The MOST Spring/Summer 2021

HAIR & BEAUTY AND THE ROAD TO RECOVERY The Covid pandemic, together with lockdown 3.0 in January, significantly affected the hair and beauty industry, with closures to our beauty salons, hairdressers and barbers taking effect overnight and with very little warning. And, after what had already been a turbulent year, it goes without saying that many salons had to quickly adapt to the sudden changes that affected their businesses which hugely disrupted day-to-day operations. John Kersey, owner of Kersey Hairdressing, Preston says: “It was a real blow to be told once again that we had to shut our doors. We were just catching up from the summer lockdown and had a real busy spell leading up to Christmas and things felt like they were slowly getting back to normal. We had to let our clients down again and our staff and apprentices were told that they couldn’t work. It was quite a shock, but we knew we would get through it. After all, this wasn’t the first time.” He added at the time of lockdown: “By the time Coronavirus lockdown ends, the hairdressing industry will have been one of those to suffer the most, with at least three months of lost revenue.” But in April, salon doors did swing open and thousands of desperate clients swarmed back into the swivel chairs and beauty rooms across the country to get their roots fixed, nails painted and brows waxed, proving that this much needed industry would soon find its feet once again. And this bounce back is thanks to the incredible resilience and determination of the hair and beauty professionals, who took this third national lockdown as an opportunity to develop their business skills and update their properties. Frankie, Salon owner at Enhance Beauty Bar, Kirkham says: “We weren’t going to allow a third lockdown and tier restrictions to restrict our creativity and passion for what we do as a team. We took the opportunity to enhance the beauty bar and make it the best it could be in readiness for our clients’ return.” “We updated the salon and gave teaser pics on our social media channels and the response we got was phenomenal.” And employers and salon owners have been business savvy during the lockdown months and who could blame them? Many salons used their business skills to explore other commercial opportunities to the benefit of their clients – using social media to demonstrate hair and beauty techniques, selling products online, setting up zoom and telephone consultations and offering DIY hair kits and nail treatments. Frankie adds: “Social media offered us a lifeline of communication to our customers. Through the pandemic it not only helped us reassure our new and existing clients who were initially concerned about new safety measures, but it enabled us to share our exciting updates to the salon.” While these updates may not continue in as much volume now the salons have reopened, at the time, the social media updates and tutorials were a lifeline that enabled clients to achieve a decent finish at home and prevented potential ‘instagram fails’. It proved that finding innovative solutions really helped to keep customers. It has also opened the eyes for many salon owners as a way to develop and grow their businesses beyond the conventional and future proofing their livelihood should they experience another lockdown. The future for the hair and beauty sector may seem uncertain, and in some ways the industry may never go back to how it was before – but is that a bad thing? The world has moved on and if there was ever an industry to show innovation – it’s been the hair and beauty sector. Yes, the era of the walk-in barber shop appointment is likely to be a thing of the past, hygiene rituals will have to be adhered to with even more scrutiny than before, time in between appointments increased slightly for cleaning and the booking of clients may need to be monitored more closely due to | 10 The team from Kersey Hairdressing, Preston