Giuliano Dore, the owner of Get Groomed talks about how he was begged to break the law during lockdown.

The creator of a mobile barber website has revealed people were begging him to break the law during the lockdown and were asking for him to send a barber to their homes to give them a haircut.

Giuliano Dore, founder of Get Groomed, said: “We learned that a lot of people were trying to have haircuts regardless of a law stating that they couldn’t, which came as a surprise.

“We received so many messages each day from people wanting one of our barbers to come to their homes with us telling them: “It’s not going to work. It’s not possible. We can’t do that”.

“Although, we couldn’t satisfy their requests, as a young business it was great to know our website was making its mark and that promised good times ahead once the restrictions were over.”

Giuliano said the website, launched in London in 2017, was now back in full swing and expanding nationwide with new services in the West Midlands and Greater Manchester, and existing services in London, Kent and Guildford.

“At the end of the third lockdown in April 2021, we able to fully reopen, albeit with very strict restrictions, and we were astonished at the response,” he added.

“Within 24-hours we saw a real spike in bookings, including a demand for haircuts, beard restyling and luxury shaves, which was so heartening after all the quarantine restrictions.

“Many of our clients told us they were opting for our at-home service to avoid being exposed to the virus in crowded barbershops and happily have stayed with us ever since.

“We also have a number of businesses looking for ways to attract workers back into the office who have started holding events where we set up mobile barbershops in the workplace.”

The Get Groomed website was founded by Giuliano and product manager Sabrina Vjaykumar.

For further information visit: www.gogetgroomed.co.uk

The hair & beauty sector is once again at the frontline of the impact of the current economic instability, with a drop in the proportion of businesses saying that they are confident of their survival at 49%, down from 64% in July, as reported in the results from the latest National Hair & Beauty Federation (NHBF) State of the Industry survey. 

These businesses have battled through the last two years and seen two periods of initial recovery in September 2021 and July 2022, but this latest set of results shows the fragility of the recovery.

Escalating energy costs, business supplier and staff costs have brought growth to a screeching halt. Sector businesses find themselves once again dealing with a set of survival challenges. Declining consumer confidence has meant that a sense of uncertainty has replaced the signs of recovery that we saw in July.

While the proportion of businesses making a loss has not increased, fewer businesses are making a profit with 35%, down from 44% in July, and there has been a corresponding increase in those who are breaking even at 46%, up from 36% in July.

The general trend towards increasing prices continues. 51% of businesses raised their prices over the last three months (although this was down from 62% in July). A further 65% (up from 51% in July) will do so over the next three months.

Reliance on external support has increased again, with 74% of businesses either partially or completely reliant on Government support, which is up from 50% in July, although not quite as high as January’s 81%. Unsurprisingly in the current climate, 77% are paying more for energy than they were six months ago. For half of businesses, energy costs have increased by 40% or more.

Debt levels are rising again, with 54% of businesses in debt, back to levels last seen in January. 42% of businesses in debt report that the amount of debt they are carrying has increased. 58% believe it will take them more than two years to clear.

Richard Lambert, chief executive of the NHBF says, “Many hair & beauty businesses are teetering on the edge of survival. A range of indicators including business activity, rising prices, rising debt, reliance on government support, uncertainty around survival and a dip in growth aspirations all signal shift towards a more negative outlook over the summer.

Businesses have benefitted from an array of support from the UK and devolved governments over the last two years, most recently in the form of the Energy Price Guarantee. However, further support will be needed through the winter and beyond and we are talking to the Government about how best to address this.”

The economic impact is having an obvious knock-on effect on staffing, recruitment, and apprentices. Recruitment intentions have dipped slightly and are less optimistic for the future. In the next three months, only 12% of the survey respondents are definitely, or likely to take on new staff (down from 27% in July). Over the last three months, 25% have cut back on apprentices (up from 17% in July). In a slight dip, only 9% were definitely or likely to take on apprentices in the next three months.

nhbfsocial

NHBF

Supporting the local community is a continuous goal for Denman International. Earlier this month Denman partnered with Annandale Men’s Hockey Club in South Belfast to help launch expansion of their landmark Schools Outreach Programme. Denman Chairman, Dr John Rainey MBE has long had ties to the club from his hockey playing days and was delighted to donate £2000 to fund opportunities for children that might not otherwise be able to afford to play the sport. The donation is part of Denman’s consistent and purposeful CSR (corporate social responsibility) strategywhich seeks ways to do good for the community, the environment and the industry. 

