Beauty salon

There were thousands of beauty salons in Afghanistan before the Taliban outlawed them in July 2023, mandating their closure within a month.[4][5]

Beauty parlors employed 3.4 million people across India in 2013.[6] The industry was expected to employ 12.1 million workers by 2022.[6] Services typically include facials, skin-lightening bleaches, waxing, hair coloring, and hair straightening.[7]

Beauty salons have been a recession-resistant industry across the United States. Although sales had declined from 2008 highs due to the Great Recession, they remain robust with a long-term positive forecast.[8] Despite the tendency for consumers to be more price-conscious during recessions, spending continued to increase. With rising per capita incomes across the United States since 2015, beauty salons boomed, generating $56.2 billion in the United States. Hair care was the largest segment, with 86,000 locations. Skincare was expected to generate $21.09 billion in revenue by 2023, growing annually by 3.91%.[9] This growth was driven in part by increasing awareness of the importance of skin care among American women, but also specifically due to an increase in the market for men.[10] In 2020, the market was distributed widely across America, with a concentration in the Northeast and Midwest. There was also a growing trend in boutique salons popping up and leveraging online marketing to gain customers and compete with the franchise chains.[11] In 2014, the US Labor Department estimated employment in the United States increased 20% between 2008-2014, with the greatest employment growth from skincare specialists.[12] Beauty salons employ cosmetologists specializing in general beautification techniques. Cosmetology licensing requirements vary from state to state and depend on which specific license type is desired: general cosmetologist, hair stylist, esthetician, manicurist, barber, electrologist, or other.[13]