At-home salon service witness hike amid the third wave

It was only a few months back that salons had started regaining business. But a few months down the line, the third wave happened, and salons went back to where they started. With the increasing number of Coronavirus cases and the new guidelines for salons, that is to function with 50 per cent capacity, at-home salon service is gaining more popularity in the city right now.
The number of bookings has increased
Mohammed Sadiq, the owner of Home Salon, a salon service portal that provides all kinds of salon services at home across India, says that in Pune, at-home bookings have increased by 10 per cent."Before January, we used to get almost 10 to 15 bookings daily, but since the beginning of the month, it has increased to 25 to 30 bookings per day," says Sadiq.
Close contact services see a dip in salons
Salons witness a decrease in services like facials and spas. Since these services require close contact, patrons are giving it a pass for now. "Skin related treatments like facials, cleanups and body spas are down by 80 per cent. Things started getting better when vaccinations had started. We had clients coming to the salon for facials and spas. But right after the recent guidelines, we are experiencing a decrease in demand for these services," says Samir Srivastav, CEO, Jean Claude Biguine Salons, India.
At-home skin services have higher demand
Sangeeta John, a beautician who provides at-home salons services at home in the Pimpri-Chinchwad area, says her regular customers are still going ahead and getting facials and spas done. "I have clients that have been taking my services for years, they are still calling me up for services. They have helped me get more clients in such times. My bookings have increased because of word of mouth from my regular clients. I wear all safety gear while giving services and I make sure the client I visit is fully vaccinated," says Sangeeta.
More demand for no-contact services
Salons service providers are coming up with various ways in order to provide no-contact services since that is in demand right now. "People are more vary about high touch services, so more focus on haircare, manicure, pedicure and nail services right now. Also, no contact threading is also quite popular right now," says Vivek Bali, CEO, Enrich salons.
Special tools for at home skin services
Facials are all about massages and pressure points, if that's not done right the facials do not have any results. But right now people don't want to risk anything. But at-home salon services have come up with a solution to this. "We use all kinds of facial tools to give our clients a good facial. From face rollers to massages, gua sha, etc., we sterilise all our tools every time before using them on our clients. We have to look out for both our clients and beauticians, so we make sure the clients are fully vaccinated and no one is keeping unwell in their homes," says Sadiq.