savings if you live in an expensive metropolis. Screwed 😀
Doing good in the world is apparently not as valuable as doing evil. Sorry. FWIW, we donate most of the social security we receive to non-profits, as we're fortunate enough at this point in our lives.
demonize pathological greed, but instead we glorified it.
The billionaires wrecking our jobs, robbing our livelihoods, savings, company pensions, comfortable retirements -- they should have been taxed out of existence, and treated with disgust for how antisocial their hoarding is.
I worked in a scratch bakery for many years. The sweets get cut, too. They'll still buy the bread, but sales of donuts, cakes, and treats always decline quickly when there are economic fears.
I was a practicing esthetician during the 2008 crash. I had to leave the profession because it got so bad. My niece is a newly licensed Medical Esthetician and has been asking for advice on how to drum up business.
She is young and clueless to what is going on. I'm dreading having to tell her.
I was working in Chicago during that time, it was awful. Moved to D.C. and was waxing the legs of a DOJ employee and she asked why I moved to DC…I told her I lost most of my clients in the crash and she’s says “oh was it that bad? It didn’t affect us here.” People in DC live in a bubble.
Wow. I was in a very affluent area in Tampa. Most of my clients and friends worked in the real estate industry. Many lost everything and many actually moved away from the area. It was really bad. The DC political crowd never suffer like their constituents do. That's why they will never understand.
I’d be changing hairdressers even if I didn’t lose my job. Make the orange asshole voters feel the burn. I wouldn’t give my business to anyone who voted for him.
Trump won my county by 33%. Unless I'm interviewing prospects on their political beliefs, I'd say the chances are good I'd be transferring my business to another Trump voter unknowingly.
I'm sorry. Hope you can find someone who isn't a Dump supporter. I'm in Chicago and the day after the election, I had a haircut scheduled. I could feel the sadness in the hair salon. Everyone was upset about the election. My stylist hates Dump.
I work in a salon where nearly every stylist is a Trumper. The intellectual disconnect is astonishing, but, you know ... won't sink in until it hurts them. And even then, who knows. Probably still Biden's fault.
I stopped getting my nails did back in November. I miss my nails but it's a service I can live without. If Republican administration really gave any fucks about the economy they'd have dumped the orange idiot years ago.
Who’s surprised?
Trump is no really concerned by making America great again, he doesn’t care at all, he just wants to make himself richer and richer again and again.
Who’s going to pay?
Not his rich friends but poor people and middle class.
Wait and see…
I love getting my hair done as and as a black woman keeping your hair done is also tied very close to our culture. I've canceled 2 appointments as I feel like I need to save every dime I see.
I know how they feel, I've been applying a No.1 to my Barnet using WAHL clippers ever since Covid. It saves me money but it's another little cut off from human interaction. Man does not live by bread alone.
I've been cutting & coloring my own hair for a while. I recently 'treated' myself to professional highlights & a cut. It was $450. I could not believe the price. I may as well have stood on the roof and thrown the money into the wind it was such a waste of money.
My hairdresser is a national color instructor for Redken. She's got people that fly or drive here to Indy. NY Broadway stylist saw the pictures she posted & loved the hair styles she did for a theater production. She charges me $140 to cut & color. Might want to consider a trip here.
It was high, was expecting it to be in the $300s range. I had highlights, a toner and a cut. I didn't even have it blow-dried or styled. I left with wet hair. https://www.nyhsalon.com/services
Salons & nail shops have gotten ridiculous with their pricing, I’m sure due to inflation. Y’all just gonna have to see us as our natural selves for a bit. Anyway; it’s so freeing. I can’t get crap done when I’m wearing fake nails.
Hawaii is dead. Empty parking lots. I asked the golf pros what was up yesterday while walking the dog. They said “I don’t know why but we have no Japanese, no Canadians”…
Spoke with friends from Waikiki hotels. Occupancy currently 60%
We are headed for some ugly shit.