Speaking at the launch, Club Chairman John Stephens said ‘This program is all about bringing the sport of hockey to schools who would not otherwise have the opportunity to play it. The programme has proven very popular in introducing hockey to children in a fun setting. We are indebted to Denman and Belfast City council without whose support this expansion would not be possible.’

Dr John F. Rainey MBE, Chairman of Denman and the Denroy Group added ‘Sport is a great way for children to exercise and the kids really enjoy it. The work that Annadale is doing with these schools is absolutely fabulous and long may we continue to support this.”

Image: Teachers and pupils from Knockbreda Primary School, Dr John Rainey MBE Denman Chairman and Annandale Hockey Club Chairman John Stephens. 

The latest issue of BarberEVO UK and Ireland is OUT NOW. This issue is packed full of advice, features and trends to keep you up to date with what’s current at the busiest time of year.  

Gracing the coveted front cover (even if we do say so ourselves) is the WAHL British Barber of the Year 2022, Charlie Baker. We got an exclusive interview with the winner at Salon International in London, who told us what it takes to be the best in the bizz.

We also have the first reactions of the winning team of WAHL British Barbershop of the Year 2022, Ruffians Shoreditch. Unmissable reads all round!

Also in this issue:

Furniture and interiors

We visited some of the coolest shops in the UK to find out why making your space a comfortable and welcoming place to be is the way to extend that client list and keep your people coming back to your chair treatment-after-treatment.

Hestory tells us about their Moda chairs – why they went with the brand and what makes them a cut above the rest. Comfort and style in equal measure, is what we’re told. 

Lighting matters too – at least that’s what Cubed Cuts and Coffee told us. They set up a unique space that offers, you guessed it, coffee and haircuts. Bringing two of the owners’ favourite things together creates an atmosphere unmatched by other shops in the area.

Colour

Let’s talk colour! Creativity is at the heart of barbering – and that doesn’t just mean with the clippers. We chat to some of the most talented creative colour experts in the UK about how to apply colour that lasts.

Surrey-based Ahmed AlsanawI has taken the hair, tattoo, and coffee worlds by storm with his three A-STAR shops. He’s the Chelsea F.C. team’s favourite barber and our expert in all things creative colour. He tells us his journey toward barbering for the stars.

Murray McRae heads up STAG in Edinburgh and champions inclusive hairdressing for all genders and hair types. A lot of his clients want to try something crazy to build their identity – he told us how to build their confidence using colour.

Styling

Styling isn’t just for session and editorial hairdressers. We find out what trends are trickling down from the catwalk to the barber chair. What did we learn? Don’t limit yourself to the familiar; try different products and collaborate with other talented barbers to boost your creativity. 

Ciara Madden – American Crew’s All Star Winner for Ireland shared her advice on picking the right pomade for your client, Alan Beak shares his top styling tools, and much more. 

Retail

It’s the busiest time of the year, but we’ve got your back. Discover how to make the most of the festive winter season with our expert guides to boosting retail in a way that not only encourages clients to look after their cuts but to dare to try something new, too.

Woodstock Barbershop show us how they do it, while Todd’s Chop Shop tell us why making a place feel accessible to all people – young, old, families, genders – is your key to encouraging additional purchases and revisits. 

We hope you enjoy this issue! You can order your print copy here.

Bed Head launches ‘Stay Headstrong’ campaign that encourages individuals to let their creativity rule.

