Aberdeenshire hair salon looking to the future

FROM the rise of at-home DIY hair colouring to treatments, months of lockdown had a major impact on hairdressing and beauty salons across the North-east.

But for Aberdeenshire-based Proud Hair Salon the future is looking bright.

Owners John and Kareen Proud now believe they have the right team in place to compete with some of the top salons in Aberdeen.

And they are looking to grow it even further with a recruitment drive underway for three new stylists.

The husband and wife first opened their salon, under the name of Spoil Me, in Inverurie’s Market Place seven years ago.

But at the start of the year decided to rebrand to Proud and become an Aveda lifestyle salon.  The launch was all set for February but then Covid-19 hit.

John said: “The lockdown period was very difficult for us as we had ongoing bills to pay with regards to the rent and other outgoings.

“But we managed to keep on all our staff through the furlough scheme which we were very grateful of.

“Since reopening, we have been really busy but it’s been a nice pace as the stylists haven’t felt under pressure.

“We have quite a big area upstairs and we were very conscious of the fact that we had to make it as safe as possible for clients so we split into two teams.

“We also extended our appointment times because we didn’t want our clients to be arriving too early and for them to be backing up.

“We wanted to make sure we had time for resanitising and cleaning down between appointment times.

“The feedback we’ve received from our clients since reopening is fantastic.  They all said they felt very safe.”

Proud currently employs 12 members of staff are looking to boost number by another three, ideally one at stylist level and two at senior stylist.

John said:  “This is the first time that I honestly feel like we currently have the staff that enables us to go toe to toe with some of the biggest salons in Aberdeen.

“But we are looking to add a few more and grow even further.

“It’s all going very well.”