A tourist from PA talks to me at the beach yesterday. “Traffic here seemed decent”
I said yes, no more Canadians coming.
Why?
Because of our border Nazis.
“Their loss”, this motherfucker had the balls to say.
“Tell that to every hotel worker you see that will be out of work next month.”
He mad.
Other countries are boycotting the US products and travel. Why would anyone travel here with the threat of being illegally detained and sent who knows where?!? I wouldn’t travel to the US at all if I was a citizen of another country.
How to think like you want to go back to the 50's or 60's manufacturing.
The biggest error here by Trump and his "dumb as a brick" team is that they don't take services we export into the overall math. DUMB!
I know as a fact that the mortgage industry keeps a loose eye on this particular stat.
It’s an odd but significant economic signal.
When people start letting go (cheaper options) of the appearance of one’s self, they are ready to let go of other things.
I used to go to a salon every 2 months--dye and trim.
I haven't been to a salon since Sept of 2023. I might go a bit longer. My hair is down to my waist. Aiming for hips. LOL
The current hair salon I go to charges $50 extra to wash your hair and blow dry/style it. I’m definitely not getting that service anytime soon.
It’s gonna be “wet hair and trim” from here on out until America gets back on track.
My last cut was at one of those cheaper than a salon hair cutteries and all she did was spray it damp, blunt cut it straight across, blow it dry and run a hot iron through it because I insisted. $50. I thought that was high but what can you do? 🫤
I did my own highlights for the first time a few weeks ago! It’s not perfect, but I learned a lot and will get better with practice. I’m saving $200 every few months!
Anyone have the national voting results for hairdressers? We can safely assume from the glaring educational divide that they voted for this cluster fk.
Before the pandemic my hubby cut his own hair and I learned how to cut my own & stopped coloring mine. I used to pay my stylist $55/w tip every 4 wks, just for the cut, & another $10 for a box of dye. I've saved a little over $4,200 in the last 5 yrs. I still get compliments on my hair, too❣️
We have already decided to hunker down. We just decided to cancel a long planned car purchase. We are purchasing only necessities and buying local when at all possible.
I just want to add that the aborted car purchase plan was to get rid of our Tesla, which is now embarrassing to drive (I don’t want to be viewed as a Nazi), and replace it another EV. Sadly, no used car dealer here will buy a Tesla, even one in perfect condition and low mileage.
I don’t live on the mainland and things are way different here. Choices are extremely limited. Teslas became popular because you could order them online, gas is very expensive, and all service was done at your house. It was a winning combination. Then Musk revealed himself for what he was.
I know. Musk killed all the joy in driving a zippy Tesla. With the mayhem caused by tariffs including supply chain disruptions someone may want the Tesla. What chaos.
Remember when we all went a year without a haircut/other services during COVID? My hairdresser opened her own salon under Biden, but she always votes for Trump. Now she'll get what she asked for 🤷
What is wrong with people???... They choose to be LOW INFORMATION, Uninformed Citizens!.. So now the whole country is paying the price for these Fools!
I bought my first pack of hair dye last week. Waiting for a friend to help me figure out the mystery. My stylist and I are in a “conscious uncoupling” phase.
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Most of my haircuts are in my bathroom with my scissors and fingers crossed. I’ve been at it for years. I will admit that having curly hair hides a lot of mistakes 🤪
They'll go up, because people will be going without treatment.
Republicans have been against people having cheap or free health insurance for decades - to the point they've lost the plot and want to stop providing health care to anyone who isn't working a high paying job and living in a luxury home
I have been a hairstylist for 42 years. 34 of my clients lost their jobs in one month. I’m hanging on by a thread. I feel like this administration hates small business owners like me.
Here in the DMV (DC MD VA), we've lost approx. half a MILLION jobs due to cancelled gov't contracts. We are IN a RECESSION here. People don't know how they'll pay their bills and it's very sad. All because ELUMP ILLEGALLY fired thousands and cancelled contracts using a machete.
