Source: Aveda Instagram

It wasn’t the year salon owners planned. Within the first few months of 2020, growth projections, marketing plans, strategies for expansion, and much more were thrown out the window as salons moved into survival mode.

Instead of hiring, owners helped team members file for unemployment. Instead of purchasing new spa equipment, they bought PPE. And instead of running promotions for Mother’s Day, owners took to social media to detail their salons’ efforts to create a safe space for services.

But through a year of turmoil and survival, there were some bright spots. The Aveda network pulled together like a true family, the Salon and Spa Relief Fund adapted to provide assistance to owners in danger of losing their businesses, and salon owners and their teams found creative solutions to problems they never imagined.

Guided by Aveda

Aveda’s mission is to “Care for the world we live in, from the products we make to the ways in which we give back to society.”

Through webinars, emails, phone calls and Zooms, Aveda and its distribution partners, Neill and The Salon People, were with owners every step of the way through the pandemic.

In the beginning, that meant providing guidance on how to file for unemployment, the best way to communicate with guests and how to set up A-commerce or curbside retail. Aveda packaged social media and email marketing assets and tools to help owners promote their A-Commerce and let clients know their favorite products are still available, creating a revenue stream, even when the salon could not provide services.

Source: Aveda Instagram

During the months of shut down, Aveda also provided free online education and social media groups where stylists and owners could connect.

“I felt more connected than ever, even though we were isolated,” says Cass Peña, an Aveda Purefessional™, Neill color educator and master stylist at K Charles Salons in San Antonio, Texas. “Seeing a friend pop up on a Facebook Live class made me feel connected, and I saw a lot more comments on posts instead of just likes. People were checking in—not just tapping and moving on.”

Peña added, “Neill and Aveda did a great job facilitating all of these social media classes and events for us where we could chat, see our work being shared and watch artists from all over the world in their corner of quarantine—which made us feel less alone.”

And when it was time to reopen, Aveda was there with a blueprint for owners. From remote guest check-in to purchasing PPE and disposable capes to sanitizing stations, the re-opening guide covered it all, allowing owners to re-open with confidence.

Salon and Spa Relief Fund Finds New Purpose

In 2005, Neill’s Debra Neill Baker and Edwin Neill founded the Salon and Spa Relief Fund (SSRF), a non-profit organization, to help salons affected by Hurricane Katrina. Since then, the SSRF has helped owners and their employees rebuild their lives and businesses after a natural disaster or fire.

In 2020, Debra and Edwin knew SSRF could be a solution for owners struggling to make ends meet after shutting down for months.

“Fundraising was more difficult though because salons were affected everywhere,” Edwin Neill says. “We only had about $25,000 left in the SSRF, and then Aveda donated an additional $600,000, which we were so grateful for.”

That donation, along with some smaller donations allowed SSRF to provide around 250 grants, totaling $695,000 in COVID relief. And when some salons found they didn’t need the grant due to obtaining a PPP, the owners donated part or all of their grants back to other salons in need.

The SSRF, in partnership with Aveda, also continues to support salons hit by recent natural disasters like the hurricanes in Lake Charles, Louisiana and wildfires in California. For hurricanes Laura, Sally and Delta, SSRF provided $7,500 in relief to salons. To support the SSRF, you can donate here.

Owners Give Back

Every salon in America was impacted by the COVID-19 shut down, some more than others. True to Aveda’s mission to care and give back, many owners, while facing their own struggles, reached out to help others.

The Ritz, Inc. owner Melinda Tilley had more than her share of problems in 2020. Three months into reopening after the shut down, Hurricane Laura hit her Southwest Louisiana community, leaving the entire town without power for weeks.

“We were lucky that both the salon and the academy received minimal damage,” she says. “Two weeks after the storm, we opened for two days to offer free haircuts to first responders. We invited stylists from all over town to join us, and worked out of our academy on generator power.”

When the salon had power restored, Tilley let other salons that had lost their locations use the Ritz’s Academy to start seeing their own clients.

“At least 10 salons we know of were completely lost to damage from Hurricane Laura,” she says. “We felt called to open our doors to those stylists.”

The Studio in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, also offered free services to medical professionals.

“The first day we came back into the salon after shut down, we did services on each other and went over our new normal,” says owner Lisa Cochran. “The next day, we brought in medical experts from our clientele (infectious disease specialists, nurse practitioners, ICU doctors, nurses) and did a dry run with them. In exchange for free services, they gave us feedback and told us where we could improve in our COVID-19 protocols.”

This feedback gave Cochran and her team the confidence to let clients know they were reopening safely.

By the time Paris Parker salons shut down in March, they already had a plan in place. “Our first Covid response team meeting was February 24,” says Garrison Neill, director of business development and marketing for Neill. “Because we lived through Katrina and continue to cope with hurricanes every year, we have an emergency response team. In February, that team became our COVID response team.”

When the Paris Parker salons shut down on March 17, they had already ordered 100,000 masks and gloves in preparation of the safety measures they would need to take. What they didn’t anticipate was closing for months.

“We had more PPE than we needed, so we donated $10k worth to a local hospital,” Garrison says.

Rather than dampen the spirit of giving the beauty industry has always prided itself on, the events of 2020 have enhanced it.

These owners represent just a small sampling of the kindness and generosity that has flowed through the beauty industry during an unprecedented year.