Why Beauty Treatments Won’t be Disrupted by AI.
I like beauty treatments. I like everything about them. I like the planning bit… “Ooooh what am I gonna have this time? I like the process — entering someone else’s space, having a chat, meeting other clients. I also like the lasting transformation — whether it’s a few weeks for a braid or a year for microblading, your look lives beyond the appointment. I just love getting stuff done.
I am an accidental beauty entrepreneur but what I’ve realised since entering the industry with my WAH Nails salon, 9 years ago, is that it’s about much more than getting a look. The salon is a sanctuary, a saviour and a safe space. As more and more of the world’s population move to cities, the stress of a fast paced life, the loneliness from being away from your family unit, and the sheer lack of physical touch from transient relationships can wear us down. I remember moving to London from Wolverhampton alone as a 19 year old, and gently holding my nail techs hand as she filed away simply because it was comforting. It’s predicted that by the year 2100, around 85–95 pc of us will live in cities, coming into contact with thousands of people each day but knowing none of them. Who will hold our hand then? Not the robots.
This is where beauty spaces come in. As one of the fastest growing sectors in the British high street, Beauty Professionals are playing a new role in terms of forging offline interactions and facilitating feel good vibes. Every day these budding entrepreneurs start a career that is one of complete tangible service to others. Self care isn’t just a hashtag, it’s an important part of maintaining your physical and mental wellbeing and can be a preventative measure for discomfort. I don’t go to the GP when I’m feeling out of sorts, I go to the salon.
We’ve had clients who have shed tears in our hands, either through simply being overwhelmed at the kindness of care, or because the treatment they are having has extreme sentimental value. I often think about a lady who regularly went to Bleach London to get to her hair dyed a very particular shade of blue. She came across as fussy and difficult client and we later learned that her son had died and this was his favourite colour. It was a mutual process of acceptance and understanding on the part of both the hairstylist and client as the trip to the salon remained a way for her to connect with her lost child. It was part of her grieving process and therapy and a level of empathy that I believe a human can deliver better.
Sometimes the salon is less emotional and more of a social activity. A place to catch up on the latest trends, news and ideas. This is a lot closer to the original use of the word ‘salon’ which was really rather grand;
“a regular meeting of important or influential people, esp. of writers or artists at the house of someone famous”
In as early as the 16th century in Italy and then the rest of Europe, salons were an important place for the free exchange of ideas. This intimate gatherings were often held in the homes of very important women and attendees would meet and discuss the thoughts of the days.
These intellectual circles were formed around women with pioneers such as Catherine de Vivonne (b.1588), Isabella D’Este (b.1635), and of course, Gertrude Stein (b.1874) holding court and acting as facilitators and originators of the great ideas of their time. Technology should continue to act as a facilitator to these connections, not try to replace them.
WAH started from an idea in 2006 from a print magazine about women in hip hop. When I wanted to open a nail salon, aged 24, I was naturally going to call it WAH and make it the meeting place for all the women I had connected with online through the magazine and blog. It was a salon in both sense of the words. Self care and ideas, online and offline.
There are few places to gather in the city that don’t involve alcohol, sport or religion where men and women can talk about what’s on their mind and the original WAH salon in Dalston became a gathering place for the creative women in the area. Even today in our Soho branch you might stumble on a workshop to help women of colour break into a PR, an event for teen girls to appreciate their natural curls or a party for a new female published magazine. Salons, spa’s and barbershops provide infinite support for their clients that goes beyond just a pretty do.
I am regularly beaming with pride and amazed at the talent and social and economic richness that comes with being a Beauty Pro. They are artists who set trends with their own distinct taste and style, their canvas just happens to be the body. They are small business owners — around 98pc of Beauty Professionals are independent — with key contributions to the economy. They provide flexible, satisfying work for men and women who are raising families and I believe it’s one of the few industries that won’t be easily disrupted by AI. It’d gonna be a while before a robot could apply my eyelash extensions one by one. Much like the care industry, beauty services have *some* protection over automation.
There are of course, super exciting ways that AI can be used to make the booking process a next level experience. The wave of scheduling AIs for busy execs who want a smart PA shows the potential for a Smart Receptionist. If the future of work is all about the gig economy and freelance culture, who’s going to manage your affairs while your head is down doing beauty treatments? But the treatments still need to get done somewhere, and by someone.
This is why we have opened a brand new concept salon in the new Coal Drops Yard development in Kings X. Sure we are an app, a social marketplace for booking beauty treatments, but why not offer an IRL experience for how that happens?
Our mission is to increase the power of the Beauty Professional. Whether that’s industry power, economic power, or simply the power to manage their career on your own terms. I want the industry to be respected and recognised for all the incredible work it does. For too long we have been seen as a soft touch industry, brushed aside as “Womens Work.” If we all closed up shop tomorrow, the country would descend into chaos and crust. It will be a slow journey but it starts here, with the technology to run your beauty business better but also with physical spaces where people can get together. I know what it’s like to be a young girl with a dream to open a salon. I know what it’s like when the lightbulbs break, or the shop shutter won’t open or you have to do your first tax return. I get it.
We are at the very beginning of our start-up saga, but it’s not all about swipes, buttons and likes right? The app is more than a transaction, beauty is more than automation. It’s a community that thrives on the people who make it, consume it, share it. The beauty industry has changed so much in the last 10 years, but one things for sure, it will continue to be human to human.
This story was originally published in Vogue.
