Look like a million bucks

Pan-India brand Looks Salon has opened its second branch in the city at Phoenix Mall, Viman Nagar. Actress Richa Chadha inaugurated the spacious outlet on Thursday evening. Launched in 1989, the brand is affiliated with Kérastase, L’Oreal Professionnel and has a reputation for offering customers pampering and indulgent hair care experiences. The salon strives to work on the latest trends, techniques, training of Kérastase products and styles with a constant focus on training and development to bring out the best in their talent to provide services that are guaranteed to be excellent. “What we do differently from other salon brands is that we are constantly educating our staff. Every quarter, we educate them on the current techniques and styles to sharpen their skills and equip them with knowledge on the latest trends. We train them to educate the customer on what will suit them the best and how to convince them on what styles they should go for according to the texture of their hair, their face cut, their personality and so on,” says Rashi Paliwal, head of marketing and strategy, Looks Salon. 

She adds, “Anybody can cut hair. But it takes a special skill set to connect with customers, understand their needs and then explain to them what styles they should consider and build a relationship. We have our own academy in Delhi where we train young stylists and absorb them as interns in our own salons across India.” They also use the L’Oreal academies based in different cities to train their staff with the Arth certification as well as their in-house certification.

The staff is divided into creative heads and senior stylists. “Creative head is someone who is running the salon. They work on the creative side of things, showing people how the logic of the salon works. We host many workshops, like how to work with different types of hair, which are attended by the creative heads who then come and spread the knowledge among the rest of the staff at their locations,” says Girish Lulla, Pune partner, Looks Salon, adding, “Senior stylists can become creative heads after taking certain qualifying tests. They are also graded on things like customer feedback and are under constant evaluation on their work.”

Infrastructure and services
The interiors are inspired by abstract and defined lines which lend the space a modern, plush look. The high ceilings, large mirrors and gilt highlights with wooden accents bring elegance to the infrastructure. Lulla points out that privacy has been given a lot of emphasis while designing the layout of the salon. “We put in a lot of detail into the layout of our salons. The aesthetics and the format of the layout have to make the customer feel comfortable. This is why we focus greatly on the spacing of seating. If you’re on any seat in our salon, you cannot hear what the person sitting on the very next seat is saying to their stylist. This is because discussions with your stylist about your hair or your skin are supposed to be private and we understand that a customer would appreciate the privacy,” says Lulla. 

Talking about their exemplary services, Sonali Dutta, director, Looks Salon, shares that the company motto is to make sure that their customers leave with smiles on their faces. “We are always trying to better ourselves. We keep coming up with new ideas and strategies to make customer service better, to make our techniques better and to make our infrastructure better.  We know that the customer walks in with blind faith in the stylists to make them look and feel better, and we do our utmost to deliver and keep their trust,” says she. 

The brand has seen a shift in the mindset and spending trends of male customers. “Our bigger customers were always women, but of late there has been a noticeable growth in the number of male customers. Earlier they would go to any nearby salon to get a haircut. But now they are realising that styling is important, they are aware of and they want to try out different hairstyles based on their face cut. They are growing beards now and need it to be groomed,” says Lulla. 

Paliwal adds, “It’s more of a cleanliness and hygiene routine for men to get groomed now. They come in, get everything done at a go and spend some time here just relaxing and pampering themselves. Our signature services for them include a charcoal facial which works wonders on their skin leaving it clean and fresh as ever.” 

They also have a range of skin-type specific facials for women to choose from, and a range of unisex spa manicure and pedicure treatments. 

They also encourage customers to take a hair and scalp analysis free of charge. “Before you opt for any hair treatment, it is advisable to take the hair and scalp test to find out what the quality of your hair is like and how sensitive your scalp is. This will help the stylist figure out what treatment is best for you. Even if a customer walks in to buy a shampoo or any product, we suggest they take the hair and scalp analysis first, so they can purchase the right product for themselves,” says Lulla.

The brand has  140 branches across 39 cities in India and is planning to take that number to 175 by the end of 2020. 

Celeb-speak
“I have been using one of the Kerastese products for over four years now. Our hair goes through a lot of styling, and thankfully, unlike other actresses, I still have a full head of hair.  Have to thin it down when I have to fit a wig or something because I have so much volume. My hair is in good shape. When people say natural is best, it was true when our mum’s generation was around, who didn’t do so much hair colouring our highlighting, so many treatments, chemical or otherwise. Natural is best when your lifestyle suits that. My lifestyle requires styling my hair everyday and I don’t want to go bald from it. And today in urban centres and tier two cities as well, you see people with bright streaks and blonde hair. We’ve come along way in terms of hair products, care and experimentation. So it’s really important for everyone to invest in the right product. I did the scalp analysis and saw the little veins and all, as if my scalp is angry with me. I have as sensitive scalp, I knew that from before. But it was good to meet my scalp,” says actress Richa Chadha.