Salon or hair-at-home? Salon wins, but at-home is increasing

Fatima Garcia and Daisy Reynoso
November 23, 2021

At-home hair seems to be on the rise.

In a random survey of 100 Morton students, 35 percent of the students do their hair at home, and 65 percent of people said that they went to the salon to get their hair done.

Economically, hairdressers and barbers held 766,100 jobs in 2018 and more than 75% were self-employed.  It can be an expensive business to have; salon equipment can cost up to $27,000.  Salon industry revenue in the United States was $ 46.5 billion in 2018; that included more than 80,000 U.S. beauty companies.

And, some Cicero salons that have a good rating are Rocio’s Beauty salon with a 4.5 star rating, Emmy’s Beauty salon with a 4.9 star rating, and Betty’s Beauty salon with a 4.9 star rating.

Yet, some people have the skills to do their own — and their siblings.

“I like (my hair) at home because my sister does it for me, and it takes 2 hours.  I help her; we both do hair, so we don’t mind doing each other’s hair,” senior student Nekyah Pork said.

For others, they do their own hair at home because they don’t like surprises from the salon.

“I don’t like no one touching my hair besides me, ” Chicago student Berenice Serrano said.

Still, others have career experience in the family.

“I prefer my mom doing since she has experience,” senior student Lesly Torres said.

And, of course, many are willing to pay for someone who has the training — even if they aren’t family — as long as someone from the family recommends them.

“I prefer the salon because my grandma knows all the ladies in the salon,”  junior Daisy Antunez said.

Some friends even bring the salon to home.

“Yes! So each time my family needs to get their hair done or we need a trim, our family friend comes over and does our hair. She has been doing hair for 20 years already. I think she started young 15-16 years of age. Apart from doing at home and traveling to other customers she has a salon with her sister” senior student Nuvia Rodriguez said.

And, many will travel to the salon because you get what you pay for.

“I rather go to the salon or a barbershop to get my hair done because I don’t know how to cut hair,” junior student Jose Garcia said.