NATIONAL

New avenues for Samir Srivastava

Industry veteran and influencer, Samir Srivastava has relinquished his role as the CEO of Jean-Claude Biguine Salon and Spa. After completing nine successful years at JCB, Srivastava has moved on to newer challenges. A visionary and person of sound business sense, he introduced many hair and beauty products and accessories to the Indian salon industry. During his term, JCB Paris witnessed an exponential growth in the Indian market. He played a crucial role in scaling the salon network from 8 to 19 doors, across tier I cities. He also introduced the on-demand home services at JCB.

With over 22 years of industry experience, Srivastava is a Founder Member of Beauty Wellness Association of India (BWAI). Speaking about his move, he said, “My baby is grown-up now! Time to nurture another one!” He will be announcing his next move soon.

Streax Professional revamps it’s technical centre at Mumbai

At Streax Professional, it’s believed that training and education is the backbone of the salon professional business and only that can help stylists to strengthen their skill sets and eventually boost their confidence and improve their creativity levels.

Based on this belief, the Streax Professional technical centre was established in Mumbai about a decade ago. However the facility could train only 8 -10 stylists at a time.

This technical centre has been revamped to accommodate the demand. It has been shifted to a new facility with a modernised look, state-of -the-art equipment and a much bigger capacity.

All the training programmes have been upgraded, too, and made as per international standards of hairdressing. This would benefit the stylists to upgrade their skills.

Celebrity Make-up Artist Ojas Rajani accoladed with Dr A PJAbdul Kalam Bharat Puruskar

Ojas Rajani, celebrity make-up artist and hairstylist, was honoured by the award for her contribution towards the make-up industry. Speaking at the occasion, Rajani said, “I am humbled to receive such an honour - the Bharat Puraskar. The respect given by our honourary judges to the Indian Beauty Industry is truly a confidence boost to push ourselves to do better and better.”

The Dr A PJAbdul Kalam Bharat Puruskar was organised by Sonia Mayers at Juhu Millennium Club in Mumbai on 28 February 2023. The chief guest was Dr APJMJ Sheikh Salim, who is the grandson of Dr Kalam’s brother.

O’2 Nails India raises US$150k

Nail care start-up O’2 Nails India raised a funding of US$150K in the seed round from Real Time Angle fund and AIC-BIMTECH on 28th February, 2023. This strategic funding will help the brand to expand its reach into the growing nail care domain across the country.

Currently, O’2 Nails has 30 stores across 15 India cities. This covers 7 states and they plan to open more than a 100 stores in FY 2023-24. The brand also aims to grow its retail footprint and customer base by 500 per cent and 10X, respectively, year-on-year.

Amit Singhal, General Partner, Real-Time Angel Fund, mentioned that the market for nail art and nail care products is seeing enormous growth. Due to a heightened focus on fashion, beauty and hygiene. Speaking on this occasion, Aparna Singh, CEO, O’2 Nails India, said, “This strategic investment in O’2 Nails India is a testament to the company’s commitment to providing quality nail care services and expanding its reach.”

O’2 Nails India has achieved the honour of being named ‘Most Trusted Nail Salon Chain’ for two consecutive years in 2021 and 2022. This organisation is also dedicated to helping women gain financial independence through their franchise model in the retail industry.

DINGG: Bridging the gap between beauty and technology

DINGG, the popular SaaS company in the Indian market, has recently launched its product in the United States, providing a revolutionary solution for salons, spas and beauty clinics. The cloud-based platform offers a comprehensive suite of tools that streamline appointment scheduling, inventory management, customer engagement and financial tracking, enabling business owners to focus on delivering high-quality services while boosting profitability.

Launched in 2020, DINGG has quickly become a leader in the Indian beauty industry, serving thousands of businesses across the country. Now, with its entry into the US market, DINGG is poised to disrupt the salon and spa industry with its innovative approach to business management.

Few of the key features of DINGG is its online booking system, inventory management tools, platform provides analytics and reporting features that allow users to monitor their financial performance, track sales trends, and identify areas for improvement. It also has customer engagement tools and offers loyalty programmes, referral bonuses and social media integrations that incentivize customers.

DINGG is a SaaS platform that offers a comprehensive suite of tools for salon, spa, and beauty clinics.

Freecia Professional completes 17 years in India

Backed by research and science, Freecia Professional continues to be among the popular choices for salon professional haircare products for professionals globally. Headquartered at Ontario, Canada with multinational presence in 40 countries across the globe with one million loyal users and team of 2500 plus personnels, Freecia Professional debuted in India in 2006.

The brand’s aim to promote stands on the three pillars of education, personalisation and human touch. Over the past 17 years, the company has built a community of over 3,000 salon owners in India who have been professionally trained in best-in-class hair care education, progressing from basic to expert level through a comprehensive programme designed and developed by the Freecia Global Education. With extensive R&D, the brand has built a large portfolio of over 86 distinct in-salon hair styling and treatments and 18 result-oriented hair specific retail products for homecare.

PROADS Professional ambitious vegan pledge

Australian salon haircare brand PROADS Professional is aiming to up its vegan product count to a considerable number. Complying to brand ethos – Petite: Powerful: Pretty – the company has pledged to have at least 80 percent of its products become vegan by the end of fiscal 2023. This pledge forms part of the company’s wider mission of responsible beauty practices – Go Greener Go Prettier. Currently, some 50 per cent of the products under PROADS Professional private label are vegan, sulphate-free and paraben-free including its keratin shampoo and conditioner and premium spa collection namely Brazilian Keratin Silk Infusion Hair Spa and Enrich Moisturizing Creamy Hair Spa. The company’s banner is transforming into a cleaner, eco-friendly brand in

Sneh Koticha-Contractor takes charge at JCB India

Sneh Koticha-Contractor is now at the helm of Jean-Claude Biguine Salon and Spa, India. For over eight years, Koticha-Contractor has been working behind-the-scenes and has played an instrumental role in setting up, scaling and promoting the company in India.

She has added significant verticals like home services and Trica Hair Clinic across salons, bridging the gap between care and cure. Her appetite for challenges and change pushed the brand towards an expansion of the salon chain to more than 22 outposts across India.

She said, “I believe this industry is definitely an exciting space to be in—and we’re just getting started. As a brand, we want our focus this year to be more on wellness—be it scalp, hair, nails, body or face, we’re looking at it from a ‘cure’ approach. My vision for Jean Claude Biguine India right now is to retain the salon’s legacy of being the best in expertise, quality, hygiene and service in the country, and expand footprint in various geographies.”

‘Biotransformed’ packaging

Polymateria, a sustainable plastic innovator, has made a new breakthrough in collaboration with Indian plastic manufacturer Toppan Specialty Films (TSP) that has seen plastics commonly used in the packaging industry biotransform in less than four months and return to nature in just 176 days, leaving no microplastics or toxins behind. It is the most rapid complete biodegradation of biaxially oriented (flexible) polypropylene. The result was achieved using Polymateria’s innovative biotransformation technology. PBHJ