Back to the hair salon… fast!

Bangs in your eyes, exposed greys, split ends….or just exhausted the tie-back scrunchie or baseball cap for zoom calls and virtual meetings?  Whatever it is, we will all desperately need a haircut or colour. As soon as lock-down is lifted a trip to the hair salon and our hair stylist is top of our list!  Not only that, we need the visit to be more than functional – but an outing. It should be a ‘customer experience’ to enjoy when social outings are limited. Muros has been proud to assist our hairdressing industry create just that…spectacular interior designs using textured wall panels in hair salons!

Here in New Zealand hairdressing salons, beauty salons and barber shops have had their doors closed for lockdown. The hairdressing industry faces unique challenges, like many sectors, around returning to a new era of safety and PPE. The health and well-being of both the professional hair salon industry and its clientele is a high priority. So is the interior design experience to delight their customers.

Sadly not all the hairdressers will survive lockdown. Our local favourites may no longer exist. Holding onto skilled stylists and keeping afloat will dictate their fate. Niche providers may withstand the storm but only with a differentiated hair salon experience. Some, like Aneia Warner Salon in Kumeu made the investment during the first COVID-19 Level 3. Aeneia designed and opened her new business featuring textured wall panels in her hair salon.

After locating suitable premises, Aneia recruited new hair stylists and created an exciting tactile experience – featuring Muros White Loft Brick veneer walls. Add to this mirrored back lighting, polished floors and vintage furniture, and Aneia created a desirable hairdressing experience for her customers. And the salon motto: make yourself comfortable, enjoy the moment!

Similarly, we continue to have faith in our clients like boutique Jean Jacques of Wellington. With CBD location and experienced hair stylists, who will utilise their reputations and investment in aethestic, Jean Jacques has the foundation to withstand current business disruption.

Muros Grey Strata Stone is an authentic stone veneer that was installed extensively in the Lambton Quay hair salon almost 10 years ago. The wall veneer recreated traditional stone-work that today still serves to impress its customers with a unique textured wall panel.

Hair salon chains may be better able to utilise their purchasing power and mass to re-negotiate better terms and reduce costs. Valued Muros clients such as Synergy Hair, Rodney Wayne and BarberShop with their franchise presence, have positioned themselves with strong buying power, group marketing, franchisor support and finance options for salon fit-out (including textured walls by Muros).

Networked hair salons also have information technology systems that allow the business to communicate directly with clients. Database marketing helps to maximise retail opportunities via online sales while their hair salons remain shut.  Fingers crossed we will all be able to head back to the hair salon soon!

Until then, supporting their internet presence for hair care products during this next phase will be important both for them to stay afloat. In addition, it means you can keep your hair respectable in the meantime.

Many clients have invested in interior design featuring textured walls in hair salons. As well as the natural relief, wall panels from Muros are durable enough to withstand heavy traffic from customers and staff. And we are picking there will be an influx of cusotmers on re-opening.

With appealing faux walls hairdressers and their salons are poised to welcome back their clientele to a new social experience – a trip to the hair salon will now be a much desired outing for many. Like Contact Energy did with their televised tribute adverts, the team at Muros salute our hairdressing clients – they are a ‘cut above’ the rest!

Synergy Hair – Brick Veneer to Formwork Concrete

Since 2013 Muros has proudly supplied and worked closely with Hierarchy, and more recently Synergy Hair directly to supply feature walls for their nationwide chain of hair salons. Originally specified for Muros White Loft Brick, the in-salon experience has recently changed to feature an edgy Muros Grey Concrete Boards wall panel design.

Muros Concrete Board panels were the design of choice for recent store fit-outs in Auckland’s Westfield Shopping Centres. The panels are constructed from a durable fibreglass-base, to authentically recreate the look and feel of a form-work (shuttered) concrete finish. All without the weight, expense or time to pour real concrete.

Muros Concrete Boards boast a more uniform concrete (than its Muros Roughcast Concrete alternative) with a light timber grain texture visible throughout. ‘Broken’ concrete lines appear every 130mm giving the appearance of individual planks making up the wall panel, The style resembles poured concrete in timber moulds used in the form-work process, which is a time consuming, costly and messy process. Muros avoids this process.

The concrete boards design has a flat relief providing a refined finish. Yet is has subtle cracks, aggregate stones, air pockets and mild imperfections to give the texture depth. Therefore Muros Concrete Boards providies another strong design option in the Muros Concrete range. The panels are available in three tones — a cool Grey, warmer Anthracite (aged, dark brown) and a new Rust (oxidised/corroded) colour. An added advantage to make Muros Wall Panels customisable – the panels can be painted following installation to achieve a desired colour or creative finish.