The Age of Anti-Aging
What’s driving it: An aging population; a greater awareness of anti-aging products, courtesy of the internet.
How to cash in: Demo, sample and prepare your pitch via education and training.
Anti-aging treatments for hair, from those that address breakage and lack of shine, to thinning hair remedies, are big business. Andrew Carruthers, education director for Sam Villa, says social media is a big driver of demand. “Clients are being inundated,” he says, adding that he’s seen a huge uptick in clients proactively asking about anti-aging remedies. He says that requires stylists to be on their game. “We have to be ready and armed with information about professional products, their ingredients, and why they’re more effective,” he says.
Carruthers recommends bringing up anti-aging treatments as preventative medicine to avoid offending sensitive clients. At Lunatic Fringe, the Salt Lake City salon Carruthers calls home, stylists work off of scripts to help them start conversations that will lead to add-on sales, eliminating awkwardness and helping them stay on message. Monthly meetings and training sessions cement those habits.
Selling anti-aging skincare treatments to the client who’s come in for hair services is a matter of making both information and product available, says Dermalogica’s Director of Global Education Annet King. “Your client has been sitting there looking at herself in the mirror the whole time,” she says. What better time to offer a solution that will brighten, tighten or tone her skin? Color clients are good targets for this type of add-on, she says, because they’re already expecting to spend and will be in the chair for a large chunk of time while processing. Offering testers at the stylist station, as well as mini-treatments in salons where walk-ins are common, are ways to get clients to try something new. She also recommends broadening your thinking about the anti-aging category. “Think about starting younger,” she says. “A 25 year-old already knows it’s time to put an eye treatment into her routine.”