- Local salon and beauty supply store owners are feeling the anxious over tariff uncertainty after President Donald Trump imposed a 145% tariff on China in April.
- Owners of Rattler's Edge and Luna Salon are unsure how tariffs will affect their business in the long run.
- Watch the video to see how these tariffs could affect prices.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Hair-raising anxiety growing in the beauty industry, just a month into imposed tariffs, as local salons and beauty supply stores face more uncertainty on what’s to come.
“It's more the fear of the unknown,”
Back in April, President Donald Trump imposed a 145% tariff on Chinese goods.
But FSU Economics Professor Randall Holcombe tells me the beauty industry should see only minimal impacts, but uncertainty comes with its costs.
“If we look at beauty products in the United States, most of the products consumed in the United States are produced in the United States,” he said.
Luna Salon Owner Lindsey Bullock, though, is paying a 10% tariff to make her own hair extensions.
That translates to about an extra $9.
“I know with some of our higher-priced items, like hair extensions, 10% can be a little bit of a hit for us to do on every single order that we place,” she said.
I also spoke to Rattler’s Edge Salon, which also serves as a beauty supply store at FAMU.
Team Lead Johann Rutherford says they haven’t felt much of an impact, yet, due to mass shipping efforts.
“They were kind of anticipating the tariff, China and India, so they sent a lot of the hair and products over here already, kind of where we didn't have to worry about any kind of, you know, immediate impacts,” Team Lead Johann Rutherford said.
But they’re expecting to see increased prices this summer once those products run out.
“We also have a hair salon here, so we anticipate more and more young ladies getting away from the wigs because of the price,” Rutherford said.
Bullock says her salon is being proactive, staving off costs by creating their own products.
“The manufacturers, a lot of them are telling us that they are not going to put the tariffs on us,” she said.
But the “wait and see” game continues.
Until then, the businesses are trying to keep prices affordable for customers.
“Honestly, we're not changing anything until we need to, if we need to, so, we're trying not to panic,” Bullock said.
“Our client base, I would say 80% are college age, so I could see us increasing, but not at the rate of maybe our competitors, so you know, still making it affordable for our clientele base,” Rutherford said.
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