Hair/Makeup Contract Question

So long story short, my hair/makeup artist that I previously signed a contract with went out of business, but didn't tell me (she just took down her website and disabled her email address - I had found out by going to her website and it no longer existed, and my emails to her were returned as undelivered). Through multiple attempts at contacting her through text, I miraculously got my deposit back, and since then I've had to look for a new hair/makeup artist. I found a few options that do beautiful work and fall within my price range, though they don't require contracts, just a deposit.



Is this typical? The last hair/makeup artist I booked had a contract. With everything that's happened over the past year and a half with COVID, and also everything that happened with the previous hair/makeup artist (I'm confident that I wouldn't have gotten my deposit back if I didn't have the contract), I'm extremely hesitant to send a deposit without having a signed contract in place. Many of my friends who've had weddings in the past few years also said their hair/makeup artist didn't have a contract. Should I keep looking for someone who has a contract? Should I insist that the hair/makeup artist creates a contract if they don't have one? Or would a text message with their policies be considered enough of a contract?