23rd June 2020
As salons gradually find out their opening dates, and as they get ready for the influx of clients desperate to see them, desperate to get their hair cut, coloured, corrected and restyled, hairdressers are going to jump for joy at being given the opportunity to cut so much hair off in one go, to colour such big roots, to assist in getting the lockdown self hairdo’s sorted!
In amongst the change that is inevitable with salon environments, the necessary PPE precautions and the need for social distancing, extended appointment times and the hords of desperate clients ….. I am worried, worried about retail and how it may get left behind in the excitement, the trepidation and the (obvious) chat about the last 3.5 months.
It’s a fact, it only takes 3 months to break a habit, and clients of salons everywhere have had more than 3 months to browse on line, to shop online and to discover new products that they are now using on their hair.
Some salons, very wisely, chose to have their online shops active throughout lockdown, some salons set up their own shoplift accounts, Facebook shops and personal delivery services. All of these ideas showed great initiative as they kept their salons engaged with the brands they are used to and purchased from the salon.
Some product houses, like Balmain Hair UK, Eleven Australia Scotland and Passion4Hair set up great online channels where clients could purchase direct from them whilst still giving their salon a % of the profits, this, for me was outstanding and quite possibly will become part of the new way of retailing.
But some clients did their own haircare shopping, so now, as they are getting ready to come back to you, their hairdresser, and it’s your job to educate them again, because you have all the experience and knowledge that you can share about hair and haircare.
So yes, talk about lockdown, of course it’s going to be the key topic, but don’t forget to mention EVERY PRODUCT AND PIECE OF EQUIPMENT used on your clients hair and scalp, keep up the good work that you put into every day practice before lockdown commenced.
Now, more than ever we need to get clients back into their old habits, purchasing haircare from you …. and believe me, if you talk abut the products and equipment you use, your clients will absolutely be keen to engage as they are desperate for some semblance of normality in their daily lives, and visiting you and receiving expert advice about how to maintain their hair at home is one of the things they’re most been looking forward to.
And let’s not forget all those home hair styles that are going too need lots of TLC to get back to their normal state of being.
Let’s get your clients back into the habit of purchasing their haircare from you!
GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR RETURN TO WORK EVERYONE!
