By Kevin Meyer
A couple years ago I made a valiant attempt to draw some vague link between haircuts and lean. Basically the time it takes to go through that morning ritual of doing the hair for the day. Who is the customer? Where is the value? Is a couple hours to do the hair a waste, or a value? Or is the sixty seconds that my short cut requires creates value to me… but then my wife complains it looks too much "like a Marine" (what's wrong with that?) so I guess that has the potential to reduce other types of value. I am tempted to nail those last few seconds of waste by shaving off the remaining short hairs. Some day perhaps.
Earlier this week we learned that the recession is causing many people to scrimp and save on the ritual of cutting hair. Some are simply embracing the shaggy look and some are literally taking things into their own hands – with mixed results.
pare their budgets, more Americans are bypassing the salon and opting
to lop off their own locks. The results, can be shear disaster —
clogged drains, fresh cowlicks and crooked trims.
Sales of electric hair clippers expanded as the U.S. economy
contracted. Wahl Clipper Corp., which claims over half the consumer
market, said sales of hair clippers rose 10% in 2008 and are projected
to rise 11% in 2009. Normally, the clipper category moves only a
percentage point or two, up or down each year, says Pat Anello, Wahl's
director of marketing.
You can imagine what happens next.
Meanwhile, a mini-industry has sprouted up in salons: fixing botched at-home cuts. John Barrett has had many clients who take matters into their own
hands, achieve miserable results — then quickly return for some tress
relief. "I've seen women come in, crying hysterically," over things like
too-shorn bangs, he says. "It's a big deal."
A few blocks away, at the Minardi Salon, co-owner Carmine Minardi
warns against the "at-home" method. "We get a lot of people who screw
up their hair," he says. He estimates that roughly a third of all
business now consists of "corrective" styling. There is no mercy
reflected in the bill, which dings clients as much as 50% more for a
corrective color than a regular dye job. In Idaho Falls, Idaho, Melodie McBride's salon handles three or four
repair jobs a week. One client "looked like his head had been through a
thrasher," she says. Another man came in with an eyebrow that had been
mistakenly shaved off.
So much for savings! So where's the "value" now? Again from who's perspective? Can I suggest another alternative? Cut it all off! Save money… and the value of time!
Kojak would be proud.
Bill Waddell says
Kevin,
No problem with your basic point, but comparing it with Wahl’s results missed the mark a bit.
The fact that doing it yourself is perceived to be worthwhile by the vast majority is in the numbers. Pat Anello says business at Wahl is up 11%, while repair jobs notwithstanding, the salon business is down – way down, mostly due to people extending time between haircuts, but the transition to do-it-yourself is also playing a part.
Most important, whether people use clippers or scissors is driven primarily by hair length. A woman with long, flowing, curly locks gets a cut that is almost entirely with scissors. The marine gets a clipper cut. The rest fall somewhere in between. The botched cuts are far more oiften the result of a woman having her friend/sister/mother/husband/etc… attempt to do with scissors at home what a professional is trained extensively to do in a salon. It is rare to get that kind of botching with a basic clipper cut.
Concerning the guy who shaved off an eyebrow, I suspect that has more to do with drinking and haircutting – never a good combination.
Wahl and the clipper business have nothing to do with hair coloring – the botching of which has long been a reliable revenue stream for the salon business, regardless of the economy.
The bigger value question, I believe, should be posed to the salon industry. Again, while the woman with long, styled hair certainly needs the professionally trained stylist; but what’s up with stylists charging $10 and more for a basic kid’s haircut that Wahl’s success has demonstrated can be easily done just as well by the kid’s mother at home with minimal practice at a fraction of the cost?
Finally, while Wahl has written an extraordinary lean success story in consumer products for the do-it-yourself market, they were originally and still are “The Brand Used By Professionals”. Every one of the pros you cited in all probability hauled out a Wahl professional model clipper to do the repair work.