THE BEAUTY BUSINESS:CERTAIN FACTS have entered the public consciousness that cannot seemingly be questioned: Barack Obama is a good thing for the US; carrots improve your eyesight (a fact that every Irish Mammy seems to think is true, even if they are boiled to within an inch of their lives – the carrots not the mammies); and in a recession, sales of lipstick soar.
This last one is, for the purposes of this article at least, the most interesting. In a recession, we know for a fact, people want to look good. They want luxury; a US-based fashion designer told this journalist a few months ago that she was instructed to “make fancy things – embellishments, beading, bright colours – because people want shiny things to make them feel better about themselves”.
Another not unrelated wisdom is that the best type of shiny thing is a new you, cited by headlines screaming from the cover of every glossy women’s magazine. Fact plus wisdom, therefore, says being beautiful means feeling beautiful, thereby flying in the face of the media harbingers of doom talking of falling profits and crumbling stock indices.
So how does this translate to the real world? In the muddy recession we have been trudging through, do people still fork out extravagant amounts on making – and keeping – themselves beautiful, or have salon visits given way to DIY treatments and home dye kits?
Emma Reynolds is a primary-school teacher with a blowdry-a-week habit and a certain grá for a spray tan.
“I can’t blowdry my own hair, basically,” she says. “I have really unmanageable hair, so I get it blowdryed for the weekend and it lasts a few days into the week and, at €20, it doesn’t seem that much of an expense.”
While this aspect of her beauty routine hasn’t seen a change since times became somewhat, for lack of a more original word, straitened, she has made other concessions to the public sector pay-cuts that affect her finances. “Before the recession, I might have gone for a spray tan every time I went out,” she admits. “But now, it’s only if I have a big event to go to like a wedding. Most of the time I do it myself.”
Doing it oneself is something a lot of people are turning to, faced with a lack of disposable income and, indeed, of time. Those in employment work longer hours for less money. After all, a job’s a job. A tenner for anyone in full-time employment who hasn’t had that old adage spouted at them in the past year.
Liz Lyons works in a legal firm and studies law part-time. “In the last year, I haven’t had as much income,” she says. “So I’ve had to pull back on my spending. I frequently have to say to myself, ‘no, you really don’t need another nail varnish’.” Like Reynolds, hair is one of the biggest outgoings for Lyons.
“The hairdresser would be the main thing,” she says. “I’m very particular about my hairdresser. I have curly hair, and find it difficult to find a hairdresser who can cut it properly. I go to House of Colour [on Dublin’s quays] and I only let one girl cut my hair.” While she hasn’t changed the specifics of her haircare routine, the frequency of visits has taken a sharp hit. “Before, I might have gone to the hairdresser every eight weeks or so, but now I’m down to twice a year.
“I’ve also changed to Lush products from more expensive salon stuff – they’re natural, so I quite like them – and I dye my hair myself. They both make for big savings.”
What about other savings? Are special offers and price cuts enticing people out of the bathroom and into the hairdressers’ chair? “House of Colour does special offers,” says Lyons, but she’s unsure how applicable they are to her. “They might, say, let you recommend a friend for €10 off, or do a certain discount if you spend over €100. They can be useful sometimes.” For Reynolds, price cuts mean the difference between taking the plunge and going cold turkey on her tanning habit.
“Spray tan is €25 at the moment; it used to be €45. I wouldn’t be able to afford it if it was €45.” The same applies to her blowdry. “It used to be €30. I probably wouldn’t get it done every week if it was still €30. I say to myself, ‘it’s only €20, it seems a lot less than €30’.” From the point of view of the salon, it’s all about customer loyalty – and loyal customers, it seems, are customers who feel they are getting a good service, at a good price.
Niamh O’Leary, owner of Tiger Lily Beauty Salon, Rathcoole, has noticed a change in attitude since finances became tighter. In her case, it’s people who were working in businesses in Citywest that have since shut down.
“People are really looking for value for money,” she says. “People are a lot fussier. And I would have had a lot of clients who worked in Citywest, people who have called since to say, ‘I lost my job so I don’t drive by your door any more’.”
Tiger Lily hasn’t, says O’Leary, lowered any prices. “Some things have gone up, because our suppliers have increased their prices” – but the salon now runs four or five special offers per month, whereas, two years ago, it offered just one.
Clients, says O’Leary, are more savvy about their spending: “People are, slowly and surely, starting to spend again, but they’ll call first and ask about prices, or if we can match other salons.” Does price-matching, heralded as the thing to look for, happen in the real world? “Sometimes I would match a price,” says O’Leary. “It’s rare, but if I think it’s affordable, I will.”
Zara Cox is the creative director and co-owner of Queen Beauty Emporium on Dublin’s Aungier St, an upmarket hair and beauty salon with upmarket prices. Like Tiger Lily, Cox has introduced discount offers to its customers, and she is keen to place an emphasis on customer loyalty, rather than mass appeal.
“We have a text service, so if you are in our system, you get different percentile discounts – and our summer specials are 25 per cent off all facials on a Monday and Tuesday,” she says. Do offers produce results in terms of footfall, though, or are people still haphazard about their beauty spending? “It depends,” says Cox.
“Some people come in specifically because they’ve heard of offers, and some regular customers might avail of them. But for others, those particular days mightn’t suit. If you’re a regular customer, there are certain things we might do for you,” she says. “But we don’t get a discount on our bills, so we haven’t reduced prices, overall.
“What we have found is that people aren’t coming back as often as they used to. But we offer a freshen-up service, where you can come in to have your fringe re-done, or around your face tidied up, it’s a type of loyalty programme. We’d rather offer something than lose customers.”
Cox may be onto something. With customers no longer willing to fork out the big bucks, as frequently, for a service they may be able to do without, salons have to come up with ways of enticing people in the doors, and bringing them back the next time.
SAVING AT THE SALON
ALWAYS CALL AHEAD AND ASK ABOUT DISCOUNTS There's nothing worse than sitting in the chair on a Friday and reading a leaflet that says there's 20 per cent off on Saturdays.
BOOK WITH A FRIEND Many salons will offer group discounts, and even 10 per cent makes a difference.
BE LOYAL A loyal customer will always be treated better than a newbie, and if you know your hairdresser well you're in a position to ask for discounts. "I love coming here, but that extra tenner kills me . . ." might just make a difference.
DON'T GET SUCKED IN BY THE PRODUCT PUSH Salon products are, more often than not, no better than cheaper products. Pay for what you came for, no more.
ASK FOR DISCOUNTS ON OFF-PEAK TIMES Even if there's no offer on, a haircut on a Wednesday morning might just warrant that little bit of a price cut.
