“I have incredible stories of cleaners who are successful stylist and salon owners today.”

"This magazine has been read by me since years, not only did I buy it whenever I had an opportunity while I was in England but I"

Nalini Naegamvala, Founder, Nalini of Nalini & Yasmin, list the key gaps that exist within the beauty industry, and what should the industry focus on in the New Year 2022.

IN YOUR MORE THAN FIVE DECADES OF JOURNEY IN THIS INDUSTRY, WHAT HAVE BEEN THE MAJOR TRANSFORMATIONS THAT YOU HAVE SEEN THE INDUSTRY GO THROUGH?

Initially, products were not available in India. So, we would get products whenever Yasmin and I travelled to England or elsewhere. Later they were brought to our doorstep by those who smuggled hair and beauty products and would land up at our doorsteps on hearing that our salon needed certain products from abroad. Gradually, brands such as L’Oréal and Wella came into India making life simpler for us.

YOU HAVE ALWAYS BEEN PASSIONATE ABOUT EDUCATION AND TRAINING. HOW IMPORTANT IS TRAINING IN A STYLIST’S LIFE?

Training is extremely important. Not every stylist could get trained abroad in our early days, and so, Yasmin and I used to learn advanced courses from prominent schools abroad and on our return trained our staff and As such, we always had well-trained updated staff. Today, brands such as Wella, L’Oréal, Schwarzkopf etc offer salon staff training as well, which is an added help to keep skills up-to-date. YouTube is pretty helpful too!

YOU HAVE EXTENDED THE PPORTUNITY OF TRAINING TO HE LESSER PRIVILEGED. HOW AN THIS BE A VALUE ADDITION OR THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY TSELF?

Training the underprivileged has been my passion since the beginning of my hair career. We live in a country where the lesser privileged girl/woman need mentors like us to create money and careers for upliftment of women! The helpers in our salon were taught by us to do blowdries and hair-sets as Yasmin and I got busy and needed help to style hair once our haircuts were done. Gradually they learnt technical work as well.

Not only had we created a career for the lesser privileged young women, but had given them the opportunity to rise above poverty and to our amazement saw them uplift the lives of their children hence creating an educated generation. as these women generally educated their children with the extra money coming in. I have the most incredible stories of cleaners who are successful stylist today and some are salon owners. This has been my biggest achievement.

AT PRESENT, WHAT ARE THE KEY GAPS/CHALLENGES THAT IN YOUR OPINION EXIST WITHIN THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY AND HOW CAN THE BEAUTY EXPERTS (THE EXPERIENCED ONES AS WELL AS EMERGING AND BUDDING ONES) MAKE EACH OF THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS TO IMPROVING THESE IN THEIR RESPECTIVE CAPACITIES?

Some senior salon owners and stylists had got together to address key issues to improve the industry.

The industry needs to look into the issues given below:

Ethics are on the way down, which is a shame. We as salon owners owe it to our client not only to do our haircut, colour, straightening, facial, etc, with knowledge and quality products, but we need to instil ethical ways in our staff as well. Money and the balance sheet of the company are the driving force in any business but doing our job with sincerity and putting the client first is the policy, which will give you a longstanding brand.

Coming to the issue which is harming the hair and beauty industry is poaching of staff!!!

"I have the most incredible stories of cleaners who are successful stylists and salon owners today. This has been my biggest achievement."

Poaching has always been an issue, and till we ourselves become role models for this generation, not much will change. However, most of us old timers and prominent salons in Mumbai have an untold policy of not poaching staff from other salons. As most of us have welltrained staff, new salon owners with deep pockets poach staff uncaringly, and being just investors in this business, they have resorted to offering huge salaries that most of us cannot match. Another menace that is extremely unethical and affects the success and sales of the salon is the salon staff offering the service at home to clients or clients asking them to come home to do the service! The staff and client exchange each other’s mobile numbers and the service is done at a lesser rate in the home of the client. Data of the salon is also used and clients are contacted thus harming the business immensely, more so now when salons are surviving with difficulty due to the pandemic. This menace needs salons to come together and find a solution maybe through contracts or decisions taken together to put an end to this malpractice. Utmost thought and attention should be given by the industry in these crucial issues first, alongside increasing education which should be ongoing to keep the standard of the salon.

IN YOUR VIEW, WHAT’S GOING TO BE EXCITING FOR THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY - SALON OWNERS, HAIRDRESSERS, SKIN EXPERTS, MAKEUP ARTISTS, BRANDS, ETC - IN THE YEAR 2022?

Handling the business with care so that we get back to our earlier times is the first priority and then the challenge of making businesses grow which is so necessary. We have to find solutions to making our salon and beauty industry worth doing for profit and for the soul, if I may say so.