In the days leading up to Tet, the bustling spring atmosphere fills every street in the Northwest. Many hair salons and nail salons have to operate until 2am to meet demand.
In Bo town, Kim Boi district, Hoa Binh province, Trung Hair Salon, although it was midnight on December 27, was still bustling with people coming and going.
Mr. Dinh Anh Trung (born in 1993, shop owner) shared: “Normally, we close at 9 pm. However, since the 15th of December until now, there have been a lot of customers making appointments. In just one week, we have served more than 200 customers, most of whom are young people who want beautiful hair for Tet. There are even days when customers have to wait 2 hours for an empty chair to sit down and get their hair done.”
Talking about the reason for the crowded customers at the end of the year, Mr. Trung shared that it is because many workers from far away return home to celebrate Tet. Moreover, this is the time when everyone wants to take care of themselves, beautify themselves to have a fresh appearance in the new year.
"To serve customers, there are days when we have to work until 2am and stand for 16-17 hours straight. The store also invests in additional equipment and hires more staff, but there are also days when we cannot serve customers in time.
Tet only comes once a year, so despite the hardship, service workers still try to serve customers as best as possible, putting quality and reputation first" - said a young shop owner in the mountain town.
Ms. Bui Ngoc Anh, a customer at this hair salon, said: "It's crowded everywhere during Tet. Moreover, young people often think that whether Tet is fun or not depends mainly on whether the hairdresser can give them a satisfactory hairstyle or not, so they try to choose a familiar, reputable salon to get their hair done. Even though it's late, customers are still willing to wait, even until midnight.
Having worked as a nail technician for many years, Tet is the busiest time of the year for Thuy Trang (Kim Boi, Hoa Binh).
Thuy Trang shared: "From December 23 onwards, I only get to sleep about 3-4 hours a day to serve customers with beauty treatments. I work for customers from 8am to 10pm and then go home to do nailbox (pre-designed nail sets according to the customer's hand size) until about 3am."
According to Ms. Trang, customers must also make an appointment 2-3 days in advance to get their nails done.
"Tet only comes once a year, so even though they have to wait late at night, customers are still happy to wait," said Ms. Trang.
However, in some other places, some spas in Hoa Binh City are quite deserted.
"The number of customers is the same as usual, in fact many spas have less customers than usual. This is the first time since I started working that I have seen so few customers. Maybe they got their beauty treatments done before Tet so they don't have the demand anymore near Tet," said Ms. Do Huong Nhu, owner of Huong Nhu Spa.
