Hairdressers in Lanarkshire are being forced to cut their opening hours ahead of what stylists fear will be a "tough winter" due to the cost of living crisis.
Local businesses have told us a combination of rising energy bills, clients looking to save money, and price increases on many products they use will create a difficult situation.
Natalie Hendren owns the award winning Aleighya's Hair & Beauty Salon in Rutherglen, but told Lanarkshire Live she will close an additional day every week as she tries to combat the current crisis.
She told us : "It's already having an effect and I'm dreading the next bills coming in as the energy costs will have gone up again.
"The first thing we've had to do is inflate prices, which we tried to avoid doing at all during the pandemic.
"However, now everything we use has gone up in price - it's unavoidable. It wouldn't be viable for us if we didn't do that sadly.
"We've also had to introduce deposits as well to make sure people have their appointments and come in, as we can't afford people not showing up now.
"The problem as a salon is that there is very little room for us to save money. We're a business that will be high on electricity as we need to use it for things like hairdryers obviously, and we need good lighting throughout the day.
"We also need to keep the place warm, especially for older customers that come in.
"So there isn't much space for us to try and work around extra costs."
The increase in bills has forced Natalie into reducing the opening hours of the Stonelaw Road business as a result, a decision that many other hairdressers are also taking across the region.
She added: "Most salons are closing on Sunday and Monday, and now we'll have to close on a Tuesday too and move to a four day working week with extended hours on those days.
"It's not just us, it's something a lot of others are doing as well. It just isn't viable on quieter days. It's bananas, because we've come though the pandemic and then this happens.
"We've had clients go from weekly appointments to every two weeks as they need to save money too.
"It's awful what you're seeing, not just for the salon but for the clients and what they're going through."
The salon was previously crowned the best in Scotland at the Scotland's Business Awards.
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