As Barbados’ iconic Crop Over festival enters its final, most anticipated stretch, personal care providers across Bridgetown’s busy shopping malls are navigating an unexpected slow start to the peak seasonal period – though most remain optimistic that a last-minute surge of clients will lift their earnings before the annual celebration concludes.
Daniel Singh, a barber at Oddies Barbershop located in Bridgetown’s Bridge Street Mall, told reporters he has yet to see the usual uptick in foot traffic that comes with the annual festival. “For me it’s kind of slow right now. I feel it will pick up later on, toward the end of the month,” Singh said, noting that his revenue stream relies heavily on the consistent patronage of his regular client base.
Currently, Singh completes between eight and nine haircuts per day on average. He added that while elaborate custom hair designs are rare this season, most Crop Over attendees are opting for functional, low-fuss styles. “Mainly when Crop Over is going on, people just ask for fades, shaves, and basic roundups. Designs only come in two or three times a week, if that – maybe three times a month tops,” he explained.
A similar slow trend was reported by Kevin, a barber at Hair Fair 911 in Swan Street’s Mall 16. After quiet trading through most of June and early July, Kevin said he has already started to see a small uptick in clients, and expects business to boom in the coming week. “This is the time where we expect that business will start to boom within the next week. For the next two weeks, business will be up… until back to school season starts,” he said.
Kevin averages around seven haircuts per day between Monday and Thursday, but on weekends that number doubles to between 15 and 17 customers. Like Singh, he noted that growing numbers of clients are requesting simple, low-maintenance styles, most commonly temple fades finished with a sharp pencil line. These cuts are not only easier for customers to maintain between appointments, they are also more budget-friendly and faster for barbers to complete, Kevin explained.
While optimistic about the coming weeks, Kevin acknowledged that delayed wage payments and broader financial pressures have held back consumer spending earlier in the season. “For the last two to three weeks it was pretty dead… people weren’t getting their payments on time… it’d be hard to come and spend on a haircut, to be honest with you. But you’re seeing it now… business will be up this weekend,” he said.
Sharon Barker-Holmes, a hairstylist at Curls and Tips also located in Mall 16, outlined multiple overlapping factors that have driven the seasonal slowdown for her business. First, many of her regular clients already got new hairstyles for recent graduation ceremonies, and long-lasting braided styles mean they do not need a second professional appointment for Crop Over. She also pointed to shifting consumer habits, with many people now turning to YouTube tutorials to learn at-home styling, or purchasing wigs to style themselves rather than booking professional services. Some even rely on untrained friends or family members to cut and style their hair instead of visiting a salon.
Broader economic challenges are also cutting into client spending, Barker-Holmes added, with many of her regular clients working in Barbados’ key tourism industry facing reduced working hours and tighter incomes. “A lot of my clients in the hotel industry… their hours are being cut… so they don’t have the funds. You can’t pressure nobody to come and get nothing done if they don’t have it,” she said.
While some days are still busy, Barker-Holmes said her turnover has not matched the levels she saw in previous years. “Today I might sit in here and then tomorrow I’m busy, busy, busy. I can’t say that you’re making money like you’re making it as you used to,” she explained. Where she once regularly served eight clients a day comfortably, that number now counts as an unusually busy day. She added that growing competition from newly qualified cosmetology graduates, many of whom offer lower-priced services from home, has also drawn clients away from established salons. “The young ladies that are now coming out of school doing cosmetology… everybody coming out thinking they’re a hairdresser… they’re taken away from what I would be receiving as a hairstylist,” she said.
Nail technician Rhea, who operates Orhevia’s Nails inside Bella Voi Beauty Salon in Mall 16, reported a prolonged slowdown that has lasted since the spring. “Since after Mother’s Day, the pace has really slowed down and ain’t as much foot traffic… not as many appointments since Mother’s Day,” she said. Rhea sees between two and five clients a day on average, accepting both walk-ins and pre-booked appointments. She added that clients’ current booking patterns clearly reflect tighter household budgets, with most people sticking to lower-cost basic services rather than splurging on premium treatments, even for the festival. “When they ask for less, they have a budget that they’re working with, and even when they’re coming for a celebration or event, they didn’t actually spend more than what they accustomed to spending,” she explained.
Even with the slow start, Rhea shares the widespread optimism among Bridgetown’s beauty community that the final days of Crop Over will bring the seasonal boost they have been waiting for. “I pray… hopefully that it picks up by Friday or Saturday,” she said.