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It is becoming increasingly common for customers to call Neil Moodie’s hair salon in advance to check the WiFi. “Everyone brings their laptop and does their work, especially when they have their color ready. [I’ve] I’ve had a few people do a Zoom meeting while they’re here with the camera on.”
WFH – or working from the hairdresser – has its tensions. “It means our internet has to be perfect,” says Moodie, whose salon is based in Spitalfields on the edge of the City of London. “Which isn’t the case, and it’s a nightmare.”
As the WFH trend becomes more popular, some UK salons are integrating i-gates, desks and quiet areas where people can work remotely while enjoying salon services. Brooke Evans, owner of a salon in Ironbridge, Shropshire, says a significant number of clients are working while their color is being processed. “With this in mind, we have installed USB ports and additional power outlets at every station since they opened. A coffee has since been added [and] bar area and additional seating for customers who need a quieter space to work while on calls or video calls and simply a more comfortable space to work on a laptop.”
WFH recently went viral on TikTok after a PR manager in the US posted her FaceTime call with a Gen Z employee who was getting her hair washed. The young assistant told Newsweek: “As long as you get your job done, I don’t see the harm.” Her manager seemed to take it in good faith: “It doesn’t matter to me where she is as long as her tasks are done on time and properly,” she said.
Hairdressers have added office aids to attract customers. Many businesses are struggling after closures during pandemic lockdowns and high energy costs. The increase in remote working is also causing significant upheaval for salons, says Caroline Larissey, chief executive of the National Hair and Beauty Federation, noting that hair and beauty businesses in city centers and business districts are particularly affected as they often rely from a regular clientele of office workers. According to the Local Data Company, the sector has seen a sharp increase in closures since 2020, with a net loss of 1,721, equating to 17,047 establishments.
Millie Kendall, chief executive of the British Beauty Council, a trade body, says suburban salons are doing better. They can take advantage of people who secretly get a cut and color while working from home, usually at lower prices.
After lockdown restrictions were lifted, the sector received a brief boost from customers seeking professional attention for their unwieldy locks. “It was amazing how many people came in post-Covid and had their hair corrected,” says Moodie. This despite a small black market for hairdressers who defied the rules and cut hair in their own homes, in the backs of salons and in gardens.
But in recent years, clients have come under pressure from the cost-of-living crisis, Kendall says. Moreover, she says, shifts in attitudes to aging mean that “women of a certain age are wearing their hair longer,” encouraged by actresses Sarah Jessica Parker, Helen Mirren and Julia Roberts. The fashion to embrace gray has also had an impact.
This is all on top of the higher electricity bill. A study by Uswitch last year showed that energy bills account for 40 percent of hairdressing costs, causing prices to rise. The rise of TikTok tutorials and the spread of good at-home styling tools have also affected barbershops.
But hairdressers can be both a hub for the community and a space for remote working. A recent project led by King’s College London is working with salons to spread information about breast cancer and heart disease to clients in South and West London.
Kendall underlines the importance of the salon as a place for conviviality. It is “much more than a haircut. When people have problems, they talk to the hairdresser, they absorb a lot of trauma.”
Long before the pandemic, American sociologist Ray Oldenburg identified the need for a “third place,” somewhere between home and office, to build community and exchange ideas. With the addition of WiFi and charging ports, the Barber is a worthy contender.
emma.jacobs@ft.com