I went to dry bar in Bethesda on Friday afternoon and all ten chairs were booked and people were waiting for their appointments.

Anonymous wrote:DH is a fed and my job is policy-related. We are cutting back and frankly I just don't feel like spending. I am depressed and just want to do less / leave the house less.

Same.

DH is a fed and my job is policy-related. We are cutting back and frankly I just don't feel like spending. I am depressed and just want to do less / leave the house less.

Anonymous wrote:Yes. We are dual Feds and we have been aggressively cutting back on all discretionary expenses. I’ll be coloring my hair out of a box now.

Single income fed here. A RIF to my agency is coming but we don't know when or who. In these circumstances I feel I have no choice but to prepare for the worst. I'm not surprised to hear others are doing the same.

My somewhat high end salon said there's no change there and there has never been a downturn in past recessions for them.

I got mani/pedis for years and I'm now doing my own nails. It saves so much money, and is relatively easy (with the lighter colors anyway). I also would rather do this as part of relaxing self-care night than have to spend the time going to the salon. I will admit that my hands don't look as perfect as the do from the salon because I'm not going to cut or even push back my own cuticles (they are super hard and problematic); but it's fine. If I have a big event or something I might go get them done.

I've also found someone at Hair Cuttery that I trust to do my highlights when has saved me some compared to the expensive Tysons salon I used to go to. Is my hair as perfect? No. Does it look good? Yes.

FWIW, my vet told me that this January and February were the slowest Jan and Feb they have had in over 10 years. People just were not bringing pets in for annual check ups/vax. Seems that people are really holding back with any spending that could be considered discretionary.

Yes my nail salon is a ghost town as well. They even got rid of a long time nail tech who brought in a lot of clients.

I got my hair done on Thursday afternoon and it was a ghost town and I live pretty far out in the suburbs.

Yes. We have a fed and a non fed and cut out all discretionary expenses until we know if the fed job is still there - that means no spa, no eating out, no fun shopping. It is what it is.

Yes. We are dual Feds and we have been aggressively cutting back on all discretionary expenses. I’ll be coloring my hair out of a box now.

I got highlights and a cut yesterday so was there for a while. It’s usually at least a 3/4 week wait for an appointment, and it was a ghost town. My stylist said she’s had 3 long time clients call in tears and say they’re cut feds and won’t be in until they find something else.

Yep. I called to cancel a hair appointment (with very much plenty of notice) and I got a sigh.
I was first at their door to buy a 500 gift certificate at covid lockdowns. I used that gc 25 dollars at a time over 3 years even though I know they are MAGA.
No sympathy now if the economy crashes.

I actually hurried to get my first hair cut in months before I get laid off, but joke's on me, it turned out awful (partly because what I requested doesn't work well for my hair texture, partly because it's WAY shorter than I wanted). I'm going to need another to reshape it in a couple months when it grows out.

That said, I don't do nails, hair color even as I'm going gray, etc.

Yes. They are all optional services, except for the occasional hair cut.

We have no idea how long we are going to have jobs, so anyone providing services for anybody besides the wealthy are going to have business reduction.

The nail place I’ve frequented for years was a ghost town at 6pm tonight. I expected it to be busy with the after work crowd or people preparing to go on spring break. Nail tech said business has been off for weeks now.

It made wonder how much people in our area are cutting back on these services…
Have you cut back on hair, nails, etc?