How The Hair Community is Having Each Other’s Backs

The current pandemic has left no businesses unscathed. As everyone is expected to stay home and keep a safe distance to flatten the curve, many businesses have taken a hit, especially salons and barbershops. 

Every year, weeks before a festive season (like Hari Raya) and long weekend holidays, salons will see their appointments fully booked. Hairstylists can agree that during these busy periods they get no rest and are up on their feet the entire day. Unfortunately, Hari Raya and the long weekend holidays of 2020 are officially CANCELLED! Salons are expecting a tremendous decrease in sales and foot traffic. 

Come 2nd June, Phase 1 of the post-circuit breaker will be put in place. This means that salons are finally able to provide the full hair services to their customers, BUT with conditions. Salons and barbers are still expected to:

1. Ensure that both stylists/barbers and customers wear a mask at all times!

2. Adhere to the safe distancing measures in salons (i.e. demarcate queue lines on the floor clearly, ensure one-metre spacing between customers);

3. Encourage the use of contactless payments to reduce contact between stylists and customers;

4. Limit the number of people in a salon to minimise overcrowding and the risk of infection;

5. Salons should implement contact tracing through the use of the SafeEntry system

6. Implement health checks and protocols (such as taking the temperature of every customer that walks in)

7. Disinfect the seats and tools (including washroom) after every use and place hand sanitizers near the door so customers can sanitise after touching the door handles.

In the meantime, many businesses have decided to close their doors due to the lack of businesses during this pandemic. To ensure this doesn’t happen to salon business, product companies have stepped up with their salon recovery initiatives to help their partner salons stay afloat while we ride this pandemic out.  

Shiseido Professional in Singapore has issued masks to salons and assisted the salons in raising the salon’s digital brand presence by providing them with social media assets and subsidising costs of social media boosting and delivery options. 

On the education front, Shiseido Professional Singapore has introduced the Shiseido Professional Education Live Learning (SPELL), a weekly live learning webinar for hairdressers with its SP Educators. The series of webinars will equip hairdressers with relevant technical knowledge and know-how to keep them abreast of the latest developments in times like this. Additionally, this platform will help to keep hairdressers engaged and encourage them to feel connected to their craft and minimise any feelings of isolation during this period.

Kao Salon Industry Recovery Initiative is a global and local approach solely focused on rebuilding the industry as they emerge from the COVID-19 crisis.  Comprised of three carefully constructed support campaigns designed to address the unique challenges facing the industry and its professionals, it is designed to (individually & collectively) provide industry professionals with tangible, localised resources to ensure their businesses are restored and thriving in the months ahead. 

1.  #STRONGERTOGETHER (Stronger Together) is founded on the belief that no one person or organisation holds the key to success but by truly coming together, the industry will rise & flourish. #StrongerTogether represents Kao Salon’s FINANCIAL SUPPORT and UNWAVERING PARTNERSHIP by pledging to:

• Suspend invoices until the local government salon closure orders are lifted

• Sponsor free-to-industry opportunities to receive business recovery insights & information

• Provide tangible support for local salon organisation to support activities that benefit both stylists and their salons.

• Donate products to charitable organisations for key medical personnel and those in need

• Work with local trade media to present information on supporting government programs and their details and timelines 

• Work with salon customers to arrive at a support plan for success upon reopening

• Create sponsored consumer digital campaigns to inspire a “#WorthTheWait” consumer movement that presents a call-to-action for clients to patiently wait for their stylists instead of taking at-home measures

2.  #CREATIVITYNEVERSTOPS (Creativity Never Stops) allow stylists to immediately nurture and hone their skills via:

• Access to digital and online education programs that offer relief and inspiration to stylists confined to their homes

• The transformation of the annual Goldwell Creative Awards into an entirely virtual experience adjusting entry dates to expand participation

3 #KAOSALONFAMILY (Kao Salon Family) serves as a constant reminder to customers that their individual recovery remains at the very centre of Kao Salon’s focus. It has begun to:

• Deliver hyper-relevant messages of hope and positivity through the Kao Salon network

• Provide communication routes for stylists and salons to communicate their concerns and questions

• Offer community and connection by directly inviting stylists & salons to connect with the organisation through ongoing, virtual points of contact. 

