Women spend $2 billion at hairdressers in one year

Ceyhun Kuburlu ISTANBUL / Hürriyet

Tayfun Ateşoğlu, a famous hairdresser, is seen with actress Berrak Tüzünataç during an ad shooting for a shampoo brand.

Women’s hair salons have become a giant industry in Turkey thanks to fast growth in the last five years that has netted the sector $2 billion in turnover.

Annual cosmetics expenditure per capita also rose to 26 euros, according to sector officials.
Some 12 million women frequented one of 25,000 hair salons in Turkey last year.

Nearly 46 percent of women had their hair dyed, with blond and reddish colors the most popular, according to an industry professional.

“Hair salons create substantial employment. Some 105,000 people work in the sector. There is one hair salon for every 711 people in Turkey,” said Sertaç Önen, the general manager of L’Oreal Professionnel. There are about 30,000 hair salons for men, he added.

Working women mostly visit hair salons, he said, adding that women living in big cities especially spared no expense on hair salon services.

“The share of businesswomen among people who go to hair salons is 65 percent. The rate is 25 percent for housewives,” he said.

He also said the number of students who regularly go to hair salons is on the rise. “Students constitute 10 percent of those who go to hair salons.”

The significance of the cosmetics sector is that it does not contract at times of economic crisis as women focus on cosmetics the most to make themselves happy, according to Önen.