• Two fifths of Brits wish they could have been braver with their hair growing up and believe their hair is the most important part of personal appearance
• One in 10 look up to Miley Cyrus, Harry Styles and Vivienne Westwood as headstrong role models
• Over half of Brits think their hair is an extension of their personality
• The campaign has just launched a new web series fronted by FFSYTHO, Lily Phillips and Lucia Blayke to coincide with its first nationwide consumer retail launch at Boots
• This year, Bed Head is supporting STONEWALL to drive awareness and help create safe and equal opportunities for the LGBTQ+ community

Original rebel hair brand, Bed Head, has launched ‘Stay Headstrong’, a campaign celebrating fearless self-expression and encouraging experimentation. The ‘Stay Headstrong’ campaign is a response to new research that shows that one in five (19%) Brits admit they’ve been told they’re not good enough, with one third (30%) being made to feel inadequate at some point in their lives with regards to how they look. Of those surveyed, more than half (60%) rely on their hair to give them confidence, with two fifths (40%) claiming their hair-do is the most important part of their appearance.  As part of Bed Head’s campaign, the brand has launched ‘Chats from the Chair’, a web content series on its native platform, that features interviews from headstrong queer Grime artist FFSYTHO, cutthroat comedian Lily Phillips, and trans pride activist and creator Lucia Blayke. The interviews shed light on why the ‘stay headstrong’ attitude is so important to each of the stars and illustrates the integral role products play as tools for self-expression, enabling people to be true unapologetic versions of themselves. When it comes to role models, the consumer research revealed people admire creative challengers Miley Cyrus,Harry Styles and Vivienne Westwood for their bold fearless nature (42%), integrity (47%) and courage to stand up for what they believe in (44%). The results also showed that half (51%) of Brits think their hair is an extension of their personality, changing their style on average every two or three years (32%). Of those surveyed, adopting a headstrong attitude has helped people with:

• Improved confidence – 29%
• To take more risks in their personal lives – 21%
• To persevere after rejection – 20%

Katie Westerby, Senior Marketing Manager at Bed Head, said: “At Bed Head, our purpose has always been to champion creativity by equipping artists with elevated professional hair care products and encouraging all consumers to push the boundaries of what they can do. Being headstrong is not only something we embody as a brand, but a belief we want to instil in everyone who buys our products. We hope that this campaign will spark conversation and motivate new and existing Bed Head devotees, and we can’t wait to see it.”  This year, Bed Head is supporting and donating to STONEWALL a charity that stands for lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, questioning and ace (LGBTQ+) people everywhere. In the UK, more than a third of employees don’t believe it’s appropriate for their LGBTQ+ colleagues to be out in the workplace. In response to this, Bed Head and STONEWALL want to help create more equal opportunities in society so LGBTQ+ people feel safer in our modern society.  For more information about Bed Head’s ‘Stay Headstrong’ campaign, please visit bedhead.com

Prepare for the Keune Hairstylist Awards and discover the complete process of how to create Editorial-style looks from multi-award winning industry professional, Thomas Hills!

Thomas Hills’ achievements include 2x British Hairdressing Awards wins (Southern), over 300 magazine features and 25 front covers (incl. HJ, Pro Hair). 

During the Editorial Bootcamp session, you’ll join Thomas Hills along with our Education Team to explore a mix of theoretical and practical elements on how to create show-stopping looks that are perfectly executed and ready for Editorial exhibition. 

DATE: Tuesday 1st November 2022

LOCATION: PH Group Studio, 19 & 20 De Havilland Road, Skypark, Exeter, EX5 2FL

TIME: 10:00am until 4:00pm, with breaks for lunch and coffee.

BOOK NOW: https://learning.phgroup.ltd/learn/editorial-bootcamp-thomas-hills/

OR redeem your place at rewards.keune.uk.com*

*Limited spaces available. Spaces cost £50 excl. VAT each. Spaces redeemable on the Keune Rewards store for 12,000 points.

Back by popular demand, the Hair and Beauty Charity Pub Quiz is returning for a second round, taking place simultaneously in Brighton, Edinburgh, Leeds and London, on Wednesday 19th October.

Hosted by the Hair and Beauty Charity, the pub quiz puts a new spin on testing your hair and beauty mastery. For one night only, put down your baffling colour correction formulas and brush up on your knowledge of the most iconic moments in hair and beauty.

Categories will include: a hairy music video photo round; a delve into your hair and beauty general knowledge; name that iconic movie makeover; celebrity hair and beauty; and who said that – a brain-teasing round of famous quotes. The lucky winners on the night will receive a round of drinks for their team – and the glory of knowing they’re the ultimate hair and beauty champs.