Why do you think massage therapists, stylists, estys, and nail techs voted R? I'm in this business, and I don't know a single magat. We all tend towards liberal ideas.
Pilates studio owner here. I do mostly private sessions. Last year - one of my best ever. Huge recovery from the pandemic. This year? Bookings down over 50%. Back to pandemic levels. It's definitely the fear in the economy.
We all need to get accustomed a significantly lower standard of living. The damage happening now can't be reversed easily. Aside from the tariffs, we've show the world we don't keep our word and will lie for an advantage.
There are options other than the US. This crap killed foreign tourism, too.
That’s a bad sign. During COVID my hairdresser, who’s owned her own shop for 30 years, said their business typically stays consistent even during downturns when others are failing.
Yep. I just had that conversation this week with my hair cutting stylist. I will have to go longer between haircuts. Maybe she can cut back on the niceties like the warm towel around my neck and the shampooing and scalp/neck massages. I will miss that.
It’s fucking ridiculous that anything considered self care in any way, down to hygiene and appearance, is now considered a “luxury expense “ we have to forego! Life doesn’t have to be like this!
This is bad I’m 63 worked as a Hairdresser in 1981 till 2017 the recessions never affected business, the Pandemic might factor in as people learned to do their own hair but I feel this is telling.
My great grandfather owned a beauty salon in the Roaring Twenties 1920s. Business boomed. 1929 hit & the business went bust. Just one data point that might be relevant
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Yes a depression is on its way caused by tariffs. Banks will soon fail because of the cost of treasury bonds, That is why Donald paused the tariff war .
I've been retrenching since Jan. I knew what was coming and I'm sure I wasn't alone.
I am so sorry for all the people who will b hurt.
Gosh, we may all b walking the streets or founding Trumpvilles as people founded Hoovervilles a 100 years ago. Only I really would find another name.
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And yet people thought oh he’s only going to fire federal workers, make China pay its fair share, and trim the fat in our budget (Medicare, SS, medical research). We all finding out now I guess.
This is the result of the psychological warfare being conducted against the people by mainstream media, the same ones that promote the destruction of America
I don’t care what else I havta sacrifice. I won’t let Trump and his gang of sycophantic mthrfkrs take away my pink hair or my avocado toast! A girls gotta have a few creature comforts for fcks sake!
Sample size N=1, but fwiw, I was the only customer in the salon I went to yesterday. However, if memory serves, people tend to spend more on themselves during recessions. Perhaps this coming economy will be different.
I stopped going to the hairdresser I had for 6 yrs. She raised her costs so high, it was crazy. I’m for fair wages, but she was the owner, had many clients & for a single process color/cut, she charged $350.00 + tip. She booked me for an hour & a half. How many people make that much an hour?
FYI. Just because you got charged for what you call “an hours work” does not at all mean she’s making $350 an hour. Please think about it a little bit more 🤔😑.
Let me state fact - she owns the business. She sits in the back room on her ass while my hair is processing and the product she uses is not costing her that much and then she expected a 20%+ tip. Please you need to think about it. As I said I am for fair wages!
Actually this has been going on since Covid. Alot of people started to do their own hair at home instead. Even Cutting it. since its Cheaper, Don't have to deal with appointments. Don't have to deal with waiting. So its Normal for people to keep opting for cheaper service instead.
What the article says is that these are *new* instances of cutting back. *Right now,* people are spending less on services as a result of being fired, or fear of being fired, or ruined retirement savings.
Many females in my life have started dying their hair at some and just getting it cut in the salon. One of many creative ways people are going to start cutting corners to save a few bucks.
When you pay your stylist more than your dermatologist [for a skin check], you know their rates are way too high. Granted talent should be rewarded, but it's a cosmetology license, not a medical license, which requires several years, not 6mos.
