Would you like to become a male Beauty Therapist?

Recently Marcio and I did our Level 3 Intimate Male Waxing practicals at Omni Academy of Beauty in Walton-on-Thames (formerly ISIS Beauty - I can't think why they wanted to change their name!)

Anyway, we got talking about the lack of potential male beauty therapists. And how few men are interested in training to do male waxing, male massage, facials etc.

The academy wanted to know how to attract more would-be beauty therapists to their training courses. As there are so few male beauty therapists in the industry - and few men go beauty salons - maybe there is a huge potential for growth. Or maybe men are just not interested.

Or maybe salons should change their marketing to be less feminine and be re-branded as Grooming Parlours (unless that sounds too much like it's intended for dogs!)

Maybe it is just a difficult cycle to break. Lack of male therapists means the salons can't attract male clients. Lack of male clients means there is no work for male therapists. How do we break this cycle?

And if young men don't apply for courses like this, how do we get them to even consider it?

Here at Daniel Beauty we are doing well - and maybe that is just due to a lack of competition in for male waxing in Surrey.
 

Why are there so few male Beauty Therapists?

When we set up Daniel Beauty in 2008, we looked at the competition in the Surrey/Berkshire/North Hampshire area and found only a few Male Beauty Therapists.

There was one in Basingstoke, another in Windsor and one more on the London/Surrey border. For various reasons, all three have moved or closed; now our closest competition for male massage, male waxing etc is in Reading.

There are plenty of Salons - even in our immediate area of Woking - but, as ever, these only seem to be aimed at women.

Why are they always aimed at women? Men just don't like going to a High Street Beauty Salon. About 10 per cent of a salon's customers are male. We've tried some of the local ones and can see why. They're run by women for women.

I have read that 20 per cent of Beauty Therapists are male - I would be surprised if it was that high. If there is no work for male beauty therapists, how are we going to attract new entrants into the business?

Until that happens, you will have to go into central London to find a High Street male beauty parlour. With charges to match. Unless you are close enough to come to us in Woking, Surrey for your massage.

How do I get Insurance for my Beauty business?

Insurance is the bane of everybody's lives - you feel like you are paying a lot of money for nothing every year. And then when you try to claim on your policy, they make it difficult for you.

Ever since we started Daniel Beauty we have been covered by the same company who seemed to offer good insurance rates to cover our massage, waxing, facials, threading treatments.

But now, as I have Marcio working with me, and we take bookings for him, I am now suddenly a "clinic" and the rate has rocketed from £100 pa to the think end of £500!

The fact that Marcio has his own insurance makes no difference. To me that sounds like we would be insured twice!

After a few simple phone calls, we have now found another provider (Tower Gate Insurance) who have provided the same cover for just £150.    

Good news, then. Just don't get me started on insurance for Tattoo Removal....