I own a hair salon. Typically, November is my busiest season. It has been SO quiet. A lot of my colleagues are also saying the same thing and have had to close up shop because of it - or get a second job.
People keep saying it will get better and the economy will bounce back but I don’t know. I am so close from just throwing in the towel, closing up shop and getting a corporate gig.
Everything has gone up so much. In my local city group there was someone looking for a balayage under $250 and a bunch of stylists were saying how due to the cost of materials going up it’s hard to keep it under $300. Personally that would make it i to the luxury category and right now a lot of people can’t afford.
It’s not the material costs. Those have barely increased. It’s all the salon “business gurus” on social media telling everyone to charge more money because they “need to know their worth.”
Now greedy/gullible stylists are paying the price. You can only increase prices so much before customers leave, often out of spite.