The bid to become the ultimate hair and beauty knowledge champions isn’t just for hair and beauty professionals either; press, PRs and non-industry contacts, friends and family are all very welcome to come and battle it out. All you need to enter is a team of no more than six – larger groups are asked to split into smaller teams. 

Tickets are priced at £15 per person, with every penny going directly to the Hair and Beauty Charity, who are dedicated to helping the lives of those in our industries who have fallen on hard times. Between the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis and the shocking rise in reports of domestic abuse, the charity needs your help now more than ever.

Tickets are available to buy from hbpubquiz.eventbrite.co.uk

Follow @HBCharityUK on Instagram, Facebook & Twitter

Brighton:

The Walrus, 10 Ship St, Brighton BN1 1AD

Edinburgh:

The Voodoo Rooms, 19a W Register St, Edinburgh EH2 2AA

Leeds:

The Adelphi, 1-3 Hunslet Road, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS10 1JQ

London:

The Bowler, 28-32 Bowling Green Lane, London EC1R 0BJ

As inflation across the U.K. remains at record highs, with reports earlier this year revealing prices rising at the fastest pace in 40 years, Vagaro seeks to lessen the burden of maintaining business operations and financial woes on small business owners during this time. 

Vagaro, the leading comprehensive business management platform for the beauty, fitness, and wellness industries, is offering generous service options to small businesses in the U.K.

Realizing many owners are currently facing unavoidable cost increases in expenses such as wages, electricity, and supplies, the software company is providing relief for businesses by offering its most popular add-on features such as Xero integration, online store, and website builder, at no additional cost to the base price.  

These tools all have a proven history of increasing sales and revenue for users, which can greatly benefit businesses especially during these trying times.  

Additionally, Vagaro aims to help business owners find more breathing room by offering a low payment processing fee of just 1.29% + £0.20.  VP of Marketing, Charity Hudnall, says, “Cultivating strong relationships with our customers by truly putting them first is the strongest pillar in our company’s culture.  

Listening to their needs, especially during trying times, and responding not only with a solution, but a helping hand along the way, is ingrained in the way our entire team operates.  

When our customers succeed, we succeed, and our relationships are strengthened.”  

This is not the first time Vagaro has implemented relief for small businesses during uncertain economic circumstances. In 2020, the company previously offered its services to users completely free of charge due to the COVID-19 outbreak.  

Small business owners not currently on Vagaro who are looking to try a new software to help manage and automate their tasks can also currently sign up for an extended, 30-day free trial.   

About Vagaro 

Vagaro, Inc. is the leading business management and payment processing platform, and online marketplace for the beauty, fitness, and wellness industries. Service professionals in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia use Vagaro to manage, market and grow their business. Consumers choose Vagaro to search for and book wellness services on any device. To learn more, visit https://sales.vagaro.co.uk/ or https://vagaro.com.  

By Ollie Foster, OSMO Ambassador and owner of Number 47 Barbers in Chester

Assess your shop space costs

Are there areas within your shop that you can look to shave costs?  Lighting for example, you can change your bulbs to low energy where you don’t need the brightness as much (think staff rooms, toilets etc), can you also change your lights to movement sensor ones too in areas?  With your backwash, can you look to swap to a water pressure system like ECOHEADS that helps to increase the water pressure without using more water?  Also, have you looked at comparison on washing your towels in the shop versus an outside company?  You may be surprised! 

Take a good look at your colour stock

Size and space matters!  For those barber shops who’ve expanded their services into colour, have you taken time to really understand what’s needed or not in you colour stock room?  Buying lots of colours when you can just invest in a colour range that enables you to create permanent or semi shades from one tube, is a great cost saving option.  OSMO IKON is a demi colour range, so you just adjust the mix and timings to achieve your desired effect.  Plus, all the shades are intermixable, so you get an endless colour palette, too.  Also, think about how much you’re getting in your colour tube – often it’s only 50/60ml tubes, whereas brands like OSMO are 100ml tubes, so not only will you probably be paying less per tube, but you’re also getting a bigger size too.  So, make sure you’re looking at your colour stock and consider sensible changes to your core colours, as you can definitely be making savings on your colour services.  

