The Beauty Salon Recession Indicator
Hairdressers and aestheticians report clients are opting for less expensive services and stretching out the time between appointments—signs that US consumers are retrenching.
Attendees get their hair done at the International Beauty Show in New York.
Photographer: Sara Konradi/Bloomberg“It’s feeling a lot like 2008,” said Christy Powers, who’s worked through three economic downturns since 1999. Operating out of Frederick, Maryland, a commuter-train ride from Washington, Powers said more and more of her clients—especially the large swath of federal workers—are “coming in telling me how stressed they are.” Others are halting services altogether to save cash.
Is Powers a financial planner? A real estate agent? Nope: She’s a massage therapist, and she and her service-industry colleagues working in beauty, hair and personal care have been witnessing firsthand some of the earliest possible signs the US is tumbling into recession.