The influx of clients into beauty salons has decreased: some hairdressers sit idle, others in downtime.

Of the three hairdressers, only one has a job

Sandra, a hairdresser at a volleyball salon, says she currently has very little work in place compared to the situation in mid-February when beauty professionals resumed work.

As soon as we opened there was a huge wave of customers from mid-February to March, we worked like crazy for two weeks, and then we calmed down, everything went so bad that we were already scratching our noses.

Now we feel that the wave is rising again little by little. Maybe he started vaccinating people more, maybe he relaxed more ”, thinks the hairdresser.

According to her, currently only one of the three hairdressers who work at the beauty salon has a job, which makes it more profitable to go to the break. As noted, some of the professionals who returned to work in mid-February closed again, while others continue to work.

“Summer is coming, the holidays are coming, we hope that the clients will come back soon”, expects Sandra.

Many vacancies

The. On the beauty care platform Treatwell, through which residents can register for beauty services throughout Lithuania, by looking at the time of individual bookings of beauty salons, it can be noticed that the occupancy does not is high. If two months ago in the same week it was impossible to sign up for a haircut, now it can be done on the same day or on another.

Here’s an example from February 16 from the capital. The hairdressing service can be booked every half hour this week at the Sfinksas beauty salon.

Avda Gedimino. One of Figaro’s beauty salons for women’s haircuts runs every half hour this week from Wednesday to Thursday, from early morning to 7 p.m. Friday nights are busy, you can still reserve a spot until 3 pm

The “High Care” beauty salon located in Kaunas also has a lot of free time this week. Starting on Thursday, the hairdressers greet clients every half hour until 7 p.m.

Some employees still have downtime

Julija Šalč, Marketing Director of Figaro Beauty Salons in Vilnius Seven Delphi He says the first few weeks were like a “long-awaited date”: joyous emotions for both clients and teachers, but with great caution.

“It just came to our knowledge then. We can hardly compare the current flow with the pre-endemic one. The loss (30-40%) continues after the first quarantine,” he says.

According to the interlocutor, the decrease in the number of clients is due to several factors.

“First, the frequency of customer visits has changed. Clients choose haircuts and paints that allow them to visit the salon as little as possible. Second, clients sometimes have to cancel a visit; we all face COVID-19 in one way or another. You need to quarantine yourself, wait for test results, protect your environment from further spread. Third, there are definitely customers who have not returned to the showrooms. This is due to the deteriorated or unstable financial situation, since we do not provide essential services, some have discovered these services at home ”, comments J. Šalc.

According to the salon marketing manager, some beauty professionals are still in downtime: “Downtime is an unavoidable reality today. Hair salons are “tied” to space requirements, so some employees experience downtime. “

Prices of services do not change

According to the representative of Figaro, all beauty services are relevant at the moment, only their directions have changed: “The demand for natural colors, paints that allow not to go to the hairdresser for a long time, a simple hygienic manicure has increased. . People have lost their sense of security, the situation is not stable, so no one wants to be stuck with a terrifying and long-lasting manicure in another quarantine. “

Due to low customer traffic, the beauty salon network does not change the prices of services until now. The interviewee expects clients to return when they feel safe.

“Looking at the big picture, clients will come back when they feel safe not only with COVID-19, but also with finances. Looking here and now, next summer will undoubtedly increase client traffic. Everyone is looking forward to a vacation, sun. , the sea and a good mood, that’s why seasonal services like waxing and pedicures are becoming more and more popular, ”says J. Šalc.

Some artisans have a customer queue due to limitations.

Gytautas Čilinskas, director of the Italian professional hair care line Davines Lithuania, says that the situation in the field of beauty has changed enough.

“If in the past people planned a lot, now they do it for fear of closing (salons – Delphi) to cope. We noticed such a trend that customers began to handle themselves at home, because when it was not possible to visit the salons, they received kits with products and paints from their hairdressers, ”says the head of the product line with partners throughout Lithuania.

According to G. Čilinskas, the flow of clients has decreased compared to February, but he adds that it is highly dependent on the teacher. As he claims, some teachers actually have clients, others have fewer. As they say, a teacher who is active in the social space and who has been working responsibly for many years will always have clients.

“It is not about clients running and running, there is less traffic. If a teacher has always had clients, if he is also active in the social space, he will always have clients. There are many acquaintances of mine who are, strong and have their own name With them, customer queues are larger, and larger due to square footage requirements if shifts are large and won’t fit in your area.

For example, a classroom works in three shifts, there are nine teachers, according to its surface, only three teachers can work in one shift. If, for example, I work on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I cannot work, I only go out to work on Thursdays. You can imagine: if I have a lot of clients, when I used to work naturally from Monday to Friday, I can only accept the maximum in my current schedule only on Monday, Thursday and Sunday. Some salons work all week because the schedules do not allow them to fill differently ”, says the director of Davines Lithuania.

The situation is on the brink

G. Čilinskas points out that the situation of beauty specialists is marginal. He also notes that salons have “activated” the security mode: if they used to order cosmetics large enough, now they only ask for what is necessary. Security enabled in a shared environment.

“The situation is on the verge: neither to run nor to catch, everyone is afraid of their future, what will happen next, they cannot plan far, everyone is trying to earn money to have something. We as suppliers of cosmetics have noticed a tendency among all our partners to watch and ask for what is needed. If in the past the beauty salon asked for more cosmetics, the shelves were filled in the future when customers come and buy, now they are trying to keep the minimum balance, what customers have asked for and will actually buy ”, adds the interlocutor.

Some beauty professionals, as you notice, decide to change the field of work when the flow decreases: “I know a professional manicurist, she emigrated in quarantine to Turkey and changed her profile – from manicurist she became a yoga teacher because she became interested in him during quarantine. When he came back after the launches, not many customers came back. The man had to rent a job, so he decided to end his career and leave. “

More difficulties – for supermarket lounges

According to the interviewee, depending on the location, volleyball beauty salons may have more difficulties. According to him, supermarkets located in supermarkets should be the most difficult at the moment.

“I agree that network salons have a lot of downtime. They may not have such a strong flow of repeat customers because an instant customer comes to them – I went, saw, and ran where the venue is. What if they Supermarkets were closed, there were only grocery stores, if there is no separate entrance from the outside, it means that such a hall could not officially and legally function at all.

Supermarket lounges are very complicated. Some have not negotiated a lease, others have lost their premises. One salon turned down the facility because the tenant did not cut the rent in any way, and when they were allowed to work after the second wave, the landlord said he was raising the rent. Anyway, they did not work, they had to pay and now they have returned to work with high prices. The human factor does not work – you have been renting premises for many years, still raising the price, regardless of the current situation, which everyone understands, people go out and look for other premises – cheaper and smaller, ”says the head of Davines. Lithuania.

G. Čilinskas assures that the beauty master units have increased the prices of services, the vast majority have kept the same prices, because they are all trying to keep their clients.