My usual gal for years didn't raise my hubby and mine every-two-months costs cause we were regulars she liked and chatted with. We moved. Hubby left her his beloved record players (she also DJed) before he died. In my area, visited new gal...much more expensive for JUST me. Double.
My wife is a hair stylist and I can confirm that this is happening. She has had numerous clients say that they will be going much longer between appointments.
Surprised, did not know Vietnamese Americans leaned Republican, the only Asian American group to lean Republican. Did see some newer polls showing that sentiment shifting, especially among younger Vietnamese Americans.
Thanks, learned something today. Maybe older Vietnamese esp need to hear that John McCain is NOT respected by the current GOP. I’ve heard from a number of older white folks, “I didn’t leave the Republican Party. The Republican Party left me.” Need to open more eyes to that.
My daughter in law is Vietnamese and her parents DO work in a nail salon (I won't get into the kind of jobs they had to give up in Vietnam to come here to give their kids a better life.) and they are absolutely NOT maga. This is distressing to them.
Look at Wal-Mart shopping carts. People are buying less non-essential items...spending less money & tightening their belts in anticipation of a recession. Expecting one to rival 2008's with Trump's financial crimes of insider trading & stock market manipulation.
Do it yourself, like old "fashion" times. Huge rollers, paint dripping all over the sink and the one person in the building that had a portable hair dryer. That was my mom in the Bronx. It worked for all the ladies. Saved money and looked good, I guess. I cut my own hair, even better.
We did not have a sister, guess who she had to help her? ME AND NOT BY CHOICE.😳 My son was his AF squad's barber. Go for it...YOLO, IT WILL GROW BACK.👊🏼
The retrenching is just starting, with China not willing to backdown from the draft dodger senile President, the damage to the economy right now is going to place us on the down hill slide! The only thing worse would be for him to declare martial law!
I started stretching it out and even went gray for a minute. But in today’s world u need to be coiffed to perfection - especially as an older worker playing a young gal’s game. Plus I love going to the salon - judgment free zone!
If they asked this to Black stylists, there's a bunch of other factors to this, lol. But imma let yall have this. The stop and frisk paper can't comment or report on any culture issues
I'm also stating that I don't think he or his paper has an understanding of what's going on in Black communities to understand the whole conversation about the cost of beauty services.
Mike bloomburg was the inventor of stop and frisk, which stopped more Black and brown men in New york than there are black and brown men in New york. Bloomberg news is his newspaper. I'm stating that I don't trust the fox to accurately report on what's going on in the hen house.
Predictable since 70% of our GDP is consumer spending. Spooking and whipsawing markets isn't exactly inspiring consumer confidence in the economy or in our current leadership. The people know a con-job when they are experiencing one.
The idiots in the D.C. sphere refuses to understand how our economy works. Part of the equation is taxing the richest people N the country. A few old guys decided they needed 2 hold on 2 $$$ they'll never B able 2 spend & then make our lives miserable.
Well, if you're not flush with extra cash and waiting for President Big Mac's bat(shit) signal to scoop up bargain basement stocks, and you just lost big on your retirement savings, and the Secretary of Commerce says you don't really need those Social Security checks, retrenching is what you do.
The canary in the coal mine. I’m sure this is happening everywhere. Give it 60-90 days when inventory runs out and the new tariffed items hit the shelf.
I've been stocking up. Found Tide on sale and bought 3 jugs. Multiples of OTC meds. Not a prepper, I'd just rather spend my money now while it's worth something. Dental floss, shampoo, dishwasher pods ... all the non-perishables that will become costly.
Surely none of that has anything to do with the fact that most salons charge women extra if they want their hair dried so they can actually see what the cut looks like now, making it wayyyy less affordable.
So people understand by now that tariff is a tax on everyone and will lead to reduced consumer spending, which will affect businesses and, in turn, the job market.
Comments
You can see here on bluesky, but for rest of them 🤔🤔
We mishandled the first cultural representation of vulture capitalism by applauding Michael Douglas when he said, "Greed is good" in "Wall Street."
