MANILA, Philippines?When the going gets rough, the tough gets?a haircut?

While that may be a generalization, the reality is indeed close to that. People may lessen their hair salon visits or skip the paraffin wax or hair treatments, but they will not cut back on basic haircut and color.

While other beauty salons are experiencing the economic crunch, many salons, particularly the high-end, are doing brisk business, born out of customer loyalty.

Vicente ?Teng? Roma, the head honcho of Emphasis Salons, says the business is blessed. ?Just last Sunday, the salon at Rockwell was full. There were no more seats. Monday is usually slow, but people were still coming.?

He reports that the salon?s sales the past three months were ?excellent.? In fact from 2007 to the present, salon sales were steady despite the continuous price hikes. Trust the warm relationship between the staffers and customers to keep the business thriving.

Recession-proof

Stefan Wilczynski of Basement Salon at Shangri-La Plaza says that numbers are growing. Only two years old, this branch has even exceeded sales of Basement Rockwell Power Plant in June. He clarifies that the original Basement has also been doing well. The Basement at Shangri-la has established an academy led by Vidal Sassoon alumni to train hairdressers, colorists and makeup artists.

Jude Hipolito of Univers Phyto at Rustan?s Makati observes, ?All my clients talk about the rising prices of gasoline, airfare and the like every time they get a haircut.? Yet he hasn?t felt any pinch. Amid the spiraling cost of living, he opened another salon Univers Kaizen at the Mall of Asia. That customers from Cebu, Bacolod, Davao and Bukidnon seek him out means there is a recession-proof market outside of Metro Manila.

Even an institution such as the 30-year-old Tony Galvez Salon has not felt the effects of the inflation. Spokesperson Lourdes Co says, ?We have cultivated our relationships with our clients for several decades.?

Louis Kee, creative director of the edgy salon Razzle-Dazzle, says it is doing okay since it attracts the high-end clientele. ?They need to unwind.?

Cope by pampering

Ricky Reyes, monitoring the weekly sales of his branches, notes that there was even a slight increase in the sales of its basic services which compensates for the slight dip in treatments such as the Hair Reborn or the hair spa. It?s the AB clients who still indulge in the ?malunggay? hair treatment his salon chain has been known for; they swear it?s even more effective than imported luxury brands.

?In this business, as life gets more difficult, people cope by pampering themselves. Problems may come but they won?t look dowdy,? Reyes says.

However, some salons, including a big chain and a foreign franchise, have been losing customers. Some of the investors are concerned about how to recuperate from their losses.

Kee says the key to good business is good service.

Wilczynski attributes the slowdown to management and poor location. ?Salons run by hairdressers are doing fine. Many salons are run by businesspersons. They just hire a hairdresser and look at the numbers. This is a service industry. It?s hard to find professionals with proper training. Many salons still hire people who don?t know how to cut and color properly. There are many good stylists here and they make you look great for a day. But you have to keep coming back to the salon. That?s a luxury only a few people can afford.?

Low-maintenance styles

He says customers with big disposable income are extremely busy. They go for hairdressers who can give them low-maintenance hairstyles and accurate coloring.

Vincent ?Chot? Reyes, president of Essensuals Toni & Guy, reports on different sales patterns of its branches?at 6750 Ayala, Crowne Plaza in Ortigas and TriNoma in Quezon City. ?In the past, when the economy would contract, we?d face the challenge. But the salon would immediately pick up.?

He observes that people would rather curb their traveling than their salon grooming.

Reyes admits that it?s the first time that Essensuals Toni & Guy was affected by inflation as the business experienced a dip in sales by 15 to 20 percent. ?Looking at the sales, we still have the same number of customers and the same number of heads. But there is lower customer expenditure.?

Eighty-five percent of its business is driven by hair color while the rest is treatment.

In the first quarter, the business was steady. However in the past three months, as oil prices escalated every week, he started to feel the downtrend in some branches.

His three-month-old TriNoma branch has been experiencing phenomenal growth which compensates for the Ortigas? business. Reyes would sit all day and watch. First, potential customers would inquire, then check out other places in the mall. When they return, they ask for the prices which start at P550. They come in droves, like families of four would get a haircut at the same time. Customers are willing to pay premium for the services of its top hairdressers such as Cherry Reyes.

Essensuals Toni & Guy at TriNoma has been attracting the B and C market. Despite the hard times, 90 percent of the customers pay in cash.

Specializing in cutting-edge hairstyles and hair coloring by London-trained staff, Essensuals Toni & Guy will always have its clientele. Reyes is optimistic that business will pick up in the last quarter, the start of the party season. ?We hope to ride this one out,? he says.