Salons trim more than hair to draw in clients during recession

04/06/09

At Smart Style Family Hair Salon in Hallandale, Fla., haircuts are a wonderfully cheap $14.95. Even so, the salon used to send out discount coupons twice a year that knocked two bucks off the price. Those were the good times. "Now we're doing it every month," said manager Alma Elvir. With so many people pinching pennies these days, salons are slashing prices, throwing in freebies or bundling services at a discount to keep the disheveled masses coming through the doors. It's not just corner barber shops that are hurting. Even sleek salons offering the latest newfangled hair processes are getting creative in their efforts to prop up their flat businesses. Clients at RikRak salon in Miami, for instance, started voicing concern about maintaining their hair extensions, a service salon co-owner Raquel Watters calls "addictive." It's one pricey addiction: The extensions cost between $600 and $1,000. They last less than three months. So Watters came up with the "Recession Extension," a process in which the old extensions are basically recycled - that is, removed from the head, washed, blown dry and retaped to the real hair shaft. The new price: a neat $150. "We do this so that the ladies can continue to beautify themselves," Watters said. Stylists, cosmetologists and nail specialists are watching in dismay lately as their chairs go empty. Some clients are doing their own nails or dye jobs at home. Others are stretching the time between professional pedicures and highlights. What's at stake is $15 for a manicure on the low-end or $45 for the same at a day spa. A typical "blow-out," or hair styling without a cut, usually costs about $40. But the smorgasbord of services for high-maintenance women includes eyebrow threading, eyelash-dying and supplementing, facials and all manner of hair styling. Add them together, and it's not impossible to drop $1,000 a month in a full-service salon. Happily for salon owners, some women think that professional grooming is critical to their appearance. For Amanda Sumberg, the manicures will be the last thing to go. Sumberg said she will be laid off from the downtown Miami Macy's in April. "I'm not buying new clothes," she said, a Dooney & Bourke purse slung over her shoulder. Her fingers and toes, though, had fresh, bright coral polish. Sumberg intends to keep getting her nails done every Saturday - job or no job. "I'd ask my mom (for money) before I stopped," she said. "I think that's what helps you stay happy and moving along." But many others say beauty services are the first thing they cut back on. Lissette Gual, a legal secretary in downtown Miami, was getting a mani-pedi every two weeks. Now it's every four weeks. She also forgoes the $25 blow-out she was getting monthly. "I wear my hair curly now," Gual said. Oribe salon, on Euclid Avenue in Miami, is renowned for the lush, full hairstyles perfected by its owner, Oribe, a longtime fashion industry insider and stylist. Oribe still charges $400 to pick up a pair of scissors. But some other stylists there, whose haircuts start at $100, have dropped their prices by 20 percent. And the salon is kicking off a number of unusual enticements. Book an appointment for 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. Friday, and Oribe will throw in breakfast. New "Girls Night Out" packages start at $100 for a combination of services such as a blow dry, makeup application and highlights. The salon is also sending discount fliers to local corporations and hotel workers. Natasha Khanzada, an Oribe stylist with a background in marketing, came up with a number of the specials. She attributes the slowdown partly to the normal departure of snowbirds around this time of year. But the stalling economy is also to blame, she said. "Some of our clients have not opted to come down for the winter, and we had a lot of people in the real estate market who have to refrain from coming in," Khanzada said. But Khanzada urges regulars who find themselves on new, restrictive budgets to speak up rather than skip appointments. "It shouldn't be a luxury," she said. "We're more than willing to adjust (prices)." Even men's barber shops aren't immune to the downturn. Chop Shop Barber Shop in Miami counts on customer loyalty to fill its nine barber chairs. Still, owner Amir Youssef is giving away "Recession Coupons" for $5 that can knock the price of a cut down to $13. And at Haircuts at Applewoods Hair and Nails in Weston, Fla., cuts normally start at $55. Traffic was slow this month, so the salon slashed prices across the board by $20. Other salons are resorting to less formal discounts. Deseree Chung, owner of Deseree's Hair Weaves & Extensions Beauty Salon in Miami, said she'll cut her prices for just about any service if the client asks. In the past week, Chung said, she applied a hair relaxer to three clients, reducing her fee from $75 to $40. "They ask for the recession discount." At the tiny Douglas Beauty Salon in downtown Miami, business got so slow after the holidays that beautician Jacqui Ramos is considering changing careers. She now charges $30 for a manicure-pedicure combo, down from $45 several months ago. She'll give you a basic facial for $25. She's in the salon from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. And still, she can barely make ends meet. "There's been weeks that I only take home $64," said Ramos, a single mother of two. "I'm just going to have to go out there and find another job, maybe clerical." Emily Thomas, general manager and senior colorist at Cutler Salon at the Gansevoort South Hotel Spa Residences on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, Fla., denied that the sagging economy has hurt her business. But this month she sent out a promotional e-mail titled "Happy Hour," offering a 30 percent discount in March for appointments booked between noon and 3 p.m. "I'm just trying to stay positive," Thomas said with a laugh, "to keep my sanity."