2009 comebacks: Home hair coloring

It seems a logical place to cut the budget. Why spend $100 for professional hair coloring when you can do it yourself for $8? Certainly in tough times, Americans could spend less than 60 billion dollars/year on beauty.

If you've tried or are considering the "do it yourself" route to hair coloring, consider yourself in good company. The salon business is feeling the recession. Consumers are "stretching out" or, "stalling time" between visits. Business was down at 72% of hair salons surveyed by the National Cosmetology Association last summer.

The industry is sufficiently strained that the National Cosmetology Association postponed its annual SalonLife Conference and Expo (originally scheduled for August '08 to July '09). It wasn't framed quite that way in the June announcement
but it's easy enough to read between the lines (or through the spin).

While the salon business is feeling the recession, hair dye sales to nonprofessionals have seen a steady rise at Sally Beauty Supply, an international distributor of beauty products.