Social media trends in salon

How do you determine which trends, largely driven by social media, will have longevity and are worth training your staff in?

This was the fourth of six questions discussed by a panel of experts at Professional Beauty’s ninth industry roundtable, focused on Advancing Education.

Our esteemed guests – Bianca Polinelli from Just Lashes, Otto Mitter from Ex-Import Niche Products, Emma Hobson from Dermalogica, Pene Timberlake from Candela Medical, Karla McDiarmid from Macquarie Medi Spa, Anh Hoang from Le Beauty, Jess Goldenberg from The Therapist Co and Kylie Scarfe from Vamp Cosmetic Clinic – agreed that both the supplier and the clinic owner needed to be proactive in seeking out the relevant information behind the trends.

They stressed the importance of detailed research, as well as the willingness to also be open-minded enough in this consumer-led world at act on beauty ‘fads’.

Otto Mitter from Ex-Import Niche Products said social media was a huge part of all businesses these days, especially for them as they were in the lash and brow industry.

“It’s all about getting the great selfie, about showing off your lashes and your brows,” he said.

“If you’re a salon owner, and you want to bring in a new treatment because you’ve seen this trend on social media, you have to ask yourself does it have legs?”

Bianca Polinelli from Just Lashes said a lot of clients were coming requesting lash lifts.

“It probably took a couple of months of requests before we brought Elleebana on board and trained all of our staff with them, and it was fantastic,” she said.

“ It’s a low cost service for us as salon, but it is a high profit service, so it’s been great for us.”

Pene Timberlake from Candela Medical said good skin never went out of fashion.

“ You see a lot of trends coming through for big lips, or big cheeks, but glowing, beautiful, fresh-looking skin is always in,” she said.

Emma Hobson from Dermalogica said you had to consider if it was really something your customers wanted, and you had to consider if it fit with the business brand image of who you were.

“If it doesn’t fit into your belief system and your concepts, and what you’re trying to provide for your customer, then it just sends a confusing message to your customers,” she said.

Anh Hoang from Le Beauty you had to believe in what you were learning and Karla McDiarmid from Macquarie Medi Spa said they had some clients approach them about teeth whitening.

“But it doesn’t fit with our brand – I’d rather leave that to the dentists,” she said.

“We want to be more skin.”

Watch the video below to see the full discussion at our roundtable.

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