The Salon Business Isn’t Built to Withstand a Pandemic

After weeks of sheltering-in-place, I contemplated my reflection in the mirror one afternoon: hair that hasn’t been out of a ponytail, face pallid and devoid of makeup, brows unruly, fine lines visible due to fading Botox, ragged cuticles. The grays aren’t peeping through yet, but give it a few weeks and I’ll be proudly submitting my headshot to the Grombre Instagram community.

Right now, I don’t really care much about how I look. I’m worried about my family and friends and the world at large. I’m grateful to have a safe place to stay, but I know that someday I will care again. In the Before Times, I paid at least six pros to help me maintain my appearance. However, because of the nature of their jobs — touching people, a thing that obviously can’t be done from a six-foot social distance — all of them are out of work now. Every industry has been impacted by coronavirus shutdowns, but for hairdressers and other hands-on beauty service providers, it’s been devastating.

Stylists often see 5 to 10 clients a day. Melana Baca, a hairstylist at the Cili The Salon & Day Spa in Denver, worked 10-hour days, three days a week. Now, she is home indefinitely. “Our livelihood was lost overnight,” she says.

In the U.S., the salon and spa industry boasted more than 1.2 million businesses bringing in more than $57 billion in sales, according to a 2019 Professional Beauty Association (PBA) report. Behindthechair.com, an organization with millions of followers that supports hairdressers with events and education, has been surveying thousands of its members over the last few weeks to get a sense of just how dire it is. About 72 percent of hair salon workers polled said that they either live paycheck-to-paycheck or have only about a month’s worth of cash reserves to live on. About 23 percent reported having no health insurance.

In typical circumstances, stylists earn money in several different ways. The majority of the Behindthechair.com respondents said that $50 to $150 was their average ticket price, but that isn’t necessarily what they take home for each service they perform. Some are salon employees who earn a percentage of the price of the service, which generally varies from 30 to 60 percent, according to Behindthechair.com founder and creative director Mary Rector. They also receive tips and a commission on products they sell in the salon. Some stylists, like Baca, lease a space in a salon and pay a weekly rent (Baca says she pays $169 for three days per week), but can keep the full price of their services plus tips. Some are totally independent and have their own spaces or make house calls.

Then, there are the salon owners. For these entrepreneurs, margins are usually tight too. “A good salon makes only 5 to 6 percent on the bottom line and has to have the owner working with a full book [of clients],” says Rector. Monthly business expenses can include everything from payroll, products, cleaning services, utilities, marketing, and, of course, there is location rent.

Unfortunately, all of these costs don’t disappear just because a pandemic has decimated income. Jessica Wall-Innella, who owns the Renaissance Salon in Ronkonkoma, New York (a suburb of New York City), says her landlord is “working with” her, but she has heard from her peers that other landlords are threatening legal action if salon owners don’t pay and there are accounts of landlords refusing to waive rent for retailers, according to a March 29 report by CNBC.

As some owners struggle to pay rent, digging deeper into minimal cash reserves available, the effect has been felt by every assistant, receptionist, colorist, stylist, and janitor.

What Salons Are Facing Now

Many salons laid off their workers quickly after the shutdowns, allowing them to apply for unemployment benefits. Lots of salons, unlike the handful of large companies that can afford to, just aren’t flush enough to continue to pay salaries. But for the many manicurists, stylists, braiders, colorists, and barbers who are classified as independent contractors, things are even trickier. Prior to the passing of the CARES Act, the $2 trillion bill that will offer relief to laid-off workers, freelance and independent contractors weren’t typically eligible for unemployment benefits.

The situation is looking a little better as benefits have been expanded to freelance workers, and the unprecedented stimulus bill just passed will grant an additional $600 a week for four months to laid-off workers. But there will be delays for many states before any of this kicks in, according to CNN, and CNBC reported that some still may find themselves ineligible for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

Workers who rely primarily on tips, like nail technicians and assistants at salons, are sometimes paid below minimum wage, with tips making up the balance (though tipped income is not always reported accurately). This often results in underreporting of their actual income, which could mean a lower unemployment payment. And for many nail techs in New York City and other big urban areas where these workers are often undocumented, benefits may not be available at all. A representative for the New York Nail Salon Workers Association says that many nail techs are paid off the books or low day rates. “Even documented workers will have a challenging time accessing the benefits they may be entitled to due to the pervasive, illegal payment practices that pervade the nail salon industry, including underreporting earnings, or failing to keep records altogether." As of 2015, New York State has strict guidelines about how nail salon workers should be paid, including rules for daily wages, overtime, and tip allowances. We’ve reached out to the New York State Department of Labor for comment about the allegation that some salon workers still aren’t paid properly.

Others in the industry are looking to supplement their income in other lines of work. Carlos Palomeque is a barber and freelance artist based in Brooklyn. He left a large barbershop several months ago to strike out on his own. He estimates he was making $300 to $700 per week. In the past few weeks, he’s done just one paid FaceTime consultation to assist a client in clipping his own hair at home (many clients don’t have the proper tools to give themselves a haircut at home). He doesn’t expect he could survive on that kind of service, so he’s considering other options.

“Food delivery service, I wouldn’t mind taking that. It’s needed. Once it’s over with, I can get back to business,” he says.

Several of the stylists I spoke to reported that some clients are still asking for services on the DL. “We still have people reaching out. I’m like, ‘Guys, it’s a pandemic outside!’” says Annagjid "Kee" Taylor, who has a popular YouTube channel, does freelance hair work in Los Angeles, and owns Deeper Than Hair salon in Philadelphia, which specializes in natural hair care. But she has empathy for them. “I feel bad for people who had a cut or color coming up. I’m over here with seven nails on because it was time for me to get my nails done when it hit,” she says, laughing. (Still, don’t request a house call. You’re endangering yourself and your stylist and whoever else you come into contact with along the way.)

Some colorists and salons have started offering to mix their clients' color formulas so they can do their own quick root touch-ups. Behindthechair.com’s Rector says they might see it as one way to bring in some revenue and to keep clients from turning to at-home color services, which may take away salon business when they open back up. But whether or not state licensing boards allow this practice, since these are professional-grade products, can vary depending on your location. For example, a New York State licensing board representative tells Allure that these products are for professional use only and could be dangerous, with the potential to cause burns or eye injuries. “Any Licensee who sells/facilitates the sale/distributes kits which include professional products may expose themselves to an allegation by the State of Untrustworthiness and/or Incompetency which may impact their... license(s),” the representative wrote in an email. As another example, a representative from California's licensing board responded via email: “Unfortunately our regulations do not allow for any oversight of the sale of products. We are recommending that individuals contact manufacturers as some hair color is sold for professional use only.” Some colorists are concerned about any potential liability if the chemicals were to injure someone trying to DIY.

The Beauty Industry After Quarantine

Unfortunately, none of these temporary solutions will solve the loss of income and there’s a good chance a lot of salons may not be able to reopen. “If salons are closed for a longer period of time, I think we'll see what has typically happened in recessions where smaller salons that were not run well will close,” says Rector. During the 2008 recession, she says that about 30 percent of salons went out of business.

Salon owners and hair pros are trying to remain optimistic. This week, Georgia announced that salons will begin reopening in a few days and many pros expect their clients to come flooding back for services after weeks or months of isolation and DIY treatments. Rector says she expects salons to offer value-add specials when they reopen, like combo cut/color sales, to entice people back in — whenever that is. Salon owner Wall-Innella is planning to increase her salon’s hours and hopes to throw a grand reopening party, if allowed. She opened her salon during the 2008 recession and says she saw how important hair is to her clients’ mental well-being.