“Initial training in a good hairdressing school is a must.”

Nalini Naegamvala, Managing Director, Nalini of Nalini and Yasmin Salon, shares her journey, factors that set standards for a salon, and the necessary ingredients to do a good business, with Shriyal Sethumadhavan.

It all started with her going to London soon after marriage when her husband, who was working with Air India got posted there. In the new city, with the lack of something to do, Nalini Naegamvala decided to spend her time learning hairdressing. Since then, with decades of accumulating experience, she continues inspiring the hair fraternity even today. In this exclusive interview she goes back to when it all started for her, she shares growth tips with industry professionals, and she talks about the skilling programmes that she initiates for the lesser privileged.

You have been among the first to start salons in India. Could you list the challenges and advantages of being amongst the first?

Ours was the first professional salon in India. I started off with big aspirations and a dream of having a great salon offering quality hairdressing and personalised client service. The challenges were plenty. The first set of clients were ex-colleagues, friends, and neighbours. It was just Yasmin and me doing washes, cutting, styling hair, and in-between, running to our homes as we both had small children and their needs had to be met as well. As our business started growing, we employed a skilledhairdresser, and at the same time, trained a friend’s daughter who then started working with us. With this, we were now better equipped to handle our growing clientele. Getting quality products such as hair colour, perm lotions, and straightening lotions was yet another challenge since brands such as Wella, L’Oréal and Schwarzkopf had not come to India back then.

As our husbands were with Air India, Yasmin and I travelled regularly and brought in whatever we could from abroad, and also made our husbands buy products when they were on a flight. At times, we did the same colour on many clients till the next lot of colours came in. Fortunately, colouring hair and highlights were not as popular then as they are now, and were in far less demand.

Who was your role model and mentor? The 70’s in London was the time for masters such as Vidal Sassoon and Anthony Mosocolo in hairdressing. Having heard of them and seen their incredible work, I dreamed of opening a salon in Mumbai, which offered professional hairdressing and great client service. That was the only criteria we concentrated on, and we were fortunate that it worked out. In retrospect, I realised that being true to one’s job, doing business ethically in a salon where hair is done well, and where the client is looked after, were the primary ingredients to a good business. This is what made us the brand we came to be.

How has the industry for hairdressers evolved over the years?

With Nalini and Yasmin initiating education for the stylists in the salon way back then, and eventually Wella, L’Oréal and Schwarzkopf foraying into India as well – professional hairdressing education came into being. The quality of hairdressing improved, especially in larger cities, and hairdressers realised that education was the way forward to do a better job and earn well!

Salons were run on a friendly, personalised basis; today, professionalism is on a different level and salons are now run with systems and accountability, which we learned along the way! I laugh when I recall the way in which Yasmin and I handled our money at the start of our business before we had managers. We would bundle up the money at the end of the day and put it into a bag. Accounting was a far cry, and subject to free time. Else, our focus was just on getting the clients.

In current times, what is the scope for hairdressers and salon owners now? What could be the challenge faced by new entrants?

With the threat of COVID, these are hard times. Considering social distancing norms, some customers are not comfortable coming to the salon, and fear being in a closed area. However, salons that are following safety guidelines gradually are winning over the clients’ confidence, owing to which, land work has increased. Salons must focus on maintaining a much more sincere approach towards the clients. Your staff needs to be conscious of the fact that the client is important and there is a need to ensure safety, good work and great service. These are the key factors to overcome during these difficult times, and hopefully, work will normalise soon.

“New entrants will have to work hard and give their best while keeping costs low.”

This business is expensive to run. Especially for the new entrants, they will have to work hard and give their best while keeping costs low. As such, salons need to stick to lesser investment in stocks, and avoid other unnecessary expenses. As the staff requirement is minimum, we have retained them all and reduced their days of work and have partially cut their salaries as sales were low when we reopened post the lockdown. However, you need to review this as sales do generally increase with time.

Your younger daughter Natasha Naegamvala has been involved in the business from the age of 17 and today is involved in various aspects of the business as the salon director. How does it feel?

And what would you say is her biggest strength? Natasha loves hairdressing, which is such an asset, and working on the client gives her immense satisfaction. She is a sincere person by nature and gives her best to her client. I am so happy that she is there to lead and direct the business as I cannot see myself wondering what the latest trend, colour or highlight of the day is, anymore! However, we discuss crucial issues, and she sees to it that running to a lawyer or the Municipality is still my job. Her added strength is kindness, which is such a valuable quality. A valet who worked for us about seven to eight years ago was unwell with dengue, and Natasha was informed by one of our other valets at a late night hour. Without hesitation, she got into the car with the ill person and hospitalised him. This is going the extra mile and life works well when you go that extra mile. I have seen the same quality in my ex-partner Yasmin and learnt early that these qualities are assets that help us not only have a better business but a satisfying life as well.

How does constant training translate onto the cutting floor?

If you choose this career, initial training in a good hairdressing school is a must. Working thereafter in a salon, which does focus on ongoing in-salon training makes you a better stylist thus furthering your career and leading to an increase in earnings. We make trainee stylists practice haircuts for a year on dummies and then on their friends before they work on clients. All this sets a standard for the salon. Tell us about your programme of skilling the lesser priviledged. What prompted you to initiate this programme, and how would you emphasise on the need for the industry to focus on such initiatives?

In our early years, when Yasmin and I were doing haircuts, technical work, and hair-sets as well, some shampoo girls asked us if they could help us in setting the hair. What a fine decision and a boon it was to teach them blow dries and hair-sets. Yasmin and I now had time to do more haircuts and technical services as these girls took over the blow dries. Hence, the salon benefitted monetarily too.

What was fulfilling to me was that we had helped somehow improve the life of the lesser privileged girls by teaching them a skill. They now earned well

and in turn educated their children, thus moving their families away from a life of poverty. This also became a new career for the lesser privileged girls. This training has been facilitated by FICCI FLO Mumbai, who have encouraged me to train these girls for many years now. They started life as salon assistants and gradually learnt hairdressing, and so many are successful hairdressers now, much to my joy. In fact, some are salon owners too!

In our country, where so many young women are school dropouts due to circumstances and need to work and earn, we as women need to take it on upon ourselves to guide them and encourage them to learn any skill that they are inclined to. It really is so simple in our hair and beauty industry as the helpers and shampoo girls can be taught simple jobs such as hair-sets, blow dries, waxing threading, manicure and pedicure, and massages. One is amazed by their capabilities and they become an asset to the salon and live a better-quality life with the extra money and confidence they earn.

A person I hold in great esteem is Muhammad Yunus, and due to his influence on my life, I took to empowering lesser privileged women. Yunus started the Microcredit Grameem Bank in Bangladesh which gave small loans to women. I had written a letter to him in 1998 and this was his reply which I value to date.

Also, with International Women’s Day around the corner, and this industry being dominated by talented women, what would your advice be to women who aspire to be professionals in this industry?

This industry has not only given me my daily bread but has helped me lead in to an interesting and a fulfilled life. This career has given so much to me that I would recommend it to any young person who wishes to take up hairdressing. It has been fun working with so many interesting clients and memorable people. If you have the right attitude, and are willing to work hard, you could do very well and earn well too.

However, fulfilment can be achieved in many ways – be it through career, or the life that one decides to lead, or better still through both.