Ensure your backwash is earning for you

We’re good at offering added services like shaves and maybe facial waxing, but are there treatments we can up-selling at the backwash area too?  Products like the new OSMO Scalp Therapy Purifying Scrub with Sea Salt is a great pre-cut experience to help remove product build up and get the scalp healthy too.  You can then finish this with the new OSMO Scalp Therapy Mask to elevate your hair cutting experience.  Work the backwash costs into your hair cut, so it’s not seen as an add-on but more of a luxury service.  Even if you don’t offer colour services, have you considered offering colour conditioning treatments at the backwash instead?  Products like the OSMO Colour Revive Conditioning Treatment is a low investment option to give your customers a refresh of their natural hair or help mask early greys – plus may stop them heading to those dreaded Just For Men box dyes!  The backwash is your shop window for retail too, so ensure you’re talking up the products you’re using, how they can be beneficial ie scalp cleansing, thickening, moisturising etc.  You’ve got a captive audience in that chair, and they want to hear what you have to say to ensure their cut lasts.

Be the expert you are when it comes to retailing advice

Selling retail products, doesn’t come naturally to many of us but we need to believe in our expertise and products we use!  Customers are investing their time and money to have a professional service, so ensuring they have the best products and advise to use at home, is a no-brainer.   Plus, once you get your customer onto that product, he becomes a fan of it for life usually!  Also, make sure you’re picking up on selling tales – is your customer concerned about his thinning hair?  Then recommend them subtle volumising products like the OSMO Power Powder, it’s easy to use and gets results instantly.  Retail should be second nature to us experts. 

Make sure you’re encouraging regular re-visits to your shop

As barbers, we get a mix of those bi-weekly customers versus those once every few months walking in.  It’s up to us to get our customers booking in more regularly.  Can you look at your current booking system – does it have a text/email reminder that can be sent out?  Target your social media posts to your  customers so they’re aware of your availability (and any cancellations).  Listen out to chats in the chair about upcoming Birthdays/Job interviews etc and encourage them to book in the day before with you.  If you can, the best way is to get them booking before they leave the shop – when you have them in the chair, this is the ideal time to be talking through the haircut, home styling tips and then cutting maintenance over the coming few months.  Get them into a routine of trims and reshapes. 

To order OSMO for your salon visit www.osmo.uk.com for your nearest wholesaler

Fresha continues to lead software innovation and introduce advanced features for hair, beauty, barbering and wellness businesses. 

With partners involved in shaping their software experience with Fresha, by requesting the tools and features they need to run their businesses even more efficiently, Fresha has listened and responded by introducing six new automated text notifications. From rescheduled and cancelled appointments to thank you messages, salons can now keep their clients informed like never before. 

Making sure clients receive up-to-date information about their appointment while avoiding no-shows and late cancellations is important to keep clients happy, and protect businesses from potential loss. In addition to Fresha’s existing appointment reminder text message, these six new text notifications are now available to Fresha partners.

Appointment confirmation 

Send clients an appointment confirmation once they’ve made a booking online or in-store. This important step lets clients know all the important details about the appointment they’ve just made, such as the date, time and address.

Appointment reminders

Enabling reminders for upcoming appointments ensures clients remember their appointment, which also helps to reduce no-shows and cancellations! Salons simply decide what time the reminder goes out, whether it’s one or two hours, or one or two days before. 

Rescheduled appointments

If an appointment needs to be rescheduled, partners can send an automated text message to confirm this. Salons will also be able to include any updated information regarding their appointment. 

Cancelled appointments

Appointment cancellations are less than ideal, but they do happen. Whether the salon or the client needs to cancel their appointment, a text message can now be sent to confirm the cancellation. If the client cancels, they will also receive information about any late cancellation fees that may apply. 

No-shows

What’s worse than a cancellation? A no-show. If a client misses an appointment, businesses can now automate a text message to let them know, along with information about the fees they’ve incurred for not arriving at their appointment.

Say thank you! 

As well as helping partners to manage issues, Fresha’s improved text message feature gives salons the option to send a ‘Thank you for visiting’ message once the client has completed their treatment and checked out. At this stage they’ll be prompted to rate and review the salon, and they’ll be given the option to leave a tip. If they do add a tip, businesses can also set up an automated text to thank them for that too.

For more information about this new feature announcement, read the latest blog here    

To join Fresha free, visit https://www.fresha.com/for-business