It has often been said that in tough economic times, hemlines go down (although, as Marina Rust points out in the latest US Vogue, this is strange, seeing as you’d think more fabric would equal higher cost) but lipstick sales say solid. And then there’s another minor economic theory that goes even further. It’s called the Lipstick Index and it claims that lippie sales actually go up when the economy hits rock-bottom. It certainly held true for the 1930s, when glamorous red lipstick completely ignored the fact that there was, oh, a stockmarket disaster going on and a world war about to happen.

But these days, I’m not so sure. Despite all the ‘Lipstick is Back!’ claims and coverlines, nobody really wears that much of the stuff anymore – whether times are good or bad. Maybe it should be the Juicy Tubes Index – that little number seems to just keep selling no matter what sub-prime-this or interest-rates-that are happening.

But after reading recently that the average Sydney woman spends $125,000 on her hair in a lifetime, I’m now more of the mind that it’s actually haircare that is now recession-proof.

Yes, let me just repeat: $125,000. I. Know. Oh. My. Goodness. I can’t help but feel partly responsible, peddling all the hair products and advice that I do. Although surely some of those salons are to blame, with their ridiculous $300+ haircut prices.

In America at least, the original land of the $300 hairdo (and the same again in tips to every single person working at the salon), there may be a backlash underway. Because - back to Marina Rust’s article, ‘The Dark Side’ - while the current brunette catwalk trend is about looking luxurious, for some clients it’s for financial reasons – i.e, going back to brunette, or at least looking less blonde, means you can extend your time between salon visits.

Which I can vouch for. At my last salon colour session, I had lowlights put in, part of my transition towards the dark side (I am the first one to admit that I get completely sucked in to that beauty cliché about brunettes being more luxe and sophisticated and glossy). And my regrowth is looking far less obvious than it usually does at this stage in the colour cycle, so I can probably push back my next colour session a good few weeks. It may not quite be the difference between my beat up old Corolla and a convertible Porsche, but it could just be all the ammo I need to justify that Prius that I have my eye on.

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