Why becoming a lash and brow specialist is good for business

Gone are the days of getting a brow wax and you’re done, although if that’s what your clients wants, who are we to judge! However, to become a true lash and brow specialist you’ll need to up your knowledge and skills and deliver something extra for your clients.

Rebecca Dowdeswell, owner of nkd ( ) in Nottingham and Leicester, talks about why choosing to be a specialist salon has been so beneficial for nkd ( ):

“Customers are increasingly looking for true experts, whether it be in waxing, tanning, nails, facials, massage or any other area of the beauty industry, as opposed to someone who is a jack of all trades, master of none.

At nkd ( ), we specialise in waxing, lashes and brows and this has helped my salon become a success. There’s no shortage of customers and we’ve seen this reflected in the client numbers even in the traditionally quieter months.”

Why specialise in lashes and brows?

Choosing to specialise in lash and brow treatments instead of being a generalist beauty salon offering the traditional full range of treatments is a tactic that has served my business well and I would urge other salons and mobile therapists to consider it as a strategy for growth.

Far from restricting your potential, specialising can unleash it. Imagine if you or your staff, only carried out one treatment type all day every day. How experienced would you become at that type of treatment? How quick and efficient? How well-known locally would you be? And how much simpler would your marketing be?

You’d get so proficient at the treatment that you could train others how to do it to your high standard, which would add another string to your bow – teacher. But apart from those benefits, running a specialised salon is far simpler, easier and cheaper than running a salon which offers a wider range of treatment types, especially in terms of equipment, purchasing and stock management.

How to make it work for you

If you’re thinking about specialising in one particular area of beauty, here’s what you need to consider:

1. Competitor intelligence – which areas of beauty, if any, do your local competitors specialise in? Find the gap in your local marketplace and fill it. It may not be wise to try and compete with an existing specialist salon if they’ve already built up a good reputation and loyal customer base, unless you’re sure you can do a better job than they’re doing and are confident that demand for the service exceeds current supply – meaning there would be room for both of you to specialise.
2. Do the maths – does your preferred area of specialisation offer attractive profit margins? Don’t forget that when you offer a full range of treatments you’ll be able to absorb less profitable rituals within the more profitable ones. When specialising, try and pick a treatment area with low product and equipment costs and relatively quick treatment times.
3. Choose your suppliers well – If you’re only offering one type of treatment then you need to work with the best suppliers in the business in order to have access to the best products. We wouldn’t have made it as a specialist lash and brow salon if we used cheap products and inferior techniques from our local wholesaler.