Wella Professionals (Singapore & Malaysia) has postponed its launches and roadshows until it is safe to do so. And to help combat COVID-19, Wella Singapore and Malaysia have been providing hand sanitizers to their salon partners to encourage personal hygiene. 

Aside from safety measures by Wella, education is an important component of the brand. In spite of the virus, Wella wants its stylists and partner salons to continue learning and be inspired, hence Wella Singapore & Malaysia is currently in the midst of providing education classes through its social media platforms on Facebook and Instagram. 

In the meantime, you can check out the classes here:

@wellaeducation

@wellahair

KEVIN.MURPHY 

- WOORAILOORA

In light of the current health crisis, Woorailoora Pte Ltd, the Master Distributor of KEVIN.MURPHY in Asia has cancelled all education and SESSION.SALON events until further notice. 

Additionally, Woorailoora has partnered with Lazada Singapore to ensure that salon customers will only purchase authentic products at a reasonable price whilst ensuring a mutually rewarding arrangement with its full stockist salon. The products will be sold through LAZMALL as an authorised branded KEVIN.MURPHY mall that is only sold and delivered in Singapore. However, KEVIN.MURPHY mall will only sell the Top 25 selected retail products (no professional and travel sizes). Any purchase from LazMall will link the store to Woorailoora’s Salon Locator to redirect salon customers back to the salons so that its full stockist salons will get a profit share of the online sale. This will hopefully help salons with some financial support during this period. 

- KEVIN.MURPHY

At the head office, KEVIN.MURPHY has mobilised (virtually) its global education team of MASTERS and DESIGN.DIRECTORS with the launch of KM.TV, a KEVIN.MURPHY Education Television. 

KM.TV is a digital education platform that has been running since mid-March 2020 for the hairdressing community. This is a platform that will allow stylists from around the world to interact with the brand founder, Kevin Murphy and his global team on a range of topics from cutting to colouring and styling. The DESIGN.DIRECTORS have taken inspiration from the 2020 “BANG BANG” Collection as content for social media and KM.TV.

Aside from KM.TV, KEVIN.MURPHY’s DESIGN.DIRECTORS, MASTERS team and KEVIN MURPHY will be introducing webinars to its portfolio. You may watch the classes on the LoveKevinMurphy Facebook page.

Brand founder Kevin Murphy will also be filming videocasts on a few upcoming product launches (some of which will also be used in KM.TV for webinars and the social media platforms) as well as some most-loved products. He will also be sharing more content of must-have skills, techniques and tips & tricks that he had learned from his years of being on set. 

KEVIN.MURPHY hopes that the initiatives and programmes offered by the brand will bring the hairdressing community together through the uncertainty by gaining creative inspiration at home that can be applied to the salon. 

To ensure that salons are taking the precautionary steps to protect themselves and their customers, here is a KEVIN.MURPHY Salon Guide on Returning to the Salon available for download.

TONI&GUY partners salons from around the world have been communicating with each other on their experiences during their respective lockdowns, government restrictions and safety precautions. 

To ensure the team are up-to-date with their skills and latest trends the TONI&GUY International Education department has produced numerous videos on their social media platforms. At @toniandguyworld Instagram and #toniandguyathome page, TONI&GUY shares ‘how-to’ videos on IGTV for their customers to manage their hair during the salon closure. 

Closer to home, the TONI&GUY Singapore team has been holding virtual staff meetings to discuss key looks, health and salon reopening measures, among other things. The team has also been holding internal training via Zoom and external training with an accredited service provider on salon off days to further enhance their service levels so that the team will be ready to provide exceptional service when business resumes. 

During these unprecedented times, we are all struggling to understand and cope with the new way of life, thus having some form of assistance in the community to guide us through this, no matter how big or small, brings relief. Let’s have faith and stay strong as a community because this too shall pass and there will be light at the end of the tunnel.