A hairdresser noted that the special hairstyle desired by many women is related to the financial difficulties many of us are currently facing.
A stylist shared her theory on TikTok about how the economy affects beauty and hair trends.
Daisy Gowin shared a video in which she talks about the hairstyles that she has observed many clients requesting lately and her conclusions about this trend.
“So we’ve all heard that strippers are the first to notice when the economy is bad and there’s a recession coming or whatever because nobody is giving them work because they don’t have the extra money they need, right?” Gowin began her video.
She shared her own theory on this concept for the hairdressing industry, claiming that women who resort to more natural hairstyles such as lowlights, smudge roots, and most importantly, “old money blonde,” or low-maintenance blonde, do so to save time and money and reduce the cost of higher-maintenance hairstyles.
“It’s not just because they don’t have enough money for maintenance,” explains Gowin. “They also don’t have enough time to go to the salon every four weeks and get their highlights touched up because they’re working or stressed or busy.”
Gowin was sympathetic to women’s collective move toward a more natural look due to financial issues, but argued that they were doing themselves a disservice by neglecting their stylistic preferences. However, she argued that this was understandable since “nobody is making money.”
Many women underestimate the importance of self-care as a way to save money.
Since hair, nails and skin care, among other things, are very expensive and wages remain high, women either opt for hairstyles that are less easy to care for, learn to take care of these things themselves, or do without them altogether.
In short, women have less time for personal care because inflation doesn’t seem to be getting any better. And if women are not particularly wealthy and cannot afford the cost of their personal care, they are finding more affordable ways to maintain their beauty.
“I can’t keep paying $500 every four weeks. This is so expensive, it’s crazy,” one person commented on the video.
According to a survey by StyleSeat, these are the five beauty items and services women forgo the most during times of financial difficulty:
- Form
- Nail Salon Services
- Hair salon services
- Hair care
- Skin care
“I’m too poor to be blonde anymore,” commented another woman. “I can’t even afford a manicure. I’m more worried about how I’m going to afford food.”
For the vast majority of the population, it is becoming increasingly difficult to meet basic needs and these people are willing to make sacrifices to save time and money.
“I’ve been dyeing my hair blonde myself for years like an old role model,” said another. “I save thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours a year. I hated going to the salon – it was overpriced and the results were inconsistent.”
More and more people are learning to style their hair themselves to avoid the high prices in hair salons.
Some people have used their access to free knowledge on social media to their advantage, teaching themselves how to cut and style their hair by watching instructional videos on YouTube and TikTok.
Even though the results may not be comparable to the quality of a salon, for many people it is definitely worth learning how to style their own hair if it means they can save a lot of money on a regular basis – and it’s not that difficult.
However, an even larger majority of working women have given up on hair care altogether because they have realized how much cheaper and less time-consuming it is to simply accept their natural hair.
As much as women enjoy going to the hairdresser, many have realized that they must make certain sacrifices to afford the rising cost of living in an inflated economy.
Francesca Duarte is a writer on YourTango’s news and entertainment team based in Orlando, FL. She covers lifestyle, human issues, adventure and spirituality.
