To make services more convenient, salons are now offering beauty sessions at your doorstep. Plus, they also help tidy up after their job is done. Riya Sharma tracks the trend
Remember the time, when we would call our ‘faithful’ beautician to our home to get our threading done since we were either too lazy to step outside (our comfort zone) or for those special discounts which no salon would offerIJ Though it may sound atrocious, but we all have faced the time when stepping out of the home and entering the premises of a beauty parlour for a teenager was no less than a ‘sin’ for the over-concerned aunts or mums. This would result into teenage girls shyly telling their mums to call their favourite aunty over to provide them the beauty services in a hush hush manner. And these aunties, besides the money for the services, would only want one thing in return. A promise to be kept between her and the customer so that others don’t get to know about their clandestine meetings.
The reason for not going to a parlour for a lot of us can be many. The main reason for most of us, especially our mums is that they are not too comfortable. They don’t want women in the neighbourhood to know how much time she spends in a salon. The other reason, especially for working women, is that they don’t have hours to spend in a parlour. The only slot that they can book for those plucking and waxing sessions are on Sundays.
It is true that those beauty sessions can do wonders. Keeping the time constraint as the biggest challenge to their business, parlours have now come up with a new strategy. They are turning your bedrooms or dining room into their salon rooms and providing you with the usual services. So, working women, teenage girls or shy older women, can enjoy the advantages of beauty services without much hassle.
The interesting point is, you no longer need to rely on those old-fashioned/painful (also leading to blood-red rashes caused due to not so reliable products) but now you actually have the luxury of professionals coming in their own cabs to give you the best of experience.
“We offer waxing, manicure, pedicure and all regular services at the same rate for our valuable customers. Not only this, we use products that are natural. The only demand that we have from our customers is the arrangement of some tubs and water,” said Manju from Excellence Beauty parlour.
She added that they offer this beauty doorstep service only to those who are their regular customers. “We send our employees to the homes of our customers whom we know and trust completely. We ask for transport charges only when the service is being provided at a far-off place.”
Sanjana, from Vanity Cube, shared with us that they try to accommodate timings depending on the needs of their customers. “As we understand that most of our customers are working women, we try to adjust according to their timings. A lot of women ask for services at around 6:30 pm and then we try to designate time for their services,” said Sanjana. But what about the safety of these beauticians and she informed us, “First we cross-check the place where they are being sent. We drop them from our own cab and if they get late, we are in constant touch with them over the phone. Once they are done with their work, we send our own cabs and if by any reason our cab cannot reach them, we book a cab for them.”
As it is nearly possible to reach any part of the city, the owners of Vanity Cube have made three hubs in the heart of the capital. “We have three hubs in the city; one is in Saket, Punjabi Bagh and Gurgaon. We send our employees depending on the appointments from any area,” Sanjana said.
Talking about her services, she shared with us that though they offer the usual services at the doorstep, they have stopped offering services like body polishing and haircuts. “Earlier, we were offering hair spa at homes but now we don’t. We aim to train our employees first in this regard so that they can offer the best services to our customers,” Sanjana told us. She also mentioned that they promise to leave the home clean after providing the beauty package.
“Sixty per cent of our customers look forward to get their haircut done at the comfort of their home. But we are unable to provide that service because we it becomes messy and difficult for us to clean up afterwards,” she added.
The parlour also offers interesting packages and offers its customers. “We have packages of manicure, pedicure with waxing for our customers. Though the minimal price to avail any service at home is Rs800 but there are occasions when we lower down the price to Rs600 as well.”
But, Dua (she preferred to address herself as Mrs. Dua and we obliged) from Appearance Beauty parlour doesn’t feel the same. She told us that working women are availing the service more than ever and are actually going beyond the usual services. “We have customers not only asking for services like waxing and threading but they are opting for body polishing and body message as well,” she shared.
She added that women find it easier ad convenient as they don’t need to wait for their turn and they can avail the service at a time when they want it. “I have customers telling me that they find it convenient as they are able to do their household chores while getting their beauty services done,” said Dua.
Many of these parlours have their minimum charges fixed. For Appearances, it is Rs2500-Rs3000 and for Excellence Beauty Parlour is Rs2000-Rs2500. It is worth noticing that these parlours are also keeping the interest of their employees in mind. “As, now and then, they are working overtime, we have raised incentives for them. Not only this, we provide them with bonuses along with extra charges paid for lunch and transport et al.,” concluded she.