That was our cue to
The billionaires wrecking our jobs, robbing our livelihoods, savings, company pensions, comfortable retirements -- they should have been taxed out of existence, and treated with disgust for how antisocial their hoarding is.
She is young and clueless to what is going on. I'm dreading having to tell her.
Women (moms especially) cut out luxuries for themselves before it manifested into meatless meals etc.
Edamame is the bomb
Trump is no really concerned by making America great again, he doesn’t care at all, he just wants to make himself richer and richer again and again.
Who’s going to pay?
Not his rich friends but poor people and middle class.
Wait and see…
*taps temple*
Think about it.
https://bsky.app/profile/nifftycydonia.bsky.social/post/3lmjy2grh6c2s
Spoke with friends from Waikiki hotels. Occupancy currently 60%
We are headed for some ugly shit.
I said yes, no more Canadians coming.
Why?
Because of our border Nazis.
“Their loss”, this motherfucker had the balls to say.
“Tell that to every hotel worker you see that will be out of work next month.”
He mad.
The prices just keep going up, on everything…
🤦♀️😖🔥
How to think like you want to go back to the 50's or 60's manufacturing.
The biggest error here by Trump and his "dumb as a brick" team is that they don't take services we export into the overall math. DUMB!
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/11/tariffs-to-trigger-recession-sp-500-decline-to-4200-4500-says-bca-research.html
It’s an odd but significant economic signal.
When people start letting go (cheaper options) of the appearance of one’s self, they are ready to let go of other things.
I haven't been to a salon since Sept of 2023. I might go a bit longer. My hair is down to my waist. Aiming for hips. LOL
It’s gonna be “wet hair and trim” from here on out until America gets back on track.
I'm cutting my own hair and putting in my own highlights.
There are so many tutorials on YouTube though, we can do anything!
Do us all a favor and sell! Follow your hero Jim Kramer and SELL!
Then save yourselves from the wrath of MAGA & move to the UK like Ellen and Rosie O’PorkChop!😂😂😂
I'm about to take that money and invest in wigs because they're cheaper
Republicans have been against people having cheap or free health insurance for decades - to the point they've lost the plot and want to stop providing health care to anyone who isn't working a high paying job and living in a luxury home
#lolX
We’ve got our own fucking problems that you also caused.
There are options other than the US. This crap killed foreign tourism, too.
Fucking capitalism 😡
We are days away from... "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?"
He is a toxic poison that the willfully ignorant voluntarily injected into all of our veins.
All because they refused to turn the channel and listen to reason.
Depression is coming.
Depression will be long.
When you realize you have $50 left in your wallet, and that $50 needs to last you for two weeks, it changes the perspective of life
More money, of course, for the billionaires
I am so sorry for all the people who will b hurt.
Gosh, we may all b walking the streets or founding Trumpvilles as people founded Hoovervilles a 100 years ago. Only I really would find another name.
"DOGE is cutting wastefraudandabuse! He's only cutting the slackers and people doing busy work. We should only have mission-critical employees."
The economy rises and falls on govt spending. Everything flows from that.
door dash/uber) doing afterpay...Crazy!
This economy is gonna hurt many in the service industries that were just regrouping from Covid.
Yikes!
What the article says is that these are *new* instances of cutting back. *Right now,* people are spending less on services as a result of being fired, or fear of being fired, or ruined retirement savings.
It's a separate phenomenon.
For real? This is a thing now?
Not endorsing this, but it covers some of the themes I'd focus on
https://voices.aaja.org/stories/austin-2024/vietnamese-americans-progressive-and-conservative-organize-around-trumps-2024-campaign/
Hairdressers are what I really worry about.
Not the total and global depression, but hairdresses in LA.
You nailed it.
Do they, though? They were being conned last year yet 77 million STILL voted for the felon. None of this had to happen.