Hairdressing, the credit crunch and celebrity big brother
From a hot new celebrity hairstyle to financial woes or a company introducing a new style ambassador, hairdressing news can be wide ranging.
Here's Matthew Batham's round up of the key pieces of news that affected the hairdressing industry this week...
HJ News Editor Matthew Batham
The Credit Crunch hits hairdressing
Half way through January, and there's no sign of an end to speculation about the effects of the credit crunch - now more ominously known as 'a recession'.
But while a few months ago many in the industry were poo-pooing its likely impact on hairdressing, 2009 has seen a more realistic approach to the 'economic downturn.'
Eileen Lawson, secretary general of the National Hairdressers' Federation has always had a realistic outlook on the situation, and her 'take stock now' approach seems to be filtering through the industry.
Says Eileen: "You can walk down almost any high street and from one day to the next find yet another business with the shutters up - grocers, restaurants, and salons. No one is immune from an economic situation that is unprecedented in its fundamentals."
While Eileen appreciates that salon owners themselves can do a lot to encourage frequency of visits and extra spend, she also feel - strongly - that the government should do its bit to ease the pressure - and there's no excuses for it not to, says Eileen.
"The Government has within its means an opportunity to help our sector by paying heed to the NHF's campaign for a significantly lower rate of VAT for labour-intensive sectors such as hairdressing. Such experiments have proved a resounding success in The Netherlands and Cyprus."
Eileen's comments followed recent research by the Financial Mail and website, This is Money, which showed 38% of small business owners do not expect to survive 2009 because of the down-turn.
- Top tips top help your salon beat the credit crunch
- Beating the credit crunch in your salon
- Andrew Barton: how hairdressing can ride the recession
Big Brother 'celebrities' get hair treat from Richard Ward
With so much doom and gloom around, you can hardly blame people for wanting to hide away from it all - look at what the latest clutch of 'celebrities' in the Big Brother house are willing to go through just to escape reality for three weeks.
At least they won't have to worry about their haircare needs - with the recent delivery of a Richard Ward hamper of luxury products.
Once the celebs get out of the house, some are bound to want an image overhaul and extensions will be an obvious choice - perhaps not for Tommy Sheridan or Verne Troyer.
Extension companies hit back
That is, unless they are put off by recent headlines in the Daily Mail claiming hair extensions can cause permanent baldness in those who have them fitted.
Top suppliers were quick to condemn the article as completely misleading - pointing out that, like any service, extensions are only as good as the stylist applying them.
- Top tips for applying perfect hair extensions
- Making an impact with hair extensions
- Celebrity hair extension disasters
Big money hair cuts
It's unlikely even the prize money from Celebrity Big Brother will be enough for any of the contestants to take advantage of a service offered by top London hairdresser, Stuart Phillips - he entered the Guinness Book of Records 2009 as carrying out the most expensive haircut ever at £8,000 - the price did also included a flight from Russia, a bodyguard, personal shopper and butler.
Whether the £8,000 haircut prospers during the economic downturn remains